General
News
Los Alamos Scientists Say Their New Technology Could Cut Methane Emissions By 90%.
According to Forbes, “Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed new
technology that they say could reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, by up to 90%. In work funded by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), a team of three has devised machine learning codes that
analyze the speed and direction of wind currents to trace methane leaks back to their sources. The only real hardware involved is a small methane sensor developed by a California startup, Aeris Technologies, Inc. — although the scientists’ algorithms can be
used to analyze the data coming off almost any gas and wind sensor, including, potentially, sensors attached to cars or drones. Currently available methods to detect methane leaks, such as infrared scanners, are cost-prohibitive at scale. The new technology
raises the possibility that a network of methane-sniffing sensors at oil and gas facilities could be used to generate real-time methane leak maps, giving firms the ability to dispatch technicians to stanch leaks almost as soon as they occur. Lead scientist
Manvendra Dubey and his two Los Alamos team members, Bryan Travis and Jeremy Sauer, have already spoken with several potential commercial partners interested in working with them to commercialize the technology. The team hopes that their software — a type
of machine learning code called a ‘neural net’ — will be adopted widely by the energy industry. ‘This is probably the most meaningful thing I’ve worked on since graduate school,’ said lead scientist Manvendra Dubey in a phone interview, recalling his days
as a PhD student in atmospheric chemistry at Harvard, where he studied stratospheric ozone depletion.” [Forbes,
11/23/20
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Federal Agency Proposes Rule Aimed At Blocking Banks From Not Financing Arctic Drilling.
According to Anchorage Daily News, “The federal government on Friday released a proposed
rule aimed at limiting large banks from pulling their financing from Arctic oil and gas projects, after several banks announced policies that prohibit or limit their investment in such projects, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, some
experts and activists said the rule’s impact, if it is finalized, could be muted if banks can show that opting to not finance Arctic oil projects is a financial decision, not a political one. The head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent
bureau under the Treasury Department, said on Friday that the banking system’s capital and services must be accessible to everyone on equal terms. Banks can decline to support individual projects or customers based on reviews of their risk, said Brian Brooks,
acting comptroller of the bureau. But they cannot take sweeping policy approaches that affect only certain sectors in what is part of a ‘creeping politicization’ of the banking industry, he said. […] The proposed rule is consistent with the 2010 Dodd–Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and could lead to enforcement actions for banks violating it, it says. The proposal follows a letter in June from Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, with Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young,
to the head of the Federal Reserve, the comptroller of the currency and the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to the proposed rule. The letter said the financial institutions’ policies might be discriminating against Alaska Natives who
rely on the oil and gas industry for their livelihoods.” [Anchorage Daily News,
11/20/20
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Methane Hits Record High As Oil Majors Plan New Emission Cuts.
According to E&E News, “More than 60 oil and gas companies committed to a new framework
today to report methane emissions as the United Nations reported that atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas reached a record high. The plan from the Climate & Clean Air Coalition’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) tasks companies with reporting methane
emissions from both their core operations as well as joint ventures. As a part of the voluntary framework, companies will share their own methane reduction targets with OGMP, an initiative managed by the U.N. Environment Programme. The plan revamps an existing
OGMP framework and calls on companies to outline how they will realize their objectives to cut methane emissions. The 62 companies that have joined OGMP represent an estimated 30% of global oil and gas production, according to the partnership. The group said
it seeks to deliver a 45% reduction in the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions by 2025. Individual targets from the companies — which include European firms like Equinor ASA, Total SE and Royal Dutch Shell PLC — will be reviewed periodically, in line
with a ‘common objective to continuously reduce greenhouse gas emissions.’ Methane is the chief component of natural gas. Mark Brownstein, a senior vice president of energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, said while the framework is voluntary, it’s still
an ‘important contribution to advancing the cause’ of lowering oil and gas methane emissions. EDF has worked with the Climate & Clean Air Coalition since 2014, Brownstein said, and helped take OGMP and the methane reporting framework to its latest form.” [E&E
News, 11/23/20
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Biden's Proposed Oil Drilling Ban May Not Be A Hit With Democrats In New Mexico.
According to the Washington Post, “It’s one of Joe Biden’s boldest campaign pledges for
tackling climate change. But it’s one that would have a big impact on a Democratic stronghold. New Mexico is waiting to see whether the president-elect follows through on a promise to ban new oil and gas drilling on public lands. As Juliet Eilperin and I report,
any effort to halt new oil and gas permits on federal acreage will face significant legal and political hurdles — including from many Democrats in oil-producing states. Nowhere is the tension within the Democratic Party over the issue of a potential drilling
ban greater than in New Mexico. The spotlight on the Land of Enchantment, which has voted blue in all but one presidential election since 1992, comes as Biden appears primed to pick a New Mexico Democrat to be his interior secretary. Rep. Deb Haaland and Sens.
Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich are each in the running to be Biden’s top public lands manager. Whoever is chosen will be charged with trying to wind down the oil and gas leasing program that has financially benefited the state, should Biden follow through on
his campaign promise. For years, New Mexico politicians have talked about the dire need to address climate change as the Southwest region faces deadly heat waves and prolonged droughts. Yet at the same time, pumpjacks bobbing across the desert landscape funnel
money to local governments and school districts through royalty payments and other drilling fees. The state accounts for 57 percent of oil production on federal land and nearly a third of onshore gas extraction, according to a recent industry analysis released
in September in anticipation of the battle over drilling, which projected New Mexico could lose $1 billion a year in federal revenue if all drilling activity ceased.” [Washington Post,
11/20/20
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FERC Eminent Domain Pipeline Battle Heats Up.
According to E&E News, “Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) asked the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission last week to provide documents on how it handles landowner complaints about natural gas pipelines, reviving a debate about the federal role in eminent domain. In the letter, the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights
and Civil Liberties requested FERC produce information about a number of agency practices, including certificate extensions for pipelines and the status of FERC’s dispute resolution service, which is intended to assist landowners in conflict with pipeline
companies. When FERC determines that a pipeline is required for ‘public convenience and necessity,’ an energy developer is permitted to take private land under existing rules through eminent domain. If companies are running behind schedule, they can apply
for a certificate extension. Raskin said these extensions prolong landowners’ ‘suffering and lack of access to their full property.’ He cited the delayed Mountain Valley pipeline, which is under construction to run through Virginia and West Virginia. FERC
recently granted the pipeline a two-year extension to complete the project. Raskin also pressed FERC on the disposition of property for canceled projects. With the recent termination of the Atlantic Coast pipeline, he said he is concerned about what happens
to land taken through eminent domain for a pipeline that will no longer be built. ‘There appears to be no process to ensure that this land reverts back to the property owner, or that the land is not used for an entirely different purpose than the one approved
by FERC and accepted by the courts in eminent domain proceedings,’ he said. Raskin further asked for FERC information on land restoration tied to the Midship pipeline in Oklahoma.” [E&E News,
11/23/20
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AP | N.M. Increases Enforcement Of Cleanup At Oil Sites.
According to E&E News, “The New Mexico State Land Office that oversees thousands of oil
and natural gas development leases in a major U.S. petroleum-production basin is expanding environmental enforcement efforts to ensure that oil field sites get cleaned up and restored as leases expire. At an online news conference last week, the agency announced
enhanced reviews at oil-lease sites that pose immediate environmental concerns. Officials say the initiative already has resulted in completed environmental reclamation efforts at sites spanning roughly 11 square miles, and the plugging of nine oil wells within
the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico. At the same time, the land office indicated it has filed nine lawsuits aimed at cleanup compliance against leaseholders for oil and gas development, a salt-water disposal well operator and others. The efforts are
aimed at holding oil field businesses accountable for ground spills of oil, natural gas, polluted or brackish water used in the drilling process as well as abandoned well pads, tanks for liquids, pipelines and roads. State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia
Richard said the effort ‘is about accountability and enforcement and really taking the requirements that are in that legal contract that [leaseholders] have with us and ensuring that they are properly adhered to.’ The State Land Office collects as much as
$1 billion annually in revenue from a variety of business activities on state trust land to benefit public schools, hospitals and other institutions. Oil and gas development accounts for the agency’s largest revenue source. Wind energy projects and livestock
grazing also are part of the mix.” [E&E News, 11/23/20
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Transition 2020: How Biden May Save U.S. LNG In Europe.
According to Politico, “President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to crack down on greenhouse
gas pollution could help rescue liquefied natural gas producers in Texas who are seeing climate-minded European customers start to snub U.S. gas shipments. U.S. LNG shipments to Europe have soared since the first U.S. tanker landed there in 2016. But even
as those European countries seek to diversify their sources of energy, the pressure to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution is threatening to close off opportunities for U.S. LNG producers because of the poor emissions controls used to produce the gas in
the U.S. in the first place. It could end up that Biden’s promise to take quick action to reduce emissions of methane, the main component of natural gas, may ironically contradict one of President Donald Trump’s closing campaign themes: that electing the former
vice president would spell doom for U.S. fossil fuel producers. The Trump administration rolled back methane regulations for new oil and gas wells in August, and last month, a federal judge in Wyoming struck down a 2016 Obama administration rule designed to
rein in methane emissions from oil and gas production on public lands. While natural gas emits half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned, the methane can leak from wells and equipment used to transport it, offsetting the climate advantages the fuel has
over coal. While European Union countries took delivery of 36 percent of overall U.S. LNG cargoes in 2019, buyers there are now taking a closer look at how the industry addresses those leaks.” [Politico,
11/23/20
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Oil Versus Climate Change: The Economics Of Drilling In The Arctic.
According to CNBC, “The Arctic is not a barren, frozen wasteland. It’s home to some of
the most unique ecosystems in the world. More than this: it’s home to people. Those people are at the center of the controversy over drilling for oil in the Arctic. The Trump administration is now starting the formal process of selling leases in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to oil companies, according to the New York Times. The move comes after the Trump administration opened the refuge for oil drilling in August 2020. There are potentially billions of dollars in untapped oil and gas reserves in the Arctic.
But, there is value in keeping the region untouched, too. The Arctic provides more than $281 billion per year in fishing, oil, mineral extraction, tourism and climate stabilization services, according to a preliminary assessment done in 2016 by environmental
economist Tanya O’Garra, who worked at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University at the time the research was conducted. ‘The Arctic provides the entire world with climate stabilization, and in the absence of that, we may well
see changing growing seasons, more hurricanes, more droughts and more unstable climate,’ O’Garra told CNBC.” [CNBC,
11/21/20
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GE Signs Agreement To Develop Vietnam LNG Power Plant.
According to Bloomberg, “General Electric Co. and a Vietnamese company signed a memorandum
of understanding to develop an LNG power plant near Ho Chi Minh City. The signing between GE and EVN Genco3 took place during an event with President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien in Hanoi on Saturday. O’Brien, in Vietnam for a three-day
visit which includes meetings with government officials and a speech to international relations students, said the companies will develop a plant that will provide 3,600 megawatts of power. GE will be contracted to install the gas turbine technology and some
other equipment, and will take an equity stake in the project, according to White House officials accompanying O’Brien. ‘GE will look to supply gas turbines and associated equipment and services for the project estimated at more than $1 billion over the lifetime
of the project,’ a company spokesperson said. The Long Son LNG power complex will be in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, an industrial area on the coast near Ho Chi Minh City, the White House officials said. GE and Genco3 have been doing feasibility studies for two
years to find a location for the LNG-to-power project, they said. If the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province approves the project, the consortium will start the first phase with a goal of being operational by 2025, officials said. The project will also involve Pacific
Corporation, Vietnam’s Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 2, or PECC2, as well as Mitsubishi Corp.’s local unit.” [Bloomberg,
11/21/20
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AP | Utility's Application For Natural Gas Pipeline Approved.
According to E&E News, “Michigan’s Public Service Commission has approved Consumers Energy’s
application to build a wider natural gas pipeline. The new Mid-Michigan pipeline will be 36 inches wide and replace an existing, 20-inch line between Ovid, north of Lansing, and Chelsea, west of Ann Arbor, according to the agency. Construction of the new 56-mile
pipeline is expected from 2023 to 2024. Its cost is estimated at $550 million. The Jackson-based utility said the existing line is more than 70 years old and that replacing it would increase Consumers Energy’s overall system resilience and remove a gas-supply
bottleneck in the smaller pipeline. Consumers Energy proposed rerouting portions of the pipeline to avoid more densely populated areas. The Public Service Commission said its order found that the replacement pipeline will address corrosion issues and seam
weld and other anomalies on the pipeline, remove the bottleneck and otherwise provide a more resilient and flexible natural gas system.” [E&E News,
11/23/20
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Biden Faces Uphill Battle To 'Permanently' Protect Alaska Wildlife Refuge.
According to The Hill, “President-elect Joe Biden faces several obstacles to fulfilling
his pledge to work toward ‘permanently protecting’ the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but he’ll also have a few executive tools at his disposal that could thwart drilling across large parts of the Alaskan wilderness. Biden’s climate plan, released during
the campaign, included a promise to protect the 1.6 million acres in Alaska that were opened up to oil drilling during the Trump administration. But unlike many Trump-era policies that Biden aims to undo unilaterally through executive action, the authorization
for drilling along the Alaskan refuge’s coastal plain became federal law through the GOP’s 2017 tax-cut bill, which required two oil and gas lease sales in the refuge by the end of 2024. Still, there are some avenues Biden can pursue to reduce drilling or
make it more difficult for the fossil fuel industry. Some of those options will be determined by whether the Trump administration is successful in completing one of the lease sales before Biden takes office on Jan. 20. This past week, the administration published
a ‘call for nominations’ that sought input on which pieces of land should be leased for drilling, noting that a sale was ‘upcoming.’ That came a month after it proposed allowing a company to test for oil deposits in the refuge, home to grizzly bears, polar
bears, gray wolves and more than 200 species of birds. Asked if the administration planned to hold a lease sale before Inauguration Day, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokesperson Richard Packer said in an email that ‘a sale may take place after the nomination
period has closed and a notice of sale [is] published in the Federal Register.’” [The Hill,
11/22/20
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Op-Ed: Biden Opens The Door To Protecting The Arctic Refuge.
According to an op-ed by Kristen Miller in The Hill, “The clock is running out on the
Trump presidency. Trump, who has been called the worst president for our environment in history, and his administration seem determined to light as much of the country on fire as possible before heading out the door. Since the election, his industry insiders
in the Department of Interior (DOI) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been jamming through last minute efforts to push fossil fuel development across public lands and stripping rules and regulations that were put in place to protect the clean
air, lands and waters that sustain us today. At stake are the public lands and wildlife that capture our imagination, along with the rights and cultures of Indigenous peoples and frontline communities who see the impacts in their backyards every day. Nowhere
has this anti-environment agenda been more evident than in Alaska, where the Trump administration has looked to undo protections and sell off public lands in every corner of the state: opening millions of acres of old-growth forest in the Tongass National
Forest to logging; advancing oil extraction in the internationally recognized wetlands of the western Arctic; seeking to undo Arctic Ocean protections that would prevent an icy repeat of Deepwater Horizon; and advancing permitting for a massive gold and copper
mine at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay. Each of these, along with too many more to detail — an illegal land swap in the heart of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, bear-baiting in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and rules that allow the shooting of
wild bears and their cubs or wolves and wolf pups at den sites — present threats to wildlife, to people and to our ability to effectively combat climate change.” [The Hill,
11/22/20
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On The Way Out The Door: The Trump administration issued a proposed rule yesterday to weaken
Obama-era safety regulations for offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The Interior Department said in a statement that the revisions would ‘remove unnecessary, burdensome provisions’ in the 2016 rules, measures put in place following the Deepwater Horizon
spill. There is no active drilling in the Arctic, after the Trump administration delayed a plan to expand drilling and in other federal waters because of a federal court ruling. The decision blocked Trump from reversing President Barack Obama’s ban on oil
and gas drilling in most of the Arctic Ocean and a small portion of the Atlantic Coast. But the Trump administration and industry groups want to pave the way for the U.S. to stay competitive in the Arctic. ‘The U.S. may be missing out in a leadership role
in the Arctic, a region where Russia and China are trying to take control and develop,’ Erik Milito, president of the National Oceans Industries Association, told Josh. Short shelf life: Biden will likely quickly dispose of the rule as he has proposed to ban
all new offshore drilling in federal waters. ‘With a new administration coming in that has pledged to keep new drilling out of the Arctic, this is an obvious play to add to the environmental rollbacks that the Trump team has sought and that the incoming Biden
administration will have to roll up its sleeves to fix,’ said Leah Donahey, legislative director of the Alaska Wilderness League.” [Washington Examiner,
11/20/20
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Meanwhile, More Pressure Against ANWR Drilling. According to the Washington Examiner, “A
group of investment firms, conservationists, and indigenous groups are calling on insurers to not support oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group representing indigenous tribes that live in Alaska, organized
a letter yesterday with Boston Common Asset Management and Domini Impact Investments that was sent to insurance giants American International Group and Allianz SE. It’s a new front in a campaign against backing drilling in ANWR after similar lobbying pushed
most large U.S. banks to refuse to finance oil development in the Arctic. ‘The banking industry already sent a loud, clear message to oil companies. Now it’s up to insurers to say no to drilling in the Arctic Refuge,’ said Bernadette Demientieff, executive
director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. Despite the opposition, the Trump administration this week moved to beat the clock on auctioning off oil leases in ANWR before Biden can undo it.” [Washington Examiner,
11/20/20
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Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
202.448.2877 ext. 119