Offshore Oil & Gas

 

Democrats Introduce Bill To Hike Oil Spill Penalties. According to Politico, “A group of California House Democrats introduced legislation last week to increase fines and impose possible prison time for those responsible for violating offshore oil drilling standards and causing a spill. The ‘Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act,’ H.R. 5958, co-sponsored by Reps. Ted Lieu, Julia Brownley, Katie Porter, Alan Lowenthal and Mike Levin, would remove caps and set a minimum on civil penalties while doubling all fines and prison time for each violation. Lowenthal leads the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. ‘Our coastlines face a perpetual threat so long as oil drilling is permitted,’ Lieu said in a statement. ‘The onus should be on oil companies to take all necessary precautions to prevent spills, and they should be held fully civilly or criminally liable should a spill happen.’ Current law on offshore drilling pollution limits civil penalties to $2,000 per barrel and almost $50,000 per day. It also mandates that the relevant agency or a judge set criminal penalties, which runs the risk of the punishment being too low, bill backers said. The legislation comes a month after a pipeline released more than 144,000 gallons of crude off the coast of Southern California. The spill triggered calls from Democrats to enact a federal oil and gas leasing moratorium off the West Coast and elsewhere (E&E Daily, Oct. 5).” [Politico, 11/16/21 (=)]

 

Company Behind Calif. Oil Spill Faces DOJ Probe, Money Concerns. According to Politico, “The company whose ruptured pipeline spilled 588 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean earlier this fall is now facing a Department of Justice probe, in addition to seven other investigations by federal and state agencies, it disclosed yesterday in financial filings. Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. also expressed concerns about whether it will be able to cover the cleanup costs amid mounting investigations and lawsuits. At least 14 lawsuits have been filed against Amplify, the company noted in its filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Amplify is liable for cleanup costs and some damages, the filings said. While Amplify does have insurance in place to cover incidents like the spill, including the lost income from shut-in production during the investigations, the company said it could not anticipate the full price tag of the spill or whether its insurance will be sufficient. ‘Although we are insured against various risks to the extent we believe it is prudent, there is no assurance that the nature and amount of such insurance will be adequate, in every case, to indemnify us against liabilities arising from future legal proceedings,’ Amplify disclosed.” [Politico, 11/16/21 (=)]

 

Amplify Energy Faces Federal DOJ Probe After California Oil Spill. According to Politico, “The company whose underwater pipeline is tied to the Southern California oil spill is the subject of a U.S. Justice Department probe into the disaster, it revealed Monday. Why it matters: The DOJ joins a long list of federal, state and local agencies investigating the Houston-headquartered company, and its involvement raises the prospect of federal criminal charges. Amplify Energy also disclosed that it is facing 14 lawsuits and doesn’t know how much money the spill will ultimately cost it. The filing: Amplify wrote in a quarterly earnings filing that the ‘significant litigation and enforcement risk’ against it now includes a probe by U.S. prosecutors, in addition to the ongoing federal investigations by the Coast Guard, the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Amplify also said that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies ‘are expected to initiate enforcement actions seeking penalties and other relief under the Clean Water Act and other statutes.’ The company said it anticipated ‘increased regulatory scrutiny’ through new legislation and regulations. Federal and state lawmakers have already called for drilling bans in their respective waters. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced last month that his office, the Orange County district attorney and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are conducting their own probes of the spill.” [Politico, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

And The Gulf, Too. According to Politico, “While environmentalists heralded DOI’s Chaco Canyon move, more than 60 groups and advocates wrote to Biden on Monday urging him to stop the sale of new leases on over 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling. The auction scheduled for Wednesday is for leases that are projected to produce over 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years. ‘We are asking you to deliver on the climate promises you made on the campaign trail — to take immediate, concrete steps to overhaul the federal fossil fuel program and end new fossil fuel leasing,’ the groups wrote in their letter. But the White House says it has no choice but to comply with a June court order that found the administration’s earlier pause on new oil and gas leases unlawful. ‘The administration has made clear that it disagrees with the ruling and the Department of Justice has appealed it,’ a spokesperson said, noting the administration had sought to avoid the sales.” [Politico, 11/16/21 (=)]

 

Marine Renewable Energy

 

Congress Poised To Dramatically Alter Clean Energy Subsidies. According to Politico, “The renewable tax credits are one piece of a wider attempt to green the economy. The reconciliation bill also includes tax credits for renewable manufacturing, for example. The PTC and ITC are designed to complement those efforts with a combination of carrots and sticks intended to encourage renewable developers to buy American-made components. Developers would be eligible for a 10 percent bonus on top of the PTC or ITC if they source many of their components from the United States. But that carrot comes with a significant stick. Developers effectively need to meet domestic content requirements in order to claim a direct payment. That might seem like slight change, but it represents the difference between a developer needing to work with a lender to raise tax equity or simply receiving a check from the government. ‘If manufacturing workers and their communities do not see the economic gains in climate action, there is not going to be the political will necessary to do what we need to do over the next several decades to meet our climate goals,’ said Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a labor group that championed the provisions. Congressional and industry sources said the domestic content requirements have been among the most heavily negotiated provisions in the bill. Renewable interests have pushed to increase developers’ flexibility, particularly for offshore wind, which is a nascent industry in the United States with a limited domestic supply chain. The bill includes something of a compromise, allowing developers to apply for an exemption from the Energy Department in the event domestic parts are not available.” [Politico, 11/16/21 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Endangered Whales Off US Coast At Center Of Fierce Fight. According to The Hill, “A judge ruled in favor of Maine’s multimillion-dollar lobster industry, pushing back on efforts to protect endangered species and limit how much fisherman can capture marine life. The seafood industry is a huge part of Maine’s economy; in 2018 the state’s lobster fishery alone was valued at more than $400 million and brought in approximately 119 million pounds of lobster. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), American lobster was the most valuable single species harvested in the U.S. But all that harvesting has affected marine life. The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium (NARWC) announced in October that the North Atlantic right whale population dropped to 336 in 2020, an 8 percent decrease from 2019. The group said 2020 was the lowest number for the species in nearly 20 years. The federal government had attempted to protect endangered right whales, with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo authorizing a partial closure of a fishing zone along the Maine coast that would have prohibited the use of buoy lines that many marine life are hurt or killed by. It was intended to restrict commercial lobster fishing for four months and was the first step in a 10-year plan to protect North Atlantic right whales.” [The Hill, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

Lawsuit Over Whale Protections Off Maine's Coast To Proceed. According to The Center Square, “A federal judge has declined to throw out a lawsuit against the federal government seeking tougher rules to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from collisions with ships. The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Law Foundation and other environmental groups in 2012, seeks to force the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) to take aggressive steps to protect the right whale population by setting a speed limit for vessels to prevent collisions. The groups filed a new petition to the court last year accusing the federal agency of dragging its feet on responding to their request for new whale protection rules. The Biden administration had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but U.S. District Court judge Amit Mehta ruled on Wednesday that the federal agency ‘cannot ignore its obligation to fully and properly consider a petition for rulemaking.’ ‘At this juncture, the fact NMFS hasn’t already addressed deaths due to vessel collisions is beyond incomprehensible,’ said Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation. ‘We hope this will force the agency to take emergency action rather than wait until next spring to start a new rule-making process.’” [The Center Square, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

Arctic Climate

 

Ice On The Edge Of Survival: Warming Is Changing The Arctic . According to Associated Press, “The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet and is on such a knife’s edge of survival that the U.N. climate negotiations underway in Scotland this week could make the difference between ice and water at the top of the world in the same way that a couple of tenths of a degree matter around the freezing mark, scientists say. Arctic ice sheets and glaciers are shrinking, with some glaciers already gone. Permafrost, the icy soil that traps the potent greenhouse gas methane, is thawing. Wildfires have broken out in the Arctic. Siberia even hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Even a region called the Last Ice Area showed unexpected melting this year. In the next couple of decades, the Arctic is likely to see summers with no sea ice. As she returns regularly to Greenland, Moon, a researcher with the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, said she finds herself ‘mourning and grieving for the things we have lost already’ because of past carbon dioxide emissions that trap heat. But the decisions we make now about how much more carbon pollution Earth emits will mean ‘an incredibly large difference between how much ice we keep and how much we lose and how quickly,’ she said.” [Associated Press, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

Sea-Level Rise

 

New York Regulator Wants Insurers To Disclose Climate Risks. According to Bloomberg, “New York State’s financial regulator called on insurers to consider climate-related risks in their business planning and provide related disclosures. The guidance published Monday by the Department of Financial Services directs insurers based in the state to account for their exposure to rising sea levels and climbing global temperatures. That includes disclosing climate risk and incorporating the dangers posed by climate change into risk-management frameworks. ‘Climate change is an urgent issue that poses wide-ranging and material risks to the financial system,’ DFS Acting Superintendent Adrienne Harris said Monday in a statement. ‘Insurers, which are uniquely impacted as climate change affects both sides of their balance sheets, also play a critical role in managing climate risks.’ The guidelines build on proposals outlined in March, adjusted through feedback from groups including insurers and climate experts. They arrive as regulators across the globe implement or consider implementing measures that would help to quantify how exposed financial institutions are to climate change.” [Bloomberg, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating In Maine. In York County, Hundreds Of Millions In Property Value Is At Risk. According to Maine Public Radio, “Sea level rise is accelerating along Maine’s coast. This year, record high water levels have been documented in Bar Harbor, Cutler and Wells. For coastal communities it means threats to buildings and infrastructure, the loss of beaches and intrusion of salt water into private wells. A modest 1.6 foot rise, which is expected by the year 2050, will result in a 15-fold increase in coastal flooding. Some areas of York County are especially vulnerable as storms become more frequent and more intense. For decades, Camp Ellis in Saco has been the poster child for the destructive power of rising seas which have destroyed three dozen homes and washed away several streets. Coastal damage to the once thriving fishing hamlet has been compounded by the construction of a 150-year-old jetty that altered wave action and carved out chunks of the shoreline. But other coastal communities in York County are increasingly feeling the effects of storm surge. ‘So this is kind of a picture of what a future low tide would look like with sea level rise,’ says Peter Slovinsky, a marine geologist with the Maine Geological Survey.” [Maine Public Radio, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

Rise In Sea Level Due To Temperature Change Projected With Interactive Maps. According to KFMB-TV, “The effects of climate change can be seen all around us. To help us better visualize the change, one organization has produced animations of what sea-level rise will look like around the world and close to home. Andrew Pershing is the Director of Climate Science at Climate Central, an organization that conducts scientific research on climate change. ‘It’s really to help people see what the stakes are for all us all over the world with the choices we’re facing,’ Pershing said. ‘So we modeled 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming and compared that with 3 degrees of warming specifically through sea-level rise.’ One model shows the Hotel Del Coronado at the current sea level. By sliding a bar, you can look into the future and how temperature changes affect the sea level rise or fall. ‘So if we do go to that 1.5 degrees Celsius that we target, we will continue to experience sea-level rise even after that mid-century levels off,’ Pershing said this would dramatically affect coastlines. ‘1.5 degrees of warming leads to about 10’ of sea-level rise which is a radical change around the world’s coastlines,’ he said. On our current path, the scenario is much worse. Pershing explained, ‘And 3 degrees leads to 20’ of sea-level rise which is catastrophic to many places around the world.’” [KFMB-TV, 11/15/21 (=)]

 

 

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