Offshore Oil & Gas

 

EPA Seeks To Dismiss Chevron Appeal Against Offshore Air Permit Policy. According to InsideEPA, “EPA is seeking to dismiss Chevron’s appeal of what the company says is a policy requiring broad air permit review of offshore oil platform decommissioning near the California coast, arguing that its reversal of an earlier Trump waiver of air permitting is not ‘final action,’ but also defending its more-expansive view of Clean Air Act requirements. The agency’s handling of the permit policy could impact several pending offshore projects, such as wind farms, which would require outer continental shelf (OCS) permits and would also eventually require decommissioning. In a Jan. 21 brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit case Chevron USA, Inc. v. EPA, the agency says that its April letter to the company overturning the Trump administration waiver is neither ‘final agency action’ that qualifies for judicial review, nor a national policy issue that the court should hear. But the agency restates its view that ‘deconstruction of an offshore platform is very similar to the construction of an offshore platform’ in terms of air emissions. The April letter gives the agency’s view on the decommissioning of the Gail and Grace platforms, for which Ventura County is the delegated air permitting authority.” [InsideEPA, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

Marine Renewable Energy

 

Coastal Towns Go To Court Seeking More Input On Offshore Wind. According to NJ Biz, “A new lawsuit seeks to block the current offshore wind plans of the Biden and Murphy administrations, so as to allow more time for public input from several Jersey Shore communities. The two-count suit was filed Jan. 10 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the group Save Long Beach Island, a nonprofit that says the massive offshore wind proposals haven’t examined enough ways to avoid harming New Jersey’s commercial fishing and tourism industries, as well as the state’s fragile marine ecosystems. ‘The real purpose is to revisit the election of these wind energy areas, because it was … basically done without any public input,’ said Bob Stern, president of Save LBI, in a phone interview. The suit alleges that the Biden administration’s plans to lease 480,000 acres off the coasts of New Jersey and New York for offshore wind development violate two key environmental protection laws – the U.S. National Environmental Policy Act and the U.S. Endangered Species Act – by essentially bypassing them. As a result, the projects are moving forward without consideration for their impact on endangered species living in the area of the proposed turbines, as well as the state’s commercial fishing industry and local tourism along the Jersey Shore, according to the suit.” [NJ Biz, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

NC Offshore Wind Project Could Net $4.6B In Economic Benefits, Report Says. According to Charlotte Business Journal, “The North Carolina Offshore Wind Cost-Benefit Analysis calculates the size and timing of the project using the wind goals Gov. Roy Cooper outlined in a June executive order. The study presumes the project would be built in the Wilmington East offshore development field identified by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.” [Charlotte Business Journal, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

Westwood Sees Oil And Gas Expanding Its Footprint In Offshore Wind. According to Upstream, “Consultant Westwood Global Energy believes oil and gas operators will continue to ramp up their investments in offshore wind this year, while floating wind appears to also be picking up pace. In an insight on key themes to watch in offshore wind in 2022, Westwood said it expected the oil and gas sector’s increased spending on offshore wind in recent years to continue, either through the purchase of equity in existing projects or winning new development tenders. Several oil and gas companies have already got off the mark with expanding their offshore wind portfolios in 2022, with consortia being led or supported by BP, Shell and TotalEnergies being offered option agreements last week of over 9.9 gigawatts in the UK’s ScotWindoffshore wind lease auction. Westwood noted the three supermajors, along with Italy’s Eni, had been particularly active in auction processes of late, placing bids either as a sole entity or in partnership with other stakeholders that compliment or augment their offshore wind capabilities. Excluding the auctions, Westwood stated the four companies had equity stakes in projects either in the planning; engineering, procurement, construction and installation; or operational phase, that were equivalent to 8GW of capacity, on an equity basis.” [Upstream, 1/24/22 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Rescue Team Searching For Humpback Whale Trapped In Debris Off Hawaii. According to The Hill, “Officials are searching for a humpback whale that was entangled in heavy-gauge line near Hawaii on Sunday and is apparently still weighed down by some debris, reports Kauai newspaper The Garden Island. The whale was reportedly first discovered by Koloa resident Graham Talaber while he filmed sea turtles at Brennecke’s Beach using a drone camera. ‘I noticed the rope and a dark spot at the end of the rope,’ Talaber told The Garden Island. ‘I hovered there for 10 or 15 minutes before it finally surfaced. My worries were confirmed when I saw the humpback at the end of the big net.’ Talaber and his father called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which responded within 30 minutes. Rescue officials removed 2,000 feet of line from the whale, which had surfaced about 100 yards away from shore. The NOAA described the whale to The Garden Island as emaciated and light-colored. It had ‘whale lice’ on its skin, an indicator of poor health.” [The Hill, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

Ocean Temperatures Favor Salmon, But Population Decline Still Concern. According to Public News Service, “Recent data on ocean conditions could be good news for struggling salmon in the Northwest. But advocates for the species warn this isn’t enough to stop their alarming slide. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expecting ocean waters to remain cold and more food abundant for the fish along the West Coast. However Miles Johnson, senior attorney with Columbia Riverkeeper, noted this doesn’t necessarily mean better conditions for a crucial part of their lives - in the rivers where salmon spawn. ‘It’s good to be in a good cycle,’ said Johnson. ‘But what this is is an opportunity to fix the problems that we have in the freshwater and jumpstart some kind of recovery. It’s not going to get us out of the hole that we’re in.’ Climate change is another factor. A recent study from Columbia University’s Earth Institute shows land temperatures are increasing 2.5 times faster than ocean temperatures, meaning wildlife in land and river systems are more vulnerable to the warming climate. Johnson said the biggest impediments for endangered salmon species are the four dams on the lower Snake River. He said the dams turn the river into dangerously hot lakes for the migrating fish, and the quickest and most effective way to remedy this is by breaching them.” [Public News Service, 1/24/22 (=)]

 

Arctic Climate

 

Surprises Ahead At Antarctica's "Doomsday Glacier". According to Axios, “Scientists are in a race to understand the fate of a massive glacier in West Antarctica that has earned the disquieting nickname, ‘The Doomsday Glacier,’ Andrew writes. Why it matters: Studies show the Thwaites Glacier could already be on an irreversible course to melt during the next several decades to centuries, freeing up enough inland ice to raise global sea levels by at least several feet. The focus right now is on the glacier’s floating ice shelf, which acts as a doorstop to hold back inland ice. Driving the news: David Holland, an atmospheric scientist at NYU who is taking part in an international field campaign, told Axios yesterday that he and his team aim to gain a better understanding of what is taking place near the glacier’s grounding line. This is where floating ice meets land ice. Holland spoke with Axios via satellite phone aboard an icebreaker en route to Thwaites. The big picture: Knowing more about the grounding line conditions will help scientists to model the glacier’s likely future. If the ice shelf were to significantly melt or even collapse, it could have potentially catastrophic consequences for coastal cities worldwide. Thwaites’ meltwater already comprises about 4% of global annual sea level rise.” [Axios, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

Sea-Level Rise

 

Fact Check: NASA Did Not Deny Warming Or Say Polar Ice Has Increased Since 1979. According to USA Today, “NASA researchers have documented the loss of trillions of tons of ice from Earth’s poles due to human-driven climate change. However, a meme began circulating again in late 2021, claiming ‘NASA now admits polar ice has increased beyond its 1979 volume and there’s been no significant warming in 18 years.’ One example of the meme, originally posted on Facebook in October 2020 and circulating anew last month, has garnered hundreds of shares. Although the meme’s text implies a recent statement by NASA, USA TODAY found examples of the meme dating back to 2016. USA TODAY could not find any evidence that NASA made the claimed statements. NASA data shows that Arctic sea ice and ice sheets at both poles have been steadily losing ice for decades and that warming has continued over the last 18 years. Antarctic sea ice has not exhibited a strong overall trend of gain or loss since 1979. USA TODAY reached out to Facebook and Twitter users as well as a blogger who shared the meme for comment. The Reddit user could not be reached.” [USA Today, 1/21/22 (+)]

 

Editorial: Need For Coastal Resilience Plans Grows Urgent. According to Yahoo News, “Stack four soda cans on top of one another, then visualize water that deep. That’s about how much sea level in Long Island Sound is projected to rise in less than 30 years. It’s enough to put underwater many coastal areas that currently are dry and above the water mark. In addition to this general projection of sea level rise, more frequent storms that more often flood lower lying neighborhoods and streets also are now a reality. Remembering the so-called Big One, that is, recalling the impacts of a particularly fierce storm, is no longer a once-in-a-lifetime memory. Right now, for example, we have only to think back one week to recall when winter storm Izzy flooded some Connecticut downtown areas. In the past year, several other such storms locally caused similar results. With the realities of a warming climate upon us here in coastal Connecticut, it’s become an imperative for local officials to plan for and better prepare their communities to withstand the impacts of stronger and more frequent coastal storms and flooding. It’s good news that Groton recently became the most recent community to begin the work to do just that.” [Yahoo News, 1/23/22 (+)]

 

Ocean Health & Management

 

Texas May Get A Coastal Storm Barrier, But Will It Be Too Late?. According to Texas Tribune, “Through hurricanes and flooding, Jerry Mohn has waited a long time for the federal government to build the kind of protective barrier that could shield Galveston’s coastline from devastating storm surges triggered by massive weather events. In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the island town with head-high floodwaters and 110-mile-per-hour winds that caused billions of dollars of damage and killed dozens of people. ‘Look what happened with Ike — the same thing could happen again,’ said Mohn, a longtime Galveston resident and beach preservation advocate. ‘It devastated Galveston Island completely, the downtown flooded, all the beaches were destroyed — it was just really bad.’ The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one. Protecting Galveston isn’t the only goal of a massive series of infrastructure projects meant to limit the devastation from extreme weather. Scientists have modeled worst-case scenario storms that also make clear the potential for devastation in nearby Houston. Given that the state’s largest city is home to millions of people and the nation’s largest petrochemical complex — and that climate change is expected to make extreme weather more severe and more frequent — the region’s vulnerability to deadly storm surges is seen as both a national security and economic issue.” [Texas Tribune, 1/21/22 (=)]

 

 

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