Extracted: Daily News Clips 6/24/21

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PIPELINE NEWS

• Press release: Acting Army assistant secretary announces USACE will conduct an EIS for Enbridge Line 5
• Bloomberg: Enbridge’s Lake Pipeline tunnel faces long environmental review
• The Hill: Biden administration orders environmental review of Line 5 pipeline permit
• Facebook: Giniw Collective: Water Protectors Lock to Enbridge Drilling Equipment Boring Line 3 Under River
• Facebook: Unicorn Riot [VIDEO]: Water Protectors Lock to Horizontal Directional Drill Near Intended Straight River Crossing
• MPR: Line 3 foes worry increased pumping could threaten Minn. water
• Minnesota Reformer: Tribes object to Enbridge ‘dewatering’ permit as drought threatens wild rice
• Truthout: Police Escalate Line 3 Standoffs at Indigenous, Water Protector-Led Treaty Sites
• Facebook: Unicorn Riot [VIDEO]: We spoke with Taysha Martineau, founder of Camp Migizi (one of the many #Line3 resistance camps in #Minnesota), about the new tar sands pipeline
• Fox Business: Line 3 pipeline attack by left slammed by oil, gas exec: Why would anyone shut it down?
• Bismarck Tribune: Standing Rock eyes other ways to fight Dakota Access Pipeline as court case ends
• S&P Global: DC Circuit moves to vacate Spire STL certificate; finds FERC scrutiny lacking
• Globe and Mail: Environmental groups could ignore orders from Kenney inquiry
• Politico Morning Energy: MEASURING THE LINES
• The Climate Pod: Stopping Pipelines (w/ Dallas Goldtooth and Jane Kleeb)

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• E&E News: Groups to Biden: Pick climate-focused FERC commissioner
• E&E News: Bennet Introduces Drilling Reform, Orphaned Well Bills

STATE UPDATES

• Capital and Main: Why Big Climate Bills Keep Dying In the California Senate
• E&E News: Bill Aimed At Electricity Emissions Would Ban New Gas Plants

CLIMATE FINANCE

• Bloomberg: Exxon Activist Investor Shakes Up $6.5 Trillion ETF Market
• E&E News: The Key To The Shale Boom? 3 Federal Subsidies

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

• Enbridge: It’s time to change our lens on Indigenous reconciliation and accelerate the healing process

OPINION

• Lincoln Journal Star: Letter: Ricketts wrong on pipeline foes
• Esquire: Sometimes Pipeline Leaks Are Small. Sometimes You Can See Them From Space.
• OilPrice.com: Will Canada’s Oil Sands Survive The Green Revolution?
• Penn Capital Star: Pa. needs to act now to close its ‘low producing well’ loophole to fight methane emissions

PIPELINE NEWS

Press release: Acting Army assistant secretary announces USACE will conduct an EIS for Enbridge Line 5
By Richard Levine, 6/23/21

“The acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works announced today that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will proceed with an environmental impact statement for the Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership Line 5 permit application. “I have concluded that an EIS is the most appropriate level of review because of the potential for impacts significantly affecting the quality of the human environment,” said Jaime A. Pinkham, acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “USACE will ensure all potential impacts and reasonable alternatives associated with this project are thoroughly analyzed and will ultimately support a decision on the permit application. The USACE received thousands of public comments and tribal input on the proposed project, which warrant further review through an EIS, including potential impacts to navigation.” The Army will ensure all voices are heard in an open, transparent and public process through development of the EIS and is committed to ensuring that meaningful and robust consultation with tribal nations occurs per President Biden’s Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships, January 26, 2021. The Army is committed to producing a thorough and timely EIS that rigorously explores and objectively evaluates all reasonable alternatives to render a decision within the scope of its authorities.”

Bloomberg: Enbridge’s Lake Pipeline tunnel faces long environmental review
Robert Tuttle, 6/23/21

“Enbridge Inc.’s embattled plan to build a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac for its Line 5 oil pipeline will need a more thorough review from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the latest setback for the project opposed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer,” Bloomberg reports. “…The requirement is a victory for environmentalists and indigenous groups that now will gain more time to oppose Line 5. The Canadian pipeline giant is facing mounting opposition and hurdles for its two key projects to upgrade conduits that haul crude from the oil sands to U.S. refineries. They are crucial for producers in Alberta that have struggled for years with a shortage of export pipelines, and have seen projects such as TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL get scrapped. The decision “will lead to a delay in the start of construction on this important project. Enbridge will continue to work with the USACE on its review of our application and towards a successful conclusion to this process which began when we filed our permit application in April 2020,” Calgary-based Enbridge said in a statement… “Governor Whitmer stood with the people as she raised the alarm on the risks associated with the Line 5 pipeline,” Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of the Bold Alliance, told Bloomberg. “It is our hope Pres. Biden applies the same standard to reviewing and ending the KXL pipeline to other pipelines that are all risk and no reward.”

The Hill: Biden administration orders environmental review of Line 5 pipeline permit
BY ZACK BUDRYK, 6/23/21

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will require a rigorous review of an underground tunnel intended to house an oil pipeline, which Michigan’s main environmental agency approved in January,” The Hill reports. “Jaime A. Pinkham, acting assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said in a statement Wednesday that the Corps will conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Canadian company Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 project… “In a statement Wednesday, an Enbridge spokesperson said that “the decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to complete an environmental impact statement instead of an environmental assessment (EA) for the Great Lakes Tunnel project will lead to a delay in the start of construction on this important project.” “…In a statement of its own, the National Wildlife Federation, which has called Line 5 a “ticking time bomb in our Great Lakes,” credited local advocacy for the Corps’ decision. “From the beginning, Enbridge has fought review of environmental impact, a review of need, a review of impacts to tribal cultural resources and sites and a technical review of the construction and design. It continues to operate the current Line 5 pipeline illegally,” Beth Wallace, Great Lakes Campaigns Manager for the NWF, said in a statement.

Facebook: Giniw Collective: Water Protectors Lock to Enbridge Drilling Equipment Boring Line 3 Under River
6/23/21

“Several Water Protectors locked to a Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) being used by Enbridge to bore its Line 3 tar sands pipeline under the Straight River in Hubbard County, Minnesota. Enbridge has over 5,000 workers in northern Minnesota, most of whom are from out-of-state, drilling its tar sands expansion project through our rivers, wetlands, and wild rice waters. The Canadian multi-national applied for a variance in its water usage, upping its need from roughly 500M gallons to 4.98B gallons. It is currently draining rivers and lakes across the northland, during a drought and record-setting heat that put the region in extreme or high fire danger for most of June. Today’s action follows a mass mobilization of water protectors from all over Turtle Island which resulted in the largest non-violent direct action to date, with nearly 200 arrests and countless more inspired to join the fight. Police have grown far more aggressive since the mobilization — Hubbard County sheriffs illegally arrested nearly 30 demonstrators exercising their right to assemble last week. A K-9 unit was documented at the Red River crossing near the Red Lake Treaty Camp, in echoes of the attack dogs used on unarmed women and children at Standing Rock. Despite repeated calls from frontlines communities, a pending federal lawsuit, and over 500 arrests since construction started last December, President Biden has yet to order the Army Corps to perform an environmental review of Trump’s water crossing permits. Water protector, author, and mother Madeline Ffitch said, “I’m here to answer the call to action from Anishinaabe water protectors who are protecting their territory against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. I’m a settler on stolen land, and I think at this juncture if that’s true for you, you need to pick a side. I want to be on the side of people who belong to the land, indigenous people who have had their land stolen, and who are in the midst of 500 years of resistance. That’s the side I want to be on and I don’t want there to be any question about that. I want to be able to tell my children and the generations to come that I did everything in my power, everything I can, to make sure that there is a future for the next generations.”

Facebook: Unicorn Riot [VIDEO]: Water Protectors Lock to Horizontal Directional Drill Near Intended Straight River Crossing
6/23/21

“Early morning on Wednesday, five water protectors lock down to a horizontal directional drill as it gets ready to bore a pathway for the new Line 3 tar sands pipeline to go under the Straight River in Hubbard County, MN. Enbridge and their contractors began their construction on the first water crossings around June 15.”

MPR: Line 3 foes worry increased pumping could threaten Minn. water
Kirsti Marohn, 6/24/21

“To build the new Line 3 pipeline across northern Minnesota, the Enbridge Energy company needs to dig a trench — and temporarily pump groundwater out of the construction area, in a process called dewatering,” MPR reports. “Enbridge originally asked for permission to pump about 510 million gallons of water from the pipeline corridor, as it builds the replacement to the current Line 3 pipeline along a new, 340-mile route across northern Minnesota. But as construction moves forward, the company encountered more groundwater than it anticipated and requested to significantly increase the amount it’s authorized to pump, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. On June 4, the DNR issued an amended permit that allows Enbridge to pump up to nearly 5 billion gallons — almost 10 times more than the original amount the company had requested — for the remaining 145 miles of pipeline it has left to build… “Regulators’ larger concern, Doneen told MPR, is how Enbridge will store and replace that volume of water, making sure that — when it’s released — it doesn’t contain sediment that could harm aquatic ecosystems. “That’s what we’ve seen with pipeline construction in the past,” he said. “That’s a lot of water, and you have to be able to manage it carefully.”

Minnesota Reformer: Tribes object to Enbridge ‘dewatering’ permit as drought threatens wild rice
By Rilyn Eischens, 6/23/21

“The president of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe on Tuesday sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz raising concerns that the Department of Natural Resources didn’t sufficiently engage with tribes before it approved a change to a permit for Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline this month,” the Minnesota Reformer reports. “The permit change will allow Enbridge to extract 4.9 billion gallons of groundwater while constructing its 337-mile pipeline across northern Minnesota — nearly a tenfold increase from the original permit, which gave permission to remove 510.5 million gallons of water. In the letter, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe President Cathy Chavers wrote that the White Earth Nation wasn’t given enough notice, and that removing so much water will harm wild rice near the route. Wild rice is a sacred food for the Ojibwe. She requested that Walz direct the DNR to rescind the amended permit until the department consults with White Earth and other affected tribes.”

Truthout: Police Escalate Line 3 Standoffs at Indigenous, Water Protector-Led Treaty Sites
Candice Bernd, 6/23/21

“The struggle against Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline continued with another civil disobedience action Wednesday morning,” Truthout reports. “Five Water Protectors locked themselves to a horizontal directional drill used by the Canadian company to bore the pipeline under the Straight River in Hubbard County, Minnesota. One Water Protector has barricaded themselves inside the drill operating vehicle. Water Protectors protesting the Line 3 pipeline have faced intense repression in recent weeks. Enbridge-funded police arrested more than 200 Water Protectors this month at a mass action at the Two Inlets pump station north of Park Rapids and forcefully removed Indigenous leaders asserting treaty rights at a separate occupation camp at the Mississippi River in Clearwater County last week… “Meanwhile, the struggle is escalating at the state’s Red Lake River Crossing, where, at the site where the Red Lake and Pembina Bands of Chippewa Indians signed the Old Crossing Treaty on October 2, 1863, Red Lake tribal members have established a treaty camp on public land within territory ceded to the United States by the two tribes in 1863. On Tuesday morning, Pennington County sheriff’s deputies tackled, injured and arrested at least one Water Protector at the camp site after Enbridge began drilling Monday night near the Red Lake River without a tribal monitor present. Law enforcement has significantly escalated the standoff at the river crossing throughout this week, with the Pennington County sheriff’s deputies bringing police-trained dogs to the site — a tactic that came under heavy public outcry when dogs were sicced on Water Protectors at Standing Rock by private security in 2016. After the arrest Tuesday morning, police presence diminished at the site as construction work paused… Meanwhile, law enforcement officials are continuing to encroach on a prayer lodge established by Anishinaabe Water Protectors Winona LaDuke and Tania Aubid in December near Palisade, Minnesota, where drilling has begun at a site slated to cross the Mississippi River.”

Facebook: Unicorn Riot [VIDEO]: We spoke with Taysha Martineau, founder of Camp Migizi (one of the many #Line3 resistance camps in #Minnesota), about the new tar sands pipeline
6/23/21

“We spoke with Taysha Martineau, founder of Camp Migizi (one of the many #Line3 resistance camps in #Minnesota), about the new tar sands pipeline. Taysha touched upon the effects this fossil fuel infrastructure has on their children, their Indigenous community, and the earth.”

Fox Business: Line 3 pipeline attack by left slammed by oil, gas exec: Why would anyone shut it down?
By Talia Kaplan, 6/23/21

“Mike Sommers, the American Petroleum Institute president and CEO, argued on “Mornings with Maria” on Wednesday that “restricting pipeline development and shutting down safe pipelines that deliver affordable energy to the world is the exact opposite thing that we should be pursuing right now,” Fox Business reports. “Sommers made the comment as the climate activists reportedly aim to defeat another pipeline as Native American business leaders defend construction… “Sommers called Line 3 “an important connecting point to make sure that we can get oil to refineries in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast.” He also pointed out that “there are about 5,000 jobs supported by Line 3.” “I don’t know why anybody would want to shut down this important pipeline,” Sommers told host Maria Bartiromo, noting that what is happening with Line 3 reflects “a trend.”

Bismarck Tribune: Standing Rock eyes other ways to fight Dakota Access Pipeline as court case ends
AMY R. SISK, 6/23/21

“The leader of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says he’s disappointed a federal judge has closed out the legal case against the Dakota Access Pipeline, but the tribe plans to keep fighting the line through other venues,” the Bismarck Tribune reports. “Chairman Mike Faith on Wednesday said he considers Standing Rock’s five-year lawsuit over the pipeline “a win,” even if the court did not side with the tribe on everything. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an order Tuesday effectively ending the suit after declining last month to force Dakota Access to stop pumping oil, as the tribe had requested. Standing Rock for years had pushed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a more thorough review of the line, a process known as an Environmental Impact Statement. Boasberg last year ordered the agency to do so, and the process is underway… “Faith and other tribal members will meet with “top brass” from the Corps on July 9 when the federal officials visit the reservation, he told the Tribune. Among the topics he plans to raise is the pipeline’s ongoing operations even as the permit remains invalid. “We will definitely express our concerns to them,” he said. Faith said he also questions whether pipeline operator Energy Transfer has an adequate plan to respond to a potential oil spill.”

S&P Global: DC Circuit moves to vacate Spire STL certificate; finds FERC scrutiny lacking
Maya Weber, 6/23/21

“Agreeing with the Environmental Defense Fund, a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit June 22 decided to vacate the certificate for the Spire STL Pipeline, finding FERC refused to seriously engage arguments challenging the weight of an affiliate precedent agreement in establishing the need for the project,” S&P Global reports. “…The decision comes as the debate has been ongoing for several years over the degree to which FERC must look beyond precedent agreements in assessing the market need for projects, but the ruling distinguishes the facts in this case from others in which the court found in FERC’s favor. The ruling does not immediately affect the Spire pipeline operations because the court withheld issuance of the mandate in the case for seven days after disposition of a petition for hearing or rehearing en banc, should Spire seek rehearing. But the ruling could ultimately force a shutdown, once the court’s mandate issues, Gary Kruse of ArboIQ told S&P, with timing potentially contingent on efforts, stay the court’s mandate and further appeals.”

Globe and Mail: Environmental groups could ignore orders from Kenney inquiry
EMMA GRANEY, 6/23/21

“Leading environmental groups are unsure if they will respond to demands to explain their sources of revenue to Alberta’s inquiry into foreign funding of anti-energy campaigns,” the Globe and Mail reports. “Last week, the inquiry served 40 organizations – including the Pembina Institute and Greenpeace Canada – with notice that their names have been caught up in its probe, and gave them less than a month to explain themselves. Legal experts and critics say it’s further evidence of a deeply flawed process that is ultimately doing more harm than good to Alberta’s energy sector… “The Pembina Institute, an environmental think tank based in Alberta, received a notice from the commissioner late Friday. It landed in the inbox of a staff member who has never been directly involved with the inquiry… “Greenpeace Canada also received a notice from the commissioner and is yet to decide whether it will respond. The charity landed $2.9-milion in foreign donations between 2007 and 2018 for oil sands campaigns – just more than 2 per cent of the charity’s total revenues. Yet it received $5.6-milllion from Albertans over the same period. “The whole notion that this is anti-Alberta? Actually, there are a lot of Albertans who like what we do and support environmental groups because of their concerns over climate change, and concerns over the rate and pace of expansion of the oil sands,” Greenpeace spokesperson Keith Stewart told the Globe and Mail..

Politico Morning Energy: MEASURING THE LINES
Matthew Choi, 6/23/21

“The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration must come up with ways to gauge whether the safety measures implemented as part of the 2019 PIPES Act are actually working, according to a GAO report published Tuesday,” Politico Morning Energy reports. “The law gave pipeline operators decades to make some of the required changes — something PHMSA pointed to as a reason it hadn’t established measurements yet. But GAO notes that other provisions will come into being sooner and said interviews with pipeline operators showed some companies were moving faster than required on long-term mandates. “Without performance measures, PHMSA cannot determine whether the changes made by the 2019 Rule are achieving their intended outcomes and contributing to PHMSA’s safety goals,” GAO says in its report.

The Climate Pod: Stopping Pipelines (w/ Dallas Goldtooth and Jane Kleeb)
6/16/2021

“Dallas Goldtooth and Jane Kleeb have been fighting pipelines for years. Like so many others, opposing the Keystone XL pipeline has been a remarkable experience in their political and personal lives and part of an ongoing fight to bring about greater racial, economic, and environmental justice. As news last week confirmed TC Energy was finished with the Keystone XL pipeline and water protectors in Minnesota brought more attention to the construction of the Line 3 pipeline, Goldtooth and Kleeb joined The Climate Pod to discuss how to continue to fight against pipelines, what President Biden needs to do now, and what’s at stake as organizers keep up the pressure. Dallas Goldtooth is a Keep It In The Ground Campaign Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. Jane Kleeb is the author of Harvest the Vote, Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, and President of Bold Nebraska. Also, check out Pipeline Fighters and Stop Trump Pipelines.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

E&E News: Groups to Biden: Pick climate-focused FERC commissioner
Miranda Willson, 6/24/21

“Environmental groups are calling on President Biden to nominate a climate-conscious candidate to serve as a new commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency widely seen as critical to the energy transition,” E&E News reports.

E&E News: Bennet Introduces Drilling Reform, Orphaned Well Bills
Heather Richards, 6/23/21

“Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is the latest lawmaker this year to propose billions of dollars to clean up the nation’s orphaned oil and gas wells,” E&E News reports. “With a pair of bills released yesterday, Bennet aims to rush dollars toward federal agencies tasked with tracking and reclaiming abandoned wells on public land. The legislation also includes reforms that could irk GOP lawmakers, like higher bonding for wells to make sure taxpayers are not left on the hook for cleanup costs. ‘Our bills not only invest in orphaned well clean up, but also restore the role of local leaders in lease sales, and hold companies operating on public lands to the same high standards that responsible operators already follow,’ said Bennet in a statement… ”Bennet’s ‘Oil and Gas Bonding Reform and Orphaned Well Remediation Act’ would provide $8 billion, over a 10-year period, to pay for the cleanup of abandoned oil and gas infrastructure. It would also increase the bonding companies have to pay from $10,000 on a single federal lease to $150,000. A statewide blanket bond would be raised from the current $25,000 minimum requirement to $500,000. The ‘Public Engagement Opportunity on Public Land Exploration (PEOPLE) Act’ would make public the identity of individuals or companies nominating federal lands for lease — a process that is currently opaque.”

STATE UPDATES

Capital and Main: Why Big Climate Bills Keep Dying In the California Senate
By Aaron Cantu, 6/22/21

“California leads the nation when it comes to proposing far reaching legislation for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and regulating the oil and gas industry, but much of it is doomed to fail because it never gets out of committee for a full vote, thanks to a mix of strategically appointed industry friendly Republicans and moderate Democrats,” Capital and Main reports. “While the state Assembly has seen at least one ambitious climate bill pass this year, the state Senate’s smaller size makes it easier to analyze what happens behind the scenes… “Swing vote Democrats on critical Senate committees, meanwhile, are being heavily lobbied by the Western States Petroleum Association and the State Building and Construction Trades Council, which made a pact to resist tighter regulations on the industry that was made formal in 2019 through a still-active corporate partnership. The labor-oil alliance, while not inevitable, has succeeded three years in a row in killing legislation that would establish physical setbacks between oil production operations and human dwellings; the close proximity between them are  linked to poor health outcomes. The industry says such a mandate would be catastrophic for its ability to drill for oil in California, where wells are sometimes crammed alongside homes.”

E&E News: Bill Aimed At Electricity Emissions Would Ban New Gas Plants
Benjamin Storrow, 6/23/21

“Oregon utilities would be prohibited from building new natural gas plants as part of a bill that would require power companies to slash emissions 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2040,” E&E News reports. “The measure, H.B. 2021, is expected to be voted on by state lawmakers this week. The expected vote comes five years after Oregon passed a law aimed at cutting the cord on imported coal-generated electricity and two years after Republican lawmakers fled the state to block a vote on a carbon cap-and-trade bill. This year’s bill has yet to generate that type of heated opposition. Oregon’s two investor-owned utilities, PacifiCorp and Portland General Electric, were involved in crafting the measure and are supportive. The big question this year is whether lawmakers can pass the bill before the legislative session ends on Sunday.”

CLIMATE FINANCE

Bloomberg: Exxon Activist Investor Shakes Up $6.5 Trillion ETF Market
By Claire Ballentine, 6/22/21

“Not content with roiling a major oil company and sending shock waves through the market, Engine No. 1 is looking to kick start a mini-revolution in how trillions of dollars of passive cash engages with Corporate America,” Bloomberg reports. “The impact investment group is gearing up to launch its first exchange-traded fund, called the Engine No. 1 Transform 500 ETF. The clue as to how it hopes to shake things up? It’s in the ticker: VOTE. Instead of excluding companies with bad scores in environmental, social and governance metrics, or handing “good” companies a bigger weighting, the fund aims to encourage better behavior using its shareholder voting rights. It will follow voting guidelines aiming to get businesses to invest in employees, communities, customers and the environment, according to a filing. It’s a dramatic new approach for combining ESG and index investing. As recently as February, Robeco Quant Research showed passive managers were among those least likely to vote in favor of social or environmental proposals… “A climate fund might limit your carbon emissions in your portfolio, but not actually change the amount of carbon emitted into the environment,” said Michael O’Leary, managing director at Engine No. 1. “With this product, the idea is: What can we do as active owners to actually drive impact at these companies through the way we vote, through the campaigns we run, through the other investors we bring with us?”

E&E News: The Key To The Shale Boom? 3 Federal Subsidies
Carlos Anchondo and Lesley Clark, 6/23/21

“Federal subsidies played a key role in helping to sustain the U.S. shale boom over the past two decades, swelling the expected value of oil and gas projects by as much as $20 billion per year, according to a new report,” E&E News reports. “The analysis, released this morning by the Stockholm Environment Institute, examined the three largest U.S. federal oil and gas subsidies and how they affected the expected value of nearly 2,500 oil and gas fields that began producing between 1998 and 2019. The report found that two subsidies alone — the expensing of intangible drilling costs and the percentage depletion allowance — increased the expected value of new oil and gas projects by billions of dollars in most years, and by more than $20 billion in years with high oil prices, such as 2008 and 2010 to 2014. The analysis said the two subsidies — which Democrats have long targeted for repeal — added ‘substantial value’ to new, unconventional oil and gas projects in top-producing regions like the Bakken Formation, the Appalachian region and the Permian Basin.”

TODAY IN GREENWASHING

Enbridge: It’s time to change our lens on Indigenous reconciliation and accelerate the healing process
By Al Monaco, President and CEO, Enbridge, 6/21/21

“From the time when you think you understand an issue, something happens that immediately sharpens your focus and serves as a catalyst for more action and change. The recent confirmation of the remains of 215 Indigenous children on the site of a residential school in Kamloops is one of those cases,” writes Al Monaco, Enbridge President and CEO. “Our hearts go out to Indigenous peoples across Canada, and especially the families of the missing children and their communities, the survivors, and inter-generational survivors of residential schools. We can’t profess to know the sorrow these people are feeling in the wake of this devastating news, but we can acknowledge it and change our lens. At a time like this, Indigenous communities need more than kind words from our governments, faith organizations and business leaders. We need to help, not by imposing our ideas on a path forward or an immediate fix to a complex and difficult problem, but in a way that is welcomed by indigenous communities. For our part at Enbridge, we are reaching out indigenous communities we know well to see how best we can support them in this time of need. They may say no thank you, but we will extend our hand. One of the ways we can all help is to become more educated about our own history. At Enbridge, we’ve made a commitment to ensure all our employees complete Indigenous cultural awareness training, including our management team and Board of Directors. We’ll build on that foundation by making that training available to non-Indigenous community leaders along our pipeline corridors…  “Healing is going to take time, perhaps generations, and it will only be achieved with perseverance and sustained will of all Canadians. It will require the support of individuals of influence, public and private institutions, schools and agencies, and businesses both large and small… “Today, on June 21, as Canadians again mark the rich culture of Indigenous peoples on National Indigenous Peoples Day, let us all reflect on how we, as individuals, can make a difference and commit to action—if only to learn more and open our minds, our eyes and our hearts to the truth.”

OPINION

Lincoln Journal Star: Letter: Ricketts wrong on pipeline foes
Randy Thompson, 6/23/21

“Gov. Pete Ricketts owes Nebraskans who fought the Keystone XL Pipeline an apology,” Randy Thompson writes in the  Lincoln Journal Star. “Over the 14 years, I have been opposing the pipeline, I learned to let most of the political rhetoric criticizing our efforts to roll off my back, but when Gov. Pete Ricketts went on TV and made sweeping and blatantly false claims that those who opposed and stopped the pipeline were nothing but radicals and extremists, I couldn’t let that go unchallenged. My first question for Ricketts would be how would he know? He and most of the state senators have never attended any of the State Department hearings that were held in numerous locations around the state. Perhaps if he had taken time to attend these meetings, he would realize that he would not have been met by radicals and extremists, but rather hundreds of land owners and concerned citizens from across the state who had legitimate concerns about the risk to our land, water and property rights. But, of course, none had the courage to come to these meetings and face the truth about who really opposed the pipeline because it’s much easier to just sit in your office and create a bogeyman that fits you political narrative.”

Esquire: Sometimes Pipeline Leaks Are Small. Sometimes You Can See Them From Space.
By Charles P. Pierce, 6/22/21

“See, the thing about pipelines is that they leak, and you usually have to use pliers and a blowtorch and go medieval on the people who own the pipelines to get the truth about how the leak occurred and why your tap water now tastes like Valvoline,” Charles P. Pierce writes in Esquire. “Sometimes, these leaks are small. Others you can see from space.. “Methane is a problem for the climate that we only now have begun to study and understand, but the basic corporate pipeline leak protocol remains in place… “The problem with studying the problem remains that it is the companies themselves responsible for the data concerning methane releases from their own facilities. But the Feds are starting to notice… “Minimizing methane emissions from pipelines will help improve safety and combat climate change, while creating jobs for pipeline workers,” said PHMSA Acting Administrator Tristan Brown. “Pipeline operators have an obligation to protect the public and the environment by identifying and addressing methane leaks.” Yes, they do. And that public obligation is over there on the shelf in corporate HQ, gathering dust on an old map of Oklahoma in the glory days.”

OilPrice.com: Will Canada’s Oil Sands Survive The Green Revolution?
By Haley Zaremba, 6/23/21

“Canada’s climate is heating up at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the world,” Haley Zaremba writes for OilPrice.com. “In order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, experts have determined that it’s imperative to keep our world from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial averages, and preferably no more than 1.5 degrees. In northern Canada, annual average temperatures have already increased by approximately 2.3 degrees Celsius. And it’s not just the Canadian arctic that is heating up alarmingly, dangerously fast — the entire country of Canada has already surpassed the 1.5 degree threshold, having warmed an average of 1.7 Celsius (the equivalent of 3 degrees Fahrenheit). While the entire world is vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change, few nations are as urgently under threat as Canada. The country’s response to this common enemy, however, has been far from united. In fact, the warming statistics cited in the first paragraph came from a government report that was released in conjunction with carbon taxes to be imposed on four of the nation’s 10 provinces for failing to take action into their own hands and make a plan to curb emissions and combat global warming. A big part of Canada’s division over the topic of climate change comes from the fact that a large portion of the country’s economy remains reliant on Alberta’s oil sands, which are not only contributing to the worldwide fossil fuels market, which must be curbed in order to meet with the Paris climate agreement but which further comprise one of the dirtiest oil-producing regions in the world.”

Penn Capital Star: Pa. needs to act now to close its ‘low producing well’ loophole to fight methane emissions
Allen L. Robinson is University Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, and the David and Susan Coulter Head and Raymond J. Lane Distinguished University Professor, Mechanical Engineering, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, 6/23/21

“We have seen a profound shift in the conversation on climate change. Instead of debating whether we need to act on climate, the conversation has moved to finding the most effective ways to tackle this existential crisis,”Allen L. Robinson writes in the  Penn Capital Star. “My colleagues and I at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), along with partners across the country, have been working to answer that question through years of research. As the nation’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter and the second largest natural gas producer, Pennsylvania has a critical role to play in finding those solutions… “Our research at CMU was instrumental to EDF’s findings. Simply put, over a million tons of leaked, vented and flared natural gas is a staggering amount of pollution that exacerbates climate change. While it may seem counterintuitive, even low-producing wells can emit large amounts of methane, making frequent inspection of these wells a critical part of any solution to our state’s methane problem. In fact, researchers from the University of Cincinnati found that low-producing wells can leak more natural gas (i.e. methane) than they produce. Here in Pennsylvania, low-producing wells are responsible for just over half of all emissions in the state.”