General News
Op-Ed: Gas Is Too Risky For Our Climate Future.
According to an op-ed by Katie Rock in the Des Moines Register, “Last month’s polar vortex and other extreme weather events from the past year in Iowa and nationally have shown us
the risks of continuing to rely on fossil fuels. As fuel lines froze, large volumes of gas and coal power plants were not able to operate during extreme cold putting millions at risk. Massive power outages caused millions of people, from here in Iowa down
to Texas, to survive against the raw elements. Some suffered and died due to hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, or fires caused by burning their own belongings for warmth. While some renewables were also forced offline, clean energy was largely more reliable
than fossil fuels during this crisis. Extreme weather and natural disasters show us time and again the need for a comprehensive shift to a clean, reliable energy system that keeps us healthy and does not worsen our climate crisis. We should reject claims that
renewable energy is less reliable than our dependence on fossil fuels. Our energy grid needs critical infrastructure updates to continue to expand clean energy as the effects of climate change accelerate. It is time to take a hard look at how to build a more
resilient electricity system in Iowa. These moments of extremes are happening more often and reveal how vulnerability leads to injustice. Increasing investment in local distributed energy could have helped prevent the blackouts that affected over 5 million
people across the U.S. We can start by adding on-site solar and storage to our most critical community spaces — hospitals, schools, and essential businesses — to offer support and shelter for times of crisis. It should be clear now that generating more power
from out-of-state gas in Iowa is a risky deal. Building more of the same will not fix this problem. It will only make it worse.” [Des Moines Register,
3/2/21 (+)]
Analysis: Here’s Why This New Fracking Ban In The Northeast Is A Big Deal.
According to Zoya Teirstein in Grist, “The Delaware River Basin, a 13,539-square-mile area bisected by a sparkling river that stretches from New York’s Catskill Mountains to the Delaware
Bay, is officially closed to fracking. Last week, a little-known but powerful interstate commission called the Delaware River Basin Commission, or DRBC, voted 4-0 to make a 2010 de facto ban on fracking in the basin permanent. The ban, which outlaws fracking
in Marcellus Shale gas deposits in the parts of the four states that fall within the basin’s boundaries, is the result of more than a decade of work by regional environmental groups and growing public opposition to fracking. It may be the biggest anti-fracking
milestone in the Northeast to date. Vermont, Maryland, and New York state permanently banned fracking in 2012, 2017, and 2020, respectively, but Vermont doesn’t have any natural gas to speak of, while Maryland and New York have small reserves. Seven Pennsylvania
counties within the Delaware River Basin sit over the northeast’s Marcellus Shale rock formation, which holds trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. Natural gas is extracted from the shale via a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which typically
involves shooting pressurized water mixed with sand and chemicals — some of which, like methanol, are hazardous to human health — into the shale to crack it open. Those chemicals can seep into the surrounding environment and have been found in drinking water
supplies. ‘This is a really important win both for the environment, for the Delaware River Basin and for all the groups who have been fighting this for so long,’ Wes Gillingham, associate director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, one of the environmental groups
that has been pushing the DRBC to adopt a permanent fracking ban, told Grist.” [Grist,
3/3/21 (+)]
AUDIO: New Investigation Finds Fracking Chemicals In The Bodies Of People In Southwestern Pa.
According to the Allegheny Front, “Unexplained nosebleeds, rashes and migraines are just some of the health problems reported by Southwestern Pennsylvania residents who live near
fracking activity. Telling the story of some of these people’s experiences of physical and mental strain is just one piece of a two-year investigation by Kristina Marusic, a reporter for Environmental Health News. The four-part series also relies on data.
In the summer of 2019 urine samples were taken from the members of five non-smoking families in Washington County, which has the most fracked wells in the state, and Westmoreland County. Air samples from personal air monitors worn by study participants, and
water samples from the families’ homes, were also collected. Scientists at the University of Missouri analyzed the samples for 40 chemicals most commonly used in the fracking industry. The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple spoke with Marusic about the investigation’s
findings and implications.” [Allegheny Front,
3/2/21 (+)]
Top Oil And Gas Lobbying Group Close To Backing A Carbon Tax.
According to the Washington Post, “The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying arm, is edging closer to endorsing a carbon tax, a tool that would make
fossil fuels more expensive, boost prospects for renewable and nuclear energy, and curb pollution that is driving climate change. But a paper being weighed by an API policy committee would back a carbon tax as an alternative to federal regulation and policies
aimed at slowing climate change. And many analysts and lawmakers doubted the sincerity of any such API move because it is highly unlikely Congress would adopt a carbon tax — allowing the trade group to appear to support climate action while risking little.
The draft statement, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, says that ‘API supports economy-wide carbon pricing as the primary government climate policy instrument to reduce CO2 emissions while helping keep energy affordable, instead of mandates or prescriptive
regulatory action.’ Coming up with the right language is key for API’s nearly 600 members at a time when President Biden wants urgent action in the fight against climate change. His administration is looking at measures that would slash fuel consumption, clamp
down on methane emissions, make buildings more efficient, and limit drilling on federal lands. API’s president Mike Sommers is eager to be part of those discussions, especially to prevent limits on drilling, moderate regulations on methane emissions and influence
the terms of the climate plans required by all signatories to the Paris climate accord, which the United States just rejoined. Environment and climate groups doubt that the draft endorsement was significant. Maya Golden-Krasner, deputy director of the Center
for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said ‘the API’s move would be little more than a public relations ploy, and the Biden administration shouldn’t be taking policy cues from the standard polluters’ playbook.’” [Washington Post,
3/2/21 (=)]
Pa. Pipeline Reopens More Than 2 Years After It Exploded.
According to E&E News, “Gas is flowing again through a pipeline more than two years after it exploded outside Pittsburgh. Energy Transfer LP has settled with Pennsylvania regulators
who had blocked the company from restarting the Revolution pipeline natural gas gathering system that snapped in a September 2018 landslide. The blast caused no injuries but destroyed a house as its owners fled. The agreement with the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP) allows Energy Transfer to put the 40-mile, 2-foot-wide Revolution into service, the department said in a news release. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported that gas is flowing through the line. Energy Transfer gave state
officials notice that it would put the pipeline into service Monday. Energy Transfer did not respond to a message sent yesterday. The company demonstrated that the steep slopes into which the pipeline has been laid are sufficiently safe, the DEP said Monday.
The company has also submitted a plan describing how gas would be safely removed from the pipeline after a leak or a landslide. The settlement includes a $125,000 fine. It dismisses DEP’s order issued in November 2020 blocking the company from putting gas
in portions of the pipeline buried in steep slopes. Energy Transfer had appealed that decision (Energywire, Dec. 20, 2020). The latest agreement also requires the company to fix drainage problems along the steep slopes, submit a revised stability plan and
check on the pipeline daily until continuous monitors are installed.” [E&E News,
3/3/21 (=)]
John Kerry Warns Big Oil. Big Oil Pushes Back.
According to E&E News, “White House climate envoy John Kerry starkly warned the oil and gas industry yesterday that it could be left behind if it doesn’t clean up its products and
transition to cleaner forms of energy. The heads of the top three U.S. oil companies said the administration should tread carefully and argued that the world will rely on fossil fuels for decades. The back-and-forth occurred virtually during panels at CERAWeek
at IHS Markit. Along with his warning to the oil industry, Kerry called for a revamped electric grid and a major push on ‘green,’ or renewable, hydrogen. ‘On hydrogen, that’s a jump ball right now. We need to get much more involved in the development of that,’
he said. Kerry pitched the Biden administration’s push to tackle climate change and cautioned that legacy fossil fuel providers could find themselves with stranded assets if they don’t change their business practices. ‘The market is changing, people want electric
vehicles, they’re looking for solutions,’ Kerry said. ‘If you’re a chieftain of an oil and gas company, you can’t help but read the tea leaves, the spreadsheets of what’s coming in front of you as you look at where the market is going.’ Kerry, who spoke on
a panel with Obama-era Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, outlined a future in which people are buying less gasoline, adding that President Biden intends to build 500,000 EV-charging stations and wants to transform 500,000 school buses to run on electricity. ‘Where
is the revenue going to come from?’ Kerry said of oil and gas companies. He charged that some companies are ‘obviously fighting to hold off that inevitability, but that fight is useless and you’re going to wind up on the wrong side of this battle.’” [E&E News,
3/3/21 (=)]
Pipeline Firm Outlines Eminent Domain Case At Supreme Court.
According to E&E News, “The developer of the PennEast pipeline called for the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ‘deeply flawed’ decision blocking the company from seizing
state-controlled land in New Jersey to build its 116-mile natural gas pipeline. In its opening brief to the high court this week, PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC, said the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2019 ruling ‘seriously misunderstands both eminent domain
and sovereign immunity.’ The 3rd Circuit had found that the private company could not bring the Garden State to court to take 42 parcels of land, most of which had easements from the state for recreation, agriculture and conservation purposes. The pipeline
project would carry natural gas from northern Pennsylvania to New Jersey. The 3rd Circuit ruled that the company’s action violated New Jersey’s constitutionally protected ‘sovereign immunity.’ PennEast argued that the court’s ruling broke with decadeslong
interpretation of the federal government’s ability under part of the Natural Gas Act to delegate eminent domain authority to private companies. ‘The decision below not only is wrong but poses an obvious threat to pipeline development,’ PennEast wrote. ‘It
provides a road map for converting state lands — including the beds of rivers forming state boundaries — into barriers to pipeline development,’ the company continued. ‘That prospect well illustrates why the framers granted the new federal government the power
to regulate interstate commerce and why this Court should reverse.’ The pipeline company warned that the 3rd Circuit decision had created an exemption for state property ‘only by applying a novel, double-barrelled ‘clear-statement’ rule.’” [E&E News,
3/3/21 (=)]
Enviros Press EPA On Smog Concerns In Permian Basin.
According to E&E News, “A New Mexico-based environmental group, citing soaring pollution levels stemming from oil and gas development in the Permian Basin, wants EPA to declare a
large chunk of the state’s southeastern corner out of compliance with its latest ground-level ozone standard. The redesignation is needed to fully protect public health, address environmental injustices and ensure ‘this dangerous air pollution is cleaned up
in a timely and effective manner,’ WildEarth Guardians wrote in the petition today to acting agency Administrator Jane Nishida. The filing asks Nishida to both deem four counties on the New Mexico side of the basin in nonattainment with the 70-parts-per-billion
ozone limit set in 2015 and also prod state regulators to crack down on the issue. While EPA in 2017 had listed the area in attainment, ‘the situation has since become much worse, principally because of the explosion of oil and gas extraction in the area,’
the petition says. From 2017 to 2019, three ozone monitors in the area have registered readings as high as 99 ppb, according to accompanying numbers. Under the framework that EPA uses to gauge nonattainment, all three registered levels above 70 ppb for the
same three-year period. Ozone, a lung irritant that is the primary ingredient in smog, is formed by the reaction of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in sunlight. The latest EPA emissions data indicates that oil and gas operations are the top
sources of both pollutants in the region, according to the petition. WildEarth Guardians, headquartered in the state capital Santa Fe, also assailed the New Mexico Environment Department for continued "rubber-stamping" of air permits of new and modified oil
and gas facilities in the Permian Basin.” [E&E News,
3/2/21 (=)]
Dems Float Bill Package To Reform Oil And Gas Oversight.
According to E&E News, “Western House Democrats introduced a suite of bills today that would reshape the federal oil and gas program by increasing the royalty rate on federal land
and reducing methane releases. The federal oil and gas program is under scrutiny as President Biden moves to keep campaign promises to tackle the climate crisis. The president signed an executive order shortly after taking office halting new leasing until
the Interior Department completes a climate analysis, which could lead to increased royalty payments for new drilling. Five bills today from California and Colorado lawmakers are reintroductions of previous legislation that has failed to get traction with
Republicans but that may enjoy more momentum in a Democratic-controlled Congress. A bill from Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), who will head the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, would increase the onshore royalty rate paid
by oil producers from 12.5% to 18.75%. The bill, a mirror of one introduced by then-Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah last session, would lead to the first onshore oil and gas royalty rate update since the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, guaranteeing a ‘fair price’ for
public resources, Porter said in a statement. Supporters of reform have compared federal rates with much higher obligations on state and private lands. Texas, in some cases, charges as much as 25% in royalties. Energy operators, however, argue that federal
lands already come with added costs compared with state and private tracts. Legislation from Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) would press the Bureau of Land Management to cut excessive methane waste in the federal oil patch.” [E&E News,
3/2/21 (=)]
Western Governors Want Input On Biden Oil And Gas Orders.
According to E&E News, “As the Interior Department considers changes to the federal oil and gas program, Western governors in a letter to President Biden said they should be consulted
about moves that could have broad impacts on their states’ economies. Soon after taking office, Biden signed an executive order that mandates a climate assessment of the federal oil and gas program, which may contemplate increased royalty payments to offset
climate costs. All new auctions of drilling rights on federal lands and waters are on hold until the program review is complete. The president called for much stricter reforms during his campaign, including a potential ban of new leasing and permitting on
federal lands. Those ideas have stoked concern that the administration may seek to hold back on future oil and gas activity. In a letter yesterday to the president, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D), the Western Governors’ Association’s current chairperson, and Vice
Chair Gov. Brad Little (R) of Idaho said Western state leaders should participate in the programmatic review given their knowledge of environmental regulations and the local industry. ‘Climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies that rely on federal
land disproportionately affect western states,’ the governors wrote. They added: ‘We do not want to see a shift of jobs and energy activity to other states or nations that may not have enacted the strong environmental standards adopted by many western states.’
The Biden administration’s oil and gas actions in its first months — which have included halting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and the pause on new oil and gas leases — have inspired pushback from industry and its allies on Capitol Hill.” [E&E News,
3/2/21 (=)]
Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
202.448.2877 ext. 119