General News
Biden Plan Would Spend $16B To Clean Up Old Mines, Oil Wells.
According to the Associated Press, “President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan to transform America’s infrastructure includes $16 billion to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up
abandoned mines, a longtime priority for Western and rural lawmakers from both parties. Hundreds of thousands of ‘orphaned’ oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage. The
administration sees the longstanding problem as an opportunity to create jobs and remediate pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Biden said last week he wants to put pipefitters and miners to work capping the wells ‘at the
same price that they would charge to dig those wells.″ Many of the old wells and mines are located in rural communities that have been hard-hit by the pandemic. Biden’s plan would not only create jobs, but help reduce methane and brine leaks that pollute the
air and groundwater. Methane is a powerful contributor to global warming. The Interior Department has long led efforts to cap orphaned wells — so named because no owner can be found — but does not assess user fees to cover reclamation costs. Bond requirements
for well operators, when known, are often inadequate to cover full clean-up costs. […] Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has long pushed to expand the mine-lands program, which he calls
crucial to his state. ‘It cannot be forgotten that West Virginia coal miners powered our country to greatness,″ Manchin said. While many mine lands in coal communities have been reclaimed, ‘there is still much more work to be done to clean up damage to the
land and water in those communities,″ he said.” [Associated Press,
4/1/21 (=)]
Investors Renew Push For EU Methane Emissions Standard On Gas: Letter.
According to Reuters, “A group representing European investors managing 36 trillion euros ($42.3 trillion) in assets renewed pressure on the European Commission to introduce mandatory
methane emissions standards for natural gas, a letter seen by Reuters showed. The EU is the world’s biggest gas importer, buying around 80% of the fuel from elsewhere. The largest chunk of the imported gas comes from Russia, where satellites have detected
big methane leaks along gas pipelines. Methane has more than 80 times the planet-warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period in the atmosphere. Currently there are no rules in place in the EU to disincentivise importing gas from methane-leak
prone infrastructure situated outside the EU, but a new legal framework is expected by the end of the year. The Commission has said the legislation will require oil and gas companies to monitor and report methane emissions and repair leaks. It has said it
will consider imposing methane standards for gas. A 12-week public consultation on the new rules started last month, prompting IIGCC to renew its call from May 2020 for tighter methane rules on natural gas imports into the bloc. ‘We believe we have the ear
of the policymakers now,’ Iancu Daramus, senior sustainability analyst at Legal & General Investment Management, which is a member of IIGCC, told Reuters. ‘We reiterate the call to establish a mandatory performance standard, requiring a minimum of 0.25% intensity
of upstream supply covering all gas sold in the EU by 2025, striving to achieve 0.2% where possible,’ the letter said.” [Reuters,
3/31/21 (=)]
13 States Urge Court To Halt Biden's Oil Leasing Freeze.
According to E&E News, “A coalition of 13 Republican state attorneys general are pressing a federal court to swiftly block the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas
leasing on public lands and waters. Led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, the states asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to immediately bar agencies from enacting the president’s January executive order calling for
review of the environmental impacts of the federal leasing program. The states’ request for a preliminary injunction yesterday stems from a lawsuit filed by the coalition last month (Energywire, March 25). Biden’s ‘ban does not cite the statutory frameworks
requiring oil and gas leasing, explain how the moratorium comports with those statutes and accompanying regulations, or give any reason for the moratorium,’ the attorneys general wrote in a court filing supporting their request. ‘Nor does it explain why the
Federal Government so drastically changed course without allowing interested parties to express their views,’ they continued. ‘Each of those failings is fatal to the ban.’ The states argued that the president had not considered Congress’ requirements under
the Mineral Leasing Act or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that the federal government offer federal lands and waters for development. The Biden administration has maintained that the leasing pause will not hurt fossil fuel companies, which have a substantial
reserve of undeveloped leases available to them. The attorneys general noted that as a result of the order, the Bureau of Land Management started postponing or canceling all planned quarterly lease sales as well as sales in March and April.” [E&E News,
4/1/21 (=)]
Biden's $16B Oil Well Cleanup Plan Faces Climate, State Test.
According to E&E News, “If President Biden wanted to see the implications from his proposed infrastructure plan, he could have looked out the window yesterday on the way to his speech.
His motorcade passed by several abandoned oil and gas wells on the way from Pittsburgh International Airport to a union hall in the wooded hills outside Pittsburgh. Biden wants to spend $16 billion to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells, coal mines, and hard
rock mines. Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of thousands of wells that were left unplugged before the state required companies to clean up their sites. Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has at least 297, according to the state Department of Environmental
Protection. ‘It’s a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we’ve seen or done since we built the Interstate Highway System and the space race decades ago,’ Biden said yesterday, adding his infrastructure plan would be the biggest investment
in the U.S. since World War II. It’s an open question, however, how far $16 billion would go to fix abandoned oil and gas wells — and whether Biden’s plan would clash with existing state efforts to plug wells. Nationwide, as many at 3 million orphan wells
are dotted across states from Appalachia to California, and most oil patch states don’t have enough funds to plug them. Unplugged oil and gas wells can leak methane, oil and brine, and they’ve contributed to air and water contamination around the country.
A McGill University study on the methane impacts of orphan wells published last year said abandoned wells are the least understood contributor to climate-warming emissions in the U.S. ‘We don’t have a good sense of if they are leaking, what their impacts are.”
[E&E News,
4/1/21 (=)]
States Ask Court To Block Biden Order Pausing Leasing. According to Politico, “A coalition
of red states challenging Biden’s executive order pausing new oil and gas leasing on public lands on Wednesday asked a district court in Louisiana to issue a preliminary injunction against it, effectively restarting leasing. ‘Because this so-called ‘pause’
alters potential lessees’ right to participate in sales—and Plaintiff States’ entitlement to proceeds from lease sales under [the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act] and the Five-Year Program—it is a substantive rule that cannot be imposed by fiat, but must
be promulgated following the APA’s notice-and-comment procedures,’ the states wrote. Industry groups are suing separately in Wyoming but have not yet asked that court to block Biden’s order.” [Politico,
4/1/21 (=)]
German Official Calls For Construction ‘Moratorium’ On Nord Stream 2 To Repair U.S. Relations.
According to Politico, “Germany’s Transatlantic Coordinator Peter Beyer on Wednesday called for a construction moratorium on the Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany undersea natural gas
pipeline, in what could signal a change in German policy. ‘The project is a serious stumbling block for the restart of transatlantic relations,’ Beyer told a German weekly. ‘The Americans expect us not only to change our rhetoric, but also to let actions speak
for themselves. I, therefore, advocate a construction moratorium for Nord Stream 2. ‘ Beyer’s position is in the federal foreign ministry; the ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment as to whether his statements represent the government’s
stance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel in December said her support for Nord Stream 2 was ‘completely unchanged.’ She added in January that sanctions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump were ‘not OK.’ However, the domestic political pressure on
U.S. President Joe Biden to stop the pipeline has increased in recent weeks. Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz continues to block confirmation of key State Department nominees until the Biden administration imposes mandatory sanctions on the Russia-backed pipeline
passed by lawmakers this year. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week called Nord Stream 2 ‘bad for Europe, bad for the United States,’ but Biden is keen to repair frayed transatlantic relations. Nord Stream 2 is more than 90 percent complete, with
less than 150 kilometers of pipe left to be laid in German and Danish waters. Gazprom said last week the pipeline would be finished this year.” [Politico,
3/31/21 (=)]
Biden Pitches $16B Cleanup Of Abandoned Mines And Wells.
According to E&E News, “President Biden today proposed spending $16 billion to make the most significant federal investment in cleaning up abandoned mines and orphaned oil and gas
wells in recent history. The proposal is part of the White House’s $2 trillion infrastructure package Biden is set to unveil in Pittsburgh this afternoon. The Biden administration touted the plan as, in part, a jobs program, saying it would ‘put hundreds of
thousands to work in union jobs plugging oil and gas wells and restoring and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines,’ a policy briefing on the package says. Cleaning up these sites would remediate safety hazards, as well as reduce air and water
pollution, the briefing says. While the funding could boost efforts to clean up the vast inventory of abandoned mines and idle wells across the country, advocates noted it would only make a dent in the total expected cost. ‘The $16 billion proposed must only
be a down payment. We need a comprehensive plan, with comprehensive funding, to manage the decline of fossil fuels and strengthen our outdated mining safeguards,’ said Lauren Pagel, policy director at Earthworks, in a statement. EPA has estimated that cleaning
up hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mines, which are scattered throughout the West, could cost more than $50 billion, according to Earthworks. On the Navajo Nation alone, there are at least 524 abandoned uranium mines. The federal government, however,
doesn’t have a dedicated hardrock mine reclamation fund. EPA’s Superfund program covers some of the costs.” [E&E News,
3/31/21 (=)]
Greens Pressure Interior To Block Drilling At Fla. Preserve.
According to E&E News, “Environmental groups are calling on the Biden administration to halt a proposal to drill for oil and gas in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve. A coalition
of more than 100 conservation groups this week urged Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to reject Texas-based Burnett Oil Co.’s requests to drill for oil in the preserve, warning that such a move would be inconsistent with President Biden’s push to combat climate
change, protect public health, conserve biodiversity and deliver environmental justice. Big Cypress National Preserve, located just north of the Everglades, is a unit of the National Park System. Yet some of the oil and gas beneath the preserve is privately
owned, and a 1974 agreement gave Burnett Oil access to minerals below the surface. Burnett leases the right to explore for, and extract, oil from Collier Resources Co. and is requesting permission to build new roads and oil well pads in the preserve, according
to the letter. The company needs permission from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which grants water permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Burnett specifically wants to drill a new oil well south of Interstate 75, build an access
road near a major entrance to the preserve and the Florida National Scenic Trail, and drill a second well less than 500 meters from Miccosukee tribal lands. But conservation groups argue that both sites are located in wetlands and primary Florida panther habitat.
‘These proposed oil wells and their associated land clearing, equipment storage, wetlands filling, hydrologic alterations, staging areas, access roads, drilling rigs, storage tanks, fuel tanks, water wells, disposal wells, reserve pits, grading, erosion, sedimentation,
and potential oil spills — on their face — would be detrimental to the explicit purposes of the preserve,’ they wrote.” [E&E News,
3/31/21 (=)]
Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
614.570.3644
He/Him