Extracted: Daily News Clips 7/26/21

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PIPELINE NEWS

• MPR: Judge issues restraining order against Minnesota sheriff in ongoing dispute with Line 3 protesters
• Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: Alex Golden Wolf, a Two-Spirit Indigenous leader from the White Earth Nation, was violently arrested during ceremony at Red Lake Treaty Camp yesterday along with nearly 20 other Protectors
• Facebook: Giniw Collective: Water Protectors Block Pullback of Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline Under Crow Wing River, Lock to Drill 
• Democracy Now: Just Out of Jail, Winona LaDuke Decries Militarized Crackdown on Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Protests
• Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: MPCA Confirms ‘Frac Out’ Spill at Fire Light Camp Site Contains Hazardous, Combustible Additive Plus Two Additional Spills
• WKAR: Anchor Detaches From Line 5 Maintenance Barge In Straits Of Mackinac, Lies On Lakebed
• Facebook: Free Jessica: Protecting Water is Never Terrorism: Repeal Jessica Reznicek’s Terrorist Enhancement, and Free Jessica WEBSITE LAUNCH
• Truthout: Activists Have Shut Down a Memphis-Area Pipeline — But Their Fight Isn’t Over
• Associated Press: Carbon-capture pipelines offer climate aid; activists wary
• Press release: Pembina Terminates Inter Pipeline Acquisition

WASHINGTON UPDATES

• Politico: Biden still hasn’t named a successor for Chatterjee
• Politico: GOP Bills Would Give States Power Over Energy Development

EXTRACTION

• The Northern Review: Coastal LNG project offers much potential, says Nisga’a Lisims president
• OilPrice.com: Big Oil Faces Mounting Pressure To Cut Upstream Emissions

OPINION

• The Hill: Pueblo youth are at the forefront of protecting Indigenous lands
• Resilience.org: Huge carbon capture pipeline network proposed: Industry’s ‘delay-and-fail strategy’ rises again
• Colorado Newsline: Glaring injustices come with the federal oil and gas program
  

PIPELINE NEWS

MPR: Judge issues restraining order against Minnesota sheriff in ongoing dispute with Line 3 protesters
7/25/21

“A judge has granted Line 3 protesters’ request for a temporary restraining order against officials in northern Minnesota’s Hubbard County, amid an ongoing dispute over access to property used as a protest camp,” MPR reports. “District Court Judge Jana Austad issued the order on Friday against Hubbard County and specifically Sheriff Cory Aukes and Land Commissioner Mark Lohmeier, barring authorities from “barricading, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with access to the property” near Menahga, Minn., that’s being used by Line 3 opponents. “Plaintiffs allege that the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Department has been blockading and restricting access to the property in such a way as to make it practically impossible for the property owner, assignees and guests to enjoy the property. This is substantial violation of plaintiffs’ right to the use and enjoyment of the property,” Austad wrote in granting the order, continuing: “The alleged conduct of the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Department could also, if established, be a deprivation of constitutional rights.” “…The plaintiffs say the sheriff’s office has since made multiple arrests of people using the easement, and also allege that at times authorities have prevented people from entering or leaving the property. In the complaint they call it an “overt political blockade using the power of the State to disrupt and penalize opposition to the building and expansion of the Enbridge pipeline.”

Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: Alex Golden Wolf, a Two-Spirit Indigenous leader from the White Earth Nation, was violently arrested during ceremony at Red Lake Treaty Camp yesterday along with nearly 20 other Protectors
7/24/21

“On July 23, 2021, Alex Golden Wolf, a Two-Spirit Indigenous leader from the White Earth Nation, was violently arrested during ceremony at Red Lake Treaty Camp yesterday along with nearly 20 other Protectors. Water and Treaty Protectors are being threatened and harmed. Treaty rights are being trampled on. Our Indigenous Two-Spirit relatives are being assaulted. Elie Wiesel said “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” It’s time for everyone to stand up and speak out.”

Facebook: Giniw Collective: Water Protectors Block Pullback of Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline Under Crow Wing River, Lock to Drill
7/23/21

“This morning, water protectors blocked a Line 3 drill pad and locked to the Horizontal Directional Drill at the Crow Wing River, as Enbridge attempted to complete the final drilling of Line 3 under the river.  Enbridge is drilling under riverbeds across Anishinaabe treaty — so far spilling “drilling fluid” at 9 different sites, including the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency remains in step with and defensive of Enbridge, stating these “releases” are “not uncommon”.   On Wednesday, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, along with numerous representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers, met with two Anishinaabe nations, tribal representatives, and land defenders to tour portions of Line 3 construction, wild rice beds, and spill sites. The White House remains silent.  Land defenders continue to put it all on the line to defend the sacred. An open call to join the frontlines stands.”

Democracy Now: Just Out of Jail, Winona LaDuke Decries Militarized Crackdown on Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Protests
7/23/21

“Nearly 600 water protectors have been arrested during ongoing protests in Minnesota against the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline at the Shell River, which the partially completed pipeline is set to cross in five places,” Democracy Now reports. “On Monday, authorities arrested Indigenous leader Winona LaDuke and at least six others. She was just released from jail yesterday and joins us after three nights in jail. LaDuke describes how the Canadian multinational corporation Enbridge, which is building the pipeline, has funded more than 40 police squads from around the state to crack down on protests, saying, “It is a civil crisis when a Canadian multinational controls your police force.” LaDuke is executive director of Honor the Earth. She says Enbridge’s efforts to finish construction come as investors are increasingly pulling out of the fossil fuels sector. “Who wants to have the last tar sands pipeline? It’s the end of the party.” “…I was arrested because I wanted to stop Enbridge’s Line 3 from crossing the Shell River. I’ve been appointed guardian ad litem for Shell River by the 1855 Treaty Commission and by my tribe. And Enbridge is trying to finish this line. And along with — it’s now 600 people have been arrested. But we stood there in front of the police for quite a while with our people and, you know, our horses and our children. And they arrested seven of us.”

Facebook: Red Lake Treaty Camp: MPCA Confirms ‘Frac Out’ Spill at Fire Light Camp Site Contains Hazardous, Combustible Additive Plus Two Additional Spills
7/22/21

“MPCA Confirms ‘Frac Out’ Spill at Fire Light Camp Site Contains Hazardous, Combustible Additive Plus Two Additional Spills. Slide 02: Enbridge claimed that a ‘small amount of drilling mud reached the surface’ during a horizontal directional drill. HOWEVER… Confirmation was received this morning from MPCA that the additive used at the  Mississippi River crossing was POLYSELECT POWER PAC™-L, manufactured by Halliburton. Slide 03: Per Halliburton’s Safety Data Sheet, POLYSELECT POWERPAC™-L is 60-100% polysaccharide, ‘may form combustible dust concentrations in air,’ and presents a risk for ‘eye, skin, and respiratory irritation.’ More alaming, the environmental precautions section explicitly states ‘prevent from entering sewers, waterways, or low areas.’ For clean up, materials are to be scooped up and removed. Slide 04: Per a Senior Enbridge representative, there are two confirmed ADDITIONAL spills along the easement at the same site. The representative also stated that their drill is located 60 feet below the river. Does this mean that the POLYSELECT POWER PAC™-L is also 60 feet below the river, in three confirmed spots, and has not been scooped up and removed?”

WKAR: Anchor Detaches From Line 5 Maintenance Barge In Straits Of Mackinac, Lies On Lakebed
By BRETT DAHLBERG, 7/23/21

“A 15,000-pound anchor “decoupled” from a barge doing maintenance work on a pair of oil pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac Wednesday,” WKAR reports. That’s according to the company operating the pipeline. On Friday, Enbridge said it was developing a plan to retrieve the anchor and would have it off the lakebed within days. Both the state and Enbridge said the anchor posed no danger to the line, which was shut down temporarily in 2018 after being struck by another anchor and again last year after a contractor damaged its support structure. “There was no risk to the pipelines. The anchor was placed in between the dual pipelines in an area more than 500 feet from either pipeline per a pre-approved anchoring plan,” said company spokesperson Ryan Duffy. Duffy said the barge carrying the anchor was operated by a contractor “conducting seasonal maintenance” on the lines “in accordance with work plans approved by EPA and the State.” “…The environmental organization, Oil and Water Don’t Mix said this week’s anchor failure “shows once again that there’s no safe way to operate oil pipelines in the Straits.”

Facebook: Free Jessica: Protecting Water is Never Terrorism: Repeal Jessica Reznicek’s Terrorist Enhancement, and Free Jessica WEBSITE LAUNCH
7/23/21

“Since sentencing Jessica has remained on house arrest at the Des Moines Catholic Worker, with her cat Noni who has offered constant comfort and solidarity. The United States Department of Justice has notified Jessica Reznicek that she is scheduled to report to Waseca, MN Federal Correctional Institution on Aug 11th at 2pm. Our hearts are filled with feelings of love and gratitude from all the requests to write letters of support to Jessica. Once she is in prison we will launch a letter writing campaign with all the information and directions on how to do so. The 8th Circuit United States Court of Appeals has set a preliminary deadline of August 19th for an appeals brief to be filed.  The appeal will be focusing on Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger’s misuse of terrorism enhancements at Jessica’s sentencing. Despite federal authorities use of ‘terrorism’ language to describe Reznicek’s actions, no person was harmed by her actions, nor was she technically convicted of any terrorism-related crime.  In plain language, there are already laws on books to punish people for arson, and without the domestic terrorism enhancement Jessica would be looking at less than half of the 8 year sentence she has wrongfully received.  ADD YOUR NAME TO THE PETITION: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/protecting-water-is-never-terrorism-repeal-jessica-rezniceks-terrorist-enhancement. In the meantime, Jessica remains upbeat and heart-strong as she is receiving enormous amounts of support, solidarity and love from folks around the globe. She is currently exploring ways to earn her bachelor degree while in prison through prison correspondence education programs. For more information on Jessica’s case and to continue to support Jessica visit our website: supportjessicareznicek.com  If you are on organization that would like to add your name to the petition or support team fill out this form: https://forms.gle/EVP17qvNmgp5AYRRA”

Truthout: Activists Have Shut Down a Memphis-Area Pipeline — But Their Fight Isn’t Over
Leanna First-Arai, 7/24/21

“As the dust settles on their victory, the coalition of activists and community members that opposed the Byhalia Connection oil pipeline in greater Memphis, Tennessee — which developers officially canceled on July 2 — are continuing to mobilize, because they say a risk to the land, water, climate and community remains,” according to Truthout. “…As MLK50 reported shortly after the announcement, developers have said that community members who received compensation can keep it. But as with the canceled Keystone XL and Atlantic Coast pipelines, developers still retain indefinite rights to access parts of privately owned land along the canceled route… “Justin Pearson, co-founder of Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP), told Truthout that having an out-of-state company continue to own land access is exploitative. “It’s violence upon people’s bodies and people’s souls having to be treated this way.” Anti-pipeline organizers around the country concur, noting that the retaining of indefinite rights leaves the possibility of future disenfranchisement wide open. “It’s a one-time payment for a lifetime of risk,” Nebraska organizer Jane Kleeb told Truthout. Kleeb is the founding director of Bold Nebraska, which helped lead opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline. “There’s no reason why a pipeline company needs a forever-agreement,” she said… “Meanwhile, Kleeb of Bold Nebraska said she’s concerned about a relatively new threat — that TC Energy may later use or sell the easements they still own along the canceled Keystone XL route to build compressed carbon pipelines as part of a future carbon-capture network.”

Associated Press: Carbon-capture pipelines offer climate aid; activists wary
By STEPHEN GROVES, 7/24/21

“Two companies seeking to build thousands of miles of pipeline across the Midwest are promising the effort will aid rather than hinder the fight against climate change, though some environmental groups remain skeptical,” according to the Associated Press. “The pipelines would stretch from North Dakota to Illinois, potentially transforming the Corn Belt into one of the world’s largest corridors for a technology called carbon capture and storage.Environmental activists and landowners have hindered other proposed pipelines in the region that pump oil, carrying carbon that was buried in the earth to engines or plants where it is burned and emitted. The new projects would essentially do the opposite by capturing carbon dioxide at ethanol refineries and transporting it to sites where it could be buried thousands of feet underground. Both companies planning the pipelines appear eager to tout their environmental benefits. Their websites feature clear blue skies and images of green fields and describe how the projects could have the same climatic impact as removing millions of cars from the road every year. However, some conservationists and landowners are already wary of the pipelines’ environmental benefits and safety, raising the chances of another pitched battle as the projects seek construction permits. “It seems like they are running a casino of risk and we are going to pay for it,” Carolyn Raffensperger, the director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, told AP, expressing fears about a leak that could put North Dakota landowners like herself at risk. “We need to think this through very carefully, and I do not see the players in place to do that.” “…But Raffensperger still has a range of concerns, including whether a technology that was developed by oil and coal companies can be trusted to make a transformative difference in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Raffensperger’s organization joined over 500 other environmental organizations in an open letter to Biden denouncing carbon capture and storage as a climate solution. “We don’t need to fix fossil fuels; we need to ditch them,” the group wrote in a Washington Post ad. “Instead of capturing carbon to pump it back underground, we should keep fossil fuels in the ground in the first place.”

Press release: Pembina Terminates Inter Pipeline Acquisition
7/26/21

“Pembina Pipeline Corporation (“Pembina”) (TSX: PPL) (NYSE: PBA) today announced that it has terminated the arrangement agreement with Inter Pipeline Ltd. (“Inter Pipeline”) (TSX: IPL) providing for the proposed acquisition by Pembina of Inter Pipeline, in accordance with its terms. In connection with the termination, Inter Pipeline has agreed to pay Pembina the C$350 million termination fee provided for in the agreement. Pembina’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Mick Dilger said, “The industrial logic of a combined Pembina and Inter Pipeline remains unparalleled and the value creation between certain of our assets is impossible to replicate by any other entity. While we are disappointed with this outcome, we will continue to seek opportunities for growth through focused acquisitions.”

WASHINGTON UPDATES

Politico: Biden still hasn’t named a successor for Chatterjee
7/23/21

“Biden still hasn’t named a successor for Chatterjee,  delay that’s anguishing Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), who has been pushing legislation to put FERC at the center of greening American energy,” Politico reports. “If [the White House] believe as I do — and they have said they do — that climate is existential and we have to act, that appointment should have been pre-cleared and ready to go the minute that Chatterjee stepped down,” Casten told ME. “We don’t have a lot of time and I’m not going to lie to you, I am troubled by the fact that we don’t even know who the nominee is yet.” Casten introduced a bill this week, the Energy PRICE Act, that would compel FERC to take emissions into consideration while calculating energy rates. He also unveiled a “Hot FERC Summer” social media campaign to raise awareness about the commission, which Anthony discussed in the POLITICO Energy Podcast . Casten, who spoofed the “Hot Girl Summer” lyrics in introducing his measure on the floor this week, also admitted he leans more old school than Megan Thee Stallion. “I will confess, I grew up on 80s hip hop, which has some influences on my musical preferences.”

Politico: GOP Bills Would Give States Power Over Energy Development
7/23/21

“Republican senators from oil and gas regions want states to have more control over energy development, including the controversial resource extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing,” Politico reports. “The long-standing push from GOP lawmakers has intensified this session in response to the White House’s climate review of the Interior Department’s oil program and the promise of regulatory reform. Republican Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, a senior member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, reintroduced two bills to shift control of energy development on federal lands to state officials. ‘With the Biden administration working to undo our efforts to bring regulatory relief to Oklahoma’s oil and gas producers, the need to return power back to the states where it belongs is more important now than ever,’ Inhofe said in a statement. The ‘Federal Land Freedom Act,’ S. 2394, would allow states to develop their own regulatory programs to oversee drilling on federal land. It would also reverse the practice of oil revenues flowing to the federal government before being split with states. Under the legislation, states would collect revenues and send 50% to the federal government. The bill exempts Native American lands, national parks, wildlife refuges and congressionally designated wilderness areas… “Inhofe also reintroduced the ‘Fracturing Regulations are Effective in State Hands (FRESH) Act,’ S. 2393. The bill would give states the exclusive right to regulate fracking on all lands within their borders.”

EXTRACTION

The Northern Review: Coastal LNG project offers much potential, says Nisga’a Lisims president
ROD LINK, 7/25/21

“With an estimated $55 billion in economic impacts over a projected 30-year lifespan, a proposed floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on lands owned by the Nisga’a Nation off of the north coast offers much potential for the Nisga’a, the region and the country, says Nisga’a Lisims Government president Eva Clayton,” according to The Northern Review. “But for every benefit there are as many questions surrounding the Ksi Lisims LNG project, she acknowledged. “It’s still very early days,” Clayton told the Review, following an initial filing of project information with the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office, the provincial agency which examines projects and passes the findings to the provincial cabinet for decision-making. “There are a lot of moving parts.” “…Ksi Lisims, which translates as “from the Nass”, is a partnership between the Nisga’a Nation, a collection of seven B.C. and Alberta natural gas producers banding together calling themselves Rockies LNG and a group of LNG-experienced entrepreneurs called Western LNG based in Houston, Texas. Western LNG has no production facilities of its own and this would be its first venture. The exact ownership structure of Ksi Lisims has not been released. Clayton said the Nisga’a received a number of inquiries beginning in 2014 when it actively began promoting its coastal lands for their LNG export terminal possibilities.?

OilPrice.com: Big Oil Faces Mounting Pressure To Cut Upstream Emissions
7/25/21

“Pressure is mounting on the oil and gas sector to clean up its act and reduce emissions from operations, the so-called Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions,” OilPrice.com reports. “Many of Europe’s largest oil corporations, including Shell, BP, Eni, Repsol, and Total, have imposed their own targets to cut carbon intensity from their upstream operations as they have pledged to become net-zero emission businesses by 2050 or sooner. The pressure from investors and shareholders is also growing, including on the oil industry to reduce the so-called Scope 3 emissions—those emissions generated by the use of their products… ““U.S. supermajors Exxon and Chevron, who—unlike Europe’s giants are not investing in solar or wind energy—are betting on carbon capture and storage. So are many European oil firms in hopes of reducing their carbon footprint and helping whole industrial clusters to decarbonize. In the United States, Exxon created earlier this year a new business, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, to commercialize its low-carbon technology portfolio, focusing first on CCS. Chevron also bets on CCS as one area in which it would invest in the coming decades.  The biggest oil firms believe that CCS is one of the ways to help carbon-intensive industries to reduce their emissions, as a growing number of companies in various sectors are committing to net-zero operations within the next two to three decades.”

OPINION

The Hill: Pueblo youth are at the forefront of protecting Indigenous lands
Julia Fay Bernal is the executive director of the Pueblo Action Alliance, 7/25/21

“Pueblo people are the direct descendants of Bears Ears, Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde therefore, it is within our cultural interest to protect these sacred landscapes,” Julia Fay Bernal writes in The Hill. “Under the Obama administration, Bears Ears was designated as a national monument, a cultural classification under the Antiquities Act. The advocacy for protecting Bears Ears was led by Indigenous nations with a historical and cultural stake in how the landscape is managed. These actions for land protections were motivated by ensuring stricter environmental rules and preserving the cultural and spiritual relationship that Southwest Indigenous people have to the landscape… “Across the globe, Indigenous groups are one of the largest populations of people who are actively, spiritually and civically protecting landscapes that encompass natural biodiversity, sacred importance and cultural resources. Therefore, the Indigenous worldview has been actively working to create solutions to address the climate crisis… “The Biden administration must not only take the recommendation from DOI to restore Bears Ears, but it must take recommendations from the sovereign nations and Indigenous groups. Indigenous youth should have access to the stories of Bears Ears and the places where their ancestors lived and thrived. We have the inherent birthright to enjoy our ancestral homelands without interference. President Biden must restore Bears Ears.”

Resilience.org: Huge carbon capture pipeline network proposed: Industry’s ‘delay-and-fail strategy’ rises again
By Kurt Cobb, 7/25/21

“An astute journalist I know once described carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a “delay-and-fail strategy” devised by the fossil fuel industry,” Kurt Cobb writes in Resilience.org. “The industry’s ploy was utterly obvious to him: Promise to perfect and deploy CCS at some vague point in the future. By the time people catch on that CCS won’t work, the fossil fuel industry will have successfully extended the time it has operated without onerous regulation for another couple of decades. And because huge financial resources (mostly government resources) will have gone to CCS projects instead of low-carbon energy production, society will continue to be wildly dependent on carbon-based fuels (giving the industry further running room). The trouble is that the cynical CCS strategy has already been under way and failing for more than two decades already. And yet, it is seeking a renewed lease on life with a proposal for a vast network of carbon dioxide pipelines “twice the size of the current U.S. oil pipeline network by volume.” The public face of the effort is a former Obama administration secretary of energy with a perennially bad haircut, Ernest Moniz. Moniz has a partnership with the AFL-CIO to push the idea. No doubt unions like the project because it would create a lot of jobs regardless of whether it actually addresses climate change.” “…It is troubling that a key official at the U.S. Department of Energy is taking the CCS plan seriously. One would think that decades of failure would finally make clear the false promises of the industry. But, of course, failure is the whole point of the CCS ruse. What’s puzzling is that the failure to date has somehow become a rallying cry to try harder by building one of the biggest boondoggles ever conceived.”

Colorado Newsline: Glaring injustices come with the federal oil and gas program
LISA KONRAD, 7/22/21

“As a Mountain Mama living on Colorado’s Front Range, I am a strong advocate for the protection of our lands and waters so that our children can enjoy our outdoor quality of life for generations to come,” Lisa Konrad writes for Colorado Newsline. “A major way we can create a more resilient future, which our kids deserve, is by addressing the causes of climate change head on, which is precisely what the Biden administration has been doing since Day One… “One of the glaring injustices about the current program, which I’m sure will be addressed in the report, is the amount of money that taxpayers are shortchanged, first in the low royalty rates companies are paying to extract fossil fuels on public land and, second, because companies fail to clean up the wells they leave behind and pass on the exorbitant expense to the public. Recently, Colorado’s own Sen. Michael Bennet reintroduced legislation that would increase funding to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells on federal lands. In addition, we also will likely see more money for “orphaned” well clean up in the bipartisan infrastructure package that will move through Congress this summer… “All of this is welcome news to moms across America. Getting outside is important for our kids, which makes it a must that they have access to a healthy and pollution-free outdoors. All moms want their kids to thrive. We are concerned about the outsized and harmful role oil and gas extraction plays in exacerbating climate change because we do not want to burden our kids with a world mucked up by climate change — a future of air pollution, drought, devastating wildfires, floods, diminishing snowpack and rising temperatures.”