by wp_sysadmin | Mar 31, 2021 | News
OIL
Sponging up oil droplets from Arctic wastewater
Pavani Cherukupally, Advanced Science News, March 29, 2021
A re-usable sponge can capture and recover crude oil droplets from cold water to generate clean water in a fragile ecosystem.
After ten years, the Deepwater Horizon oil spills cleaning efforts are still struggling to remove crude oil droplets from the contaminated water. The removal of oil droplets from wastewater is even more challenging in the Arctic, where an estimated 13% of the world’s undiscovered fossil fuel reserves exist. In the Arctic region, due to ultra-cold temperatures, the crude oil’s viscosity increases, causing oil/water mixtures to become a gel, which poses removal challenges.
Currently, the Arctic oil spills are cleaned by burning or melting the crude oil (warming it from 5ºC to 90ºC) then collecting it from the spill site using secondary methods. This is because as the temperature lowers, the heavier organic compounds in the oil, known as paraffin waxes, precipitate from the crude oil as liquid and solid crystals that accumulate at the droplet’s surface or the oil/water interface. These wax crystals have a preference to join together in an attempt to become stable, pulling surrounding oil droplets along and forming oil-in-water-in-oil mixtures — known as double emulsions and gels — cannot be separated without investing energy.
These onsite heating strategies are far from perfect and could dissolve or evaporate the volatile organics found in the crude oil, causing further damage to the environment. Developing strategies that are better for the environment and more effective at collecting crude oil without having to heat it are sorely needed.
Oil-collecting sponges have been proposed as an alternative, and one that adapts to the crude oil’s environment-dependent properties could offer a simple solution in capturing and recovering oil droplets.
Read the rest of the story
GAS
Hilcorp gas wells near Anchor Point get green light
Sabine Poux, KDLL, March 30, 2021
The state has approved Hilcorp’s plans to drill two gas exploration wells near Anchor Point.
As early as Thursday, the company could start construction on a gravel exploration pad for the company’s Whiskey Gulch prospect. Hilcorp plans to drill two exploration wells there — an oil-gas combination well and gas-only well. An ENSTAR Natural Gas line runs by the site.
Hilcorp proposed drilling the first well in May, testing it in June and suspending and securing it in July. It would drill the second well in July and secure it in September.
Hilcorp also wants to improve the access road to the pad, which begins at the intersection of Cape Ninilchik Avenue and Opportunity Lane.
Plans for Whiskey Gulch are still in the exploration stage. But Hilcorp is slated to begin production soon on another well on the southern Kenai Peninsula: Seaview 8, south of Anchor Point. Hilcorp plans to start production there later this year, after construction delays in 2020.
Related: Judge throws roadblock into Hilcorp oil exploration in Cook Inlet, citing potential impacts to beluga whales
MINING
BMW, Volvo, Google, and Samsung call for ban on deep-sea mining
Cecelia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, March 31, 2021
BMW, Volvo, Google and Korean battery maker Samsung SDI, have vowed not buy metals produced from deep-sea mining until the environmental risks of the activity are “comprehensively understood”.
The companies are the first global businesses to support a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) call for a moratorium on mining the seabed, which could deal a major blow to firms planning to mine the deep ocean this decade.
The signatories have also said they will not finance any deep-sea mining companies.
“Before any potential deep seabed mining occurs, it needs to be clearly demonstrated that such activities can be managed in a way that ensures the effective protection of the marine environment,” they said in the statement.
“All alternatives to deep sea minerals must be explored as a matter of urgency, with a focus on reducing demand for primary metals, transitioning to a resource-efficient, closed-loop materials economy, and developing responsible terrestrial mining practices,” the four companies noted.
Mining the ocean floor has been promoted as an alternative to land-based mining, as demand for minerals needed for a green energy transition, such as cobalt and nickel, are set to exceed current production rates by 2030.
Yet regulations to support the emerging activity have yet to be agreed upon by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The UN-backed body of 167 countries has already issued exploration contracts to 21 companies, but they cannot begin mining until regulation is passed.
An international team of researchers published in 2018 a set of criteria to help the ISA protect biodiversity from deep-sea mining activities while it prepares global rules.
According to the US Geological Survey, the deep-sea accounts for more than half the world’s surface and contains minerals in concentrations several times higher than those found in all land reserves combined.
Finish the article.
POLITICS
Biden’s clean energy infrastructure plan draws interest of lobbyists
Ben Geman, Axios, March 31, 2021
President Biden’s attempt to steer huge energy infrastructure plans through Congress and his wide-ranging executive agenda are together creating intense lobbying and advocacy efforts to shape the policies.
Why it matters: The new proposal for an energy infrastructure package is vastly larger than the roughly $90 billion for clean energy in the 2009 stimulus, and the constellation of interests in play is huge.
Driving the news: Fresh signs are everywhere of efforts to influence the unprecedented infrastructure plan, as well as Biden’s executive agenda.
They range from a burst of K Street lobbying hires by energy interests to new public advocacy campaigns and more.
Here’s just a few snapshots…
- The auto industry’s main U.S. trade group and the United Auto Workers yesterday unveiled an open letter to Biden and Congress on their goals for the package.
- Environmentalists are spending millions on advertising in support of clean energy infrastructure.
- A coalition of green groups and labor this week sent Biden and Democratic leaders a letter calling for a $4 trillion economic package. Bloomberg has more (subscription).
- The oil industry’s most powerful lobbying group laid out its agenda for the administration and Congress last week.
- On Tuesday a coalition that includes Google, Adobe, environmentalists, and energy trade groups sent the White House a letter and memo with proposals for federal clean power procurement.
What we’re watching: One thing is pressure from the left on Biden and lawmakers for an even larger package.
- The umbrella Green New Deal Network is launching a series of efforts today — including billboards in Pittsburgh ahead of Biden’s speech — and in coming weeks in support of the “THRIVE” agenda.
- It’s a $10 trillion, 10-year proposal from progressive Democrats. HuffPost has more.
CLIMATE CHANGE
AP interview: EPA head committed to ‘scientific integrity’
Matthew Daly, AP, March 31, 2021
Moving forward on a pledge to restore “scientific integrity,” the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency is reversing Trump administration actions that sidelined many academic scientists from key advisory boards in favor of industry figures.
Administrator Michael Regan, in an Associated Press interview, said the “reset” of the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee will return EPA to its time-honored practice of relying on advice from a balanced group of experts. He is clearing out the two important panels, although current members can apply for reinstatement.
by wp_sysadmin | Mar 30, 2021 | News
OIL
ANWR resolution headed to D. C. from Alaska Legislature
KINY, March 29, 2021
The State Senate Monday approved a House resolution calling on the federal government to honor recent lease sales and proceed with permitting in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
House Joint Resolution was advanced to third and final reading on the same day and was approved on a vote of 13 to 2.
The resolution will now be sent to the nation’s capital.
GAS
Is Natural Gas Still A Safe Bet For Oil Majors?
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, March 29, 2021
Increased scrutiny over the environmental impact of natural gas—a key source of methane, which is a much more harmful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide—has some industry analysts questioning the long-term prospects of global gas demand in the energy transition.
Big Oil has bet big on natural gas developments in the past decade, expecting incessant growth in demand for decades to come. Today, the majors continue to expect solid demand for natural gas, justifying investments in more production.
But investors and buyers of natural gas have started to fret over the emissions impact of the fuel.
This could create risks for the biggest oil and gas corporations, including Shell, Total, and ExxonMobil, according to Sarah McFarlane of The Wall Street Journal.
Those three supermajors and many other oil and gas companies have bet big on growing their natural gas divisions to meet what they see as continued growth in global gas demand.
The net-zero and energy transition narrative, however, has changed the overall narrative in the gas industry—buyers want net-zero cargoes, while producers and sellers pledge carbon capture and reduction of methane emissions.
Natural gas demand will continue to grow in the coming years, after fully recouping this year the losses from the 2020 pandemic shock, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said earlier this year.
Asia is set to continue leading that growth, while many Western markets, including the European Union (EU), will start to pay more attention to the environmental credentials of natural gas.
MINING
Once in a century opportunity for Alaska
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, March 25, 2021
From a world-class graphite deposit in the Northwest to rare earths on the Southeast Panhandle, Alaska has the potential to offer a sustainable and secure supply to meet the coming explosive demand for the minerals and metals crucial to the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors in North America and around the globe.
International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, estimates that this shift to low-carbon energy and electric mobility will create nearly $23 trillion in market opportunities over the next decade alone.
The window is small, however, for Alaska to leverage its vast mineral wealth to fully take advantage of this one-in-a-century retrofit of global energy and transportation infrastructure.
“There are moments in history when everything changes. Inflection points. We believe such a point is upon us for the mass adoption of electric vehicles,” General Motors Global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl said in January. “Unlike ever before, we have the solutions, capability, technology and scale to put everyone in an EV.”
Toward this end, GM has committed to investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicle products over the next five years and plans to have 30 new EV models on showroom floors by the end of 2025.
Volkswagen, considered the frontrunner for overtaking Tesla when it comes to EV production, recently placed an order for $14 billion worth of batteries and plans to build six giga-scale battery facilities in Europe to help power the roughly 26 million electric cars over that span.
In addition to Tesla’s success in its push to make EVs mainstream, aggressive government climate policies are playing a large role in nearly every major automaker pushing to transition their vehicle production to mostly or entirely electric in the next 10 to 15 years.
In a move that was hailed as a win by every segment of the American clean energy supply chain – from mining companies positioned to feed rare earths and battery metals into the front end to the automotive giants that will need enormous new supplies of those critical minerals to manufacture a new generation of electric mobility – President Joe Biden signed an executive order that instructs federal agencies to investigate what needs to ensure a strong and reliable supply of the materials to the lower carbon energy future envisioned.
“Resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains are going to help revitalize our domestic manufacturing capacity and create good-paying jobs,” Biden said before signing the “Executive order on America’s Supply Chains” on Feb. 24.
The aggressive global push for electric mobility and the renewable energy and charging infrastructure needed to fill EV “tanks” with low-carbon electricity will require a massive amount of new metal supplies.
Alaska hosts vast potential for battery materials such as cobalt, graphite, nickel, and vanadium; renewable energy ingredients such as germanium, rare earths, rhenium, silver, and tellurium; as well as the copper and zinc that will be needed in vast quantities in this transition.
POLITICS
Alaska judge dismisses two election-tampering charges against former state legislator
James Brooks, Anchorage Daily News, March 30, 2021
A state judge has ordered the dismissal of two election-tampering charges against former state Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage. LeDoux still faces eight other charges, including one felony.
A year ago, the state charged LeDoux and two associates with violating state law during LeDoux’s 2018 and 2014 campaigns for the Alaska Legislature.
In January, Judge Michael Franciosi issued an order dismissing two misdemeanor charges that applied to the 2014 campaign. That order, which has not been previously reported, said the state filed its case too late to bring charges against LeDoux.
LeDoux declined to comment Monday.
The other eight charges relate to the 2018 election and are timely. Attorney Kevin Fitzgerald is representing LeDoux and said he believes she will not be convicted.
“I think government has got to be really hard-pressed to convict her of anything,” he said.
He said he believes that based on the available record and what he says is a lack of evidence.
The remaining charges allege LeDoux and two other people — who have also been charged — encouraged ineligible voters to vote for LeDoux in the 2018 Republican primary election.
LeDoux lost her reelection campaign in 2020 and is now out of the Legislature. She was one of five Republicans in the state House who were defeated in the Republican primary.
The former legislator has not yet appeared in court, in part because the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed most courtroom activity. Fitzgerald speculated that a trial will take place no earlier than this fall but said his client is interested in a speedy result.
CLIMATE CHANGE
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
ECONOMISTS INCREASINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE RISKS: An overwhelming majority of economists working on climate change believe immediate action to curb emissions is necessary (74%) and that climate change is likely to negatively affect global economic growth rates (76%), according to a new survey of more than 700 economists released this morning by the Institute for Policy Integrity.
Peter Howard, the institute’s economics director and lead author on the survey, said the growing concern from economists demonstrates how important it is for the Biden administration to increase the social cost of carbon, a metric used to tally the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The White House unveiled an interim value last month, returning to the Obama administration’s value of $51 per ton, but Biden has ordered officials to update the final value by next year.
Howard pointed to the massive projected damages the surveyed economists fear could result from climate change. According to the survey, economists projected damages could reach $1.7 trillion per year by 2025 and $30 trillion per year by 2075 if emissions aren’t reduced.
“That is really a strong indication that there should be serious concern,” Howard told Abby. He added that the models the government uses to calculate the social cost of carbon are known to “have outdated estimates” and don’t model some of the damages from climate change effects.
by wp_sysadmin | Mar 29, 2021 | News
OIL
Iran And China Strengthen Oil Ties With 25-Year Strategic Deal
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, March 29, 2021
China and Iran officially stated they would boost their energy and political cooperation as part of a 25-year strategic partnership agreement at a time when the U.S. is looking to sanction covert Iranian oil exports to China.
This weekend, Iran and China signed the strategic partnership deal to expand relations in areas such as energy, infrastructure, industry, and technology, the office of the Iranian president said in a statement.
The two countries also pledged to boost cooperation in fossil fuels and alternative energy, “security of demand and supply as well as transfer and transportation of fossil fuels and the Chinese side shall consider financing and investing in the up –and-downstream projects of the energy industries in Iran and the Iranian side shall provide the necessary facilitations and support in this respect,” Iran said.
In recent weeks, various reports have suggested that China has been considerably boosting its crude oil imports from Iran—so much so that the ports in the Shandong province, where most independent refiners are based, are experiencing tanker traffic congestions. Increased buying from China has provided more incentive for Iranian oil exports.
According to some estimates, China has been taking in some 856,000 bpd of Iranian crude this month—a 129-percent surge compared to February.
China has never actually stopped buying crude oil from the Islamic Republic, even after the Trump Administration slapped sanctions on Iran’s oil sales in 2018, warning buyers to stay away from Iranian crude or risk being sanctioned and cut off from the U.S. banking system.
The Biden Administration warned China earlier this month that it would not turn a blind eye to rising Iranian oil exports to Chinese ports, the Financial Times reported, citing a senior Biden administration official. According to the report, Washington has not missed the substantial increase in Iranian crude shipments to China. The U.S. has reminded Beijing that there are still sanctions in place against the Islamic Republic.
GAS
Annova Cancels Texas LNG Export Facility Project
Pipeline & Gas Journal, March 26, 2021
Annova LNG announced the immediate cancellation of its liquified natural gas (LNG) export facility under development in Brownsville, Texas, due to changes in the global LNG market.
The project had proposed building a 6.5 MTPA liquified natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Port of Brownsville.
“The entire Annova team is very grateful to the greater Brownsville community for having supported this project for several years,” a statement from the company said. “We are in the process of notifying our supporters, commercial partners and regulatory agencies of this decision.”
The Annova LNG project was being developed by majority owner Exelon Corporation and minority owners Black & Veatch Corporation, Kiewit Energy Group and Enbridge.
The project was still in its development phase and the cancellation should not lead to any layoffs, the Houston Chronicle reported
MINING
Coal country races to shield itself from Biden’s climate plan
Bloomberg News, March 29, 2021
Coal’s slow downfall is gaining momentum across the US as clean energy becomes cheaper and wins widespread support, but lawmakers in mining states from Wyoming to West Virginia are determined to fight back with a series of roadblocks to President Joe Biden’s plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
Seeking to prolong the lifespan of an industry that’s vital to local economies, at least five states are seeking to pass legislation that would give them weapons such as bigger hurdles to shut coal-fired plants, a war chest for potential legal battles, more power to state regulators over utilities, tax cuts and cheaper state insurance for power stations.
The race to shield coal country from an energy transition that Biden contends will generate jobs and wealth in everything from solar-panel manufacturing to wind power generation highlights the political complexity of the shift to renewables. Even some Democrats in coal-producing states support the efforts to protect people’s livelihoods and the funding of schools and other public services in areas that derive income from the dirtiest fossil fuel. Meanwhile, utilities say the measures will drive up costs for ratepayers, while environmental groups say they’re only slowing, not stopping, the eventual move away from coal.
POLITICS
Republican announces run for Murkowski’s Alaska Senate seat
Becky Bohrer, AP, March 29, 2021
An early Republican candidate announced plans Monday to seek the Alaska U.S. Senate seat that has been held since 2002 by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Kelly Tshibaka, who has led the sprawling Alaska Department of Administration since early 2019, in a statement said she is running “for the Alaskans who believe government is of the people, by the people and for the people. The D.C. insiders need to be held accountable to us.”
Her campaign said she was resigning as commissioner in pursuing the Senate race.
Sullivan Vows Murkowski Election Support Despite Trump Challenge
Shawn Donnan, Bloomberg, March 28, 2021
Alaskan GOP Senator Dan Sullivan said he’ll support colleague Lisa Murkowski’s re-election bid despite a vow by former President Donald Trump to campaign against her in 2022.
Murkowski, 63, was one of seven Republicans to join Democrats in a vote in February to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors for his role in inciting a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A majority voted to convict but was short of the two-thirds threshold needed to uphold the impeachment.
CLIMATE CHANGE
What to watch in Biden’s infrastructure rollout
Ben Geman, Axios, March 29, 2021
President Biden is expected to show his cards this week when it comes to energy and climate provisions, he’ll ask Congress to include in a big-dollar infrastructure package.
Why it matters: Biden campaigned on major investments in zero-carbon power, electric vehicle charging, climate-resilient infrastructure and more.
Chances to move a huge package like this come around exceedingly rarely, and specifics have been absent so far.
What’s next: His speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday — and other info the White House may reveal — should provide more clarity on what he wants in the wider infrastructure proposal expected to be well north of a trillion dollars.
Needless to say, we’ll have way more later in the week, and here’s a few things we’re watching…
The pitch: Biden is expected to promote the plan as a major jobs package, but a note from the research firm ClearView Energy Partners said it could also be part of a wider message on competition with China.
- It notes that amid concerns about inflation and with the pandemic receding, the plan may be positioned partly as “an industrial policy by which the U.S. might counter and contain a rising China.”
The specifics: There’s intense interest among energy lobbyists of various stripes, activists, and others to see a huge array of provisions included, and not everyone will come away happy.
- To take just one example, there’s a push to create new tax incentives for battery storage projects.
The strategy: It’s not yet clear how much Biden and Democrats will seek to move through budget reconciliation (the filibuster-proof process that constrains what can be included), or whether there’s an opening for some bipartisan dealmaking.
The lobbying and advocacy: The upcoming plan is the biggest opening for a sweeping climate and clean energy package in a decade.
- Axios’ Hans Nichols reports that progressives are trying to sell the initiative with new cable TV ads arguing clean energy projects will immediately create thousands of jobs.
- And Axios’ Andrew Freedman, in the same story, noted the stakes of that and other advocacy efforts that will surround the bill.
- There may be resistance to making the infrastructure bills too climate-heavy unless the public views clean energy spending as a win/win for jobs and the environment, Andrew notes.
Go deeper: Economists bullish on Biden’s $3 trillion infrastructure plan
by wp_sysadmin | Mar 25, 2021 | News
OIL
Interior’s oil and gas showdown
Matthew Choi, Politico, March 25, 2021
— Interior hosts its forum on oil and gas today, setting up a public sparring match between industry advocates who fear they may lose access to lucrative fields on federal land and environmentalists who want the administration to live up to its promises for tighter regulation.
OIL AND GAS IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Interior Department is hosting a forum on the future of oil and gas today, and the jostling is already in full swing.
Environmentalists are pushing for more teeth in federal regulations, including increasing how much companies should pay the public for fuel production on public land. They also want more backing on cleaning up old wells left open after production ceases.
The oil industry itself has been split on the federal review that Interior has launched on leasing. Major companies have publicly said they’re fine with a temporary pause on new leases that the Biden administration put in place while it goes over the rulebook. But more conservative-minded companies and lawmakers are fighting tooth and nail and using the review to bash the administration, portraying the pause as a total ban (it’s not… at least not yet).
The end game remains unclear. Biden campaigned on halting new oil drilling on public lands, full stop, but his administration is carefully avoiding that language now. When asked about the leasing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki knocked the Trump administration, saying it had “flooded the oil markets with cheap federal leases,” and that “there are oil and gas jobs that are out there. The existing leases will continue. (Biden’s) really talking about future leases.”
But that’s worrying some Democrats. “I don’t think that was either … the president’s intention or the intention of Congress to have a permanent ban,” Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) responded earlier this month when reminded of Biden’s pledge. “We have a broken leasing system, and we need to step back. We need to study it.”
But the administration could view tightened regulations as a win-win if the results are less oil and gas production but more money into public coffers. That’s possible at least in some cases: ME notes that a 2017 GAO report found raising royalty rates for onshore drilling would likely lead to less production on federal land but higher revenues for the government. In Biden-land, that could be considered the perfect outcome.
Here’s a list of who’s speaking at today’s forum.
GAS
Federal gasline funding pitch gets chilly reception in Senate Resources
Elwood Brehmer, Alaska Journal of Commerce, March 24, 2021
Lawmakers expressed skepticism toward the plan backed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to seek more than $4 billion in federal money to spur construction of the $39 billion Alaska LNG Project in their first official briefing on the proposal.
Alaska Gasline Development Corp. President Frank Richards told the Senate Finance Committee March 22 that the state-owned corporation has all 36 of the major federal authorizations and permits it needs to build the megaproject in-hand and is now working to gain support in Washington, D.C. for funding the vast majority of the project’s initial $5.9 billion phase.
Pitched as a development-ready project that would fit well into a massive, nationwide infrastructure spending bill — a stated priority of both the Trump and Biden administrations that has yet to materialize — and an energy project that would help displace dirtier coal and oil use in Alaska and abroad, members of Congress and the new administration are becoming more and more receptive to the concept, according to Richards.
Dunleavy unveiled the latest Alaska LNG funding concept in a late January newspaper op-ed that would have the federal government contribute 75 percent, or about $4.5 billion, of the $5.9 billion AGDC believes it would cost to build the first section of pipeline to from the North Slope to the Fairbanks area as well as spur lines to connect ExxonMobil’s Point Thomson gas unit and Fairbanks utilities to the 42-inch export mainline.
“We’re trying to identify this as an opportunity to build a critical piece of infrastructure for the state of Alaska,” Richards said.
MINING
Rio Tinto to use solar technology to power California mine
Mining.Com, March 24, 2021
The world’s second-largest miner, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO), announced Wednesday an agreement to explore the deployment of renewable energy technology company Heliogen’s solar technology at Rio’s borates mine in Boron, California.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Heliogen will deploy its proprietary, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technology at the Boron operation, where it will use heat from the sun to generate and store carbon-free energy to power the mine’s industrial processes.
Top of Form
In a press release, the companies said they will begin detailed planning and securing government permits for the project, with the aim of starting operations from 2022.
They will also use the Boron installation to begin exploring the potential for deployments of Heliogen’s technology at Rio Tinto’s other operations around the world to supply process heat, which accounted for 14% of Scope 1 & 2 emissions from the Group’s managed operations in 2020.
Heliogen’s high-temperature solar technology is designed to replace fossil fuels with sunlight cost-effectively for a range of industrial processes.
“This partnership with Heliogen has the potential to significantly reduce our emissions at Boron by using this groundbreaking solar technology, and we look forward to exploring opportunities across our global portfolio,” Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said in the statement.
POLITICS
Biden says he plans to run for re-election in 2024
Reuters, March 25, 2021
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday he planned to run for re-election in 2024.
Biden, 78, is the oldest person to take office as president in U.S. history and there has been speculation that he would serve only one four-year term.
CLIMATE CHANGE
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
ELECTRIC VEHICLE COALITION ASKS BIDEN FOR INCENTIVES AND CHARGING STATIONS: A new coalition of electric vehicle groups and environmental organizations are calling on the Biden administration and Congress to ramp up funding and policy support for electrifying all aspects of transportation, including by providing federal dollars to build out charging stations and creating new purchase incentives to lower the cost of zero-emission trucks.
The coalition, known as CHARGE, includes EV lobbying groups such as the Zero Emissions Transportation Association and Plug In America, as well as environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
by wp_sysadmin | Mar 24, 2021 | News
OIL
Alaska and 12 other states sue Biden administration to reverse pause on oil and gas lease sales
Kevin McGill, Associated Press, March 24, 2021
Thirteen states sued the Biden administration Wednesday to end a suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water and to reschedule canceled sales of offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska waters and western states.
The Republican-leaning states, led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, seek a court order ending the moratorium imposed after Democratic President Joe Biden signed executive orders on climate change on Jan. 27.
The suit specifically seeks an order that the government go ahead with a sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico that had been scheduled for March 17 until it was canceled; and a lease sale that had been planned for this year in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
And it calls for other suspended lease sales to go forward. Sales also have been postponed for federal lands in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Nevada, and New Mexico.
Biden and multiple federal agencies bypassed comment periods and other bureaucratic steps required before such delays can be undertaken, the state’s claim in the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in the federal court’s Western District of Louisiana.
The Department of the Interior declined immediate comment.
The lawsuit notes that coastal states receive significant revenue from onshore and offshore oil and gas activity. Stopping leases, the lawsuit argues, would diminish revenue that pays for Louisiana efforts to restore coastal wetlands, raise energy costs and lead to major job losses in oil producing states.
Although Landry and the lawsuit’s supporters said the moratorium has already driven up prices and endangered energy jobs, Biden’s suspension doesn’t stop companies from drilling on existing leases. But a long-term halt to oil and gas sales would curb future production and could hurt states like Louisiana that are heavily dependent on the industry.
Biden’s team has argued that companies still have plenty of undeveloped leases – almost 14 million acres in western states and more than 9 million acres offshore. Companies also have about 7,700 unused drilling permits – enough for years.
[President Biden is swiftly reining in oil drilling to protect the climate. Will the transition leave Alaska’s economy behind?]
Administration officials have declined to say how long the pause on lease sales will last.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia are the other plaintiff states.
Western Energy Alliance, an industry lobbying group based in Colorado, sued over the leasing suspension in federal court in Wyoming on the same day it was announced. The Biden administration had not responded to the complaint as of Wednesday.
The Interior Department is hosting a livestreamed forum on the leasing program Thursday as it considers changes that could affect future sales and how much companies pay for oil and gas they extract. A report outlining initial findings and the next steps in the review is due this summer.
GAS
CEA Finds Natural Gas Service Ban Could Cost New Yorkers Over $25,600 Per Household
Following New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed action to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings in the city by 2030 and restrict the abundant and environmentally-sound energy choices of families and businesses, a new report released by CEA found an energy ban could conservatively cost every household in New York City more than $25,600.
The report entitled, “Wealth Inequality: The Hidden Cost of New York City’s Natural Gas Ban,” examined the impact of an energy ban forced onto families and New Yorkers depending on the appliance models, home configuration, labor, and reliance on natural gas. Using open-source consumer data, CEA developed a cost calculator to provide an estimate of what a typical household in New York City could expect to pay as a result of such short-sighted policies to ban natural gas service and use.
Click here to read the report.
MINING
Alaska-Focused Resource Company’s Shares Uplisted to OTCQB Venture Market
Streetwise Reports, March 23, 2021
Goldrich Mining Co. (GRMC:OTCQB) in a news release announced its “successful uplisting to the OTC Markets Group Inc.’s OTCQB® Venture Market (OTCQB).” Goldrich Mining advised that its common shares commenced trading under the ticker symbol “GRMC” on the OTCQB effective March 19, 2021.
The firm explained that the OTCQB is a venture market operated by the OTC Markets Group, Inc. OTCQB listed companies are required to be up to date in their financial reporting and must complete an annual verification and management certification process in order to maintain listing.
Goldrich added that to gain and maintain OTCQB listing, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recognizes as an established public market, companies must meet certain minimum bid price test and other financial conditions.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer William Schara stated, “We are excited about Goldrich’s uplisting on the OTCQB exchange as it provides GRMC with greater market exposure, upgrades our position in the public markets, further broadens our shareholder base and will provide better access to capital by advancing our shares to a more robust trading market providing for more active trading.”
Goldrich stated that it is focused on developing the Chandalar gold district in Alaska and that “it controls a land package spanning 23,000 acres of highly prospective gold targets and historic mines.” The firm is presently concentrating its efforts at Chandalar by monetizing the existing placer mine assets and is working toward building a lode gold mine.
POLITICS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
BANKS ARE STILL POURING MONEY INTO FOSSIL FUELS: The world’s 60 largest banks invested $3.8 trillion in fossil fuels between 2016 and 2020, according to a new report from several environmental groups, undercutting the increasing number of pledges from big banks to align their financing with the Paris climate agreement.
Even though the banks’ fossil fuel financing fell 9% last year as production and demand dropped amid the pandemic, the banks still invested more last year than they did in 2016, the year after the Paris climate deal was adopted, the report notes. The groups releasing the report include Rainforest Action Network, Oil Change International, and Sierra Club.
The environmental groups found big U.S. banks — JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America — poured the most money into fossil fuels over the four-year time period examined. All of those banks have now set goals to either reach net-zero financed emissions or align their financing with the Paris Agreement.
Nonetheless, the environmental groups say banks’ climate policies are strongest related to blocking future financing for specific projects, such as oil and gas development in the Arctic. That financing, however, accounted for just 5% of the fossil fuel funding tallied in the report.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Why Biden’s climate agenda might be very, very ‘quiet’
Shannon Osaka, Grist, March 23, 2021
The United States made its last, best attempt to pass a comprehensive climate plan 12 years ago. The bill, known in Congress as the Waxman-Markey Act, was big, splashy, and controversial. It included a nationwide cap on carbon dioxide emissions, restrictions on coal plants, and $190 billion in clean energy spending. For some Americans and oil lobbyists, it was sure to lead to higher fuel prices and lost jobs. For others, it looked like the last chance to avoid increasingly dangerous levels of global warming.
Waxman-Markey is now seen as an object lesson in the problems with giant, well-publicized legislation. The bill died, only narrowly passing in the House and never reaching a Senate vote. And it was the start in a long string of failures to curb carbon pollution across the country: President Barack Obama’s follow-up, the Clean Power Plan, got tangled up in the courts and was never implemented. Statewide proposals for prices on CO2 in Washington and Oregon were shot down by those worried about rising energy costs.
Now, with President Joe Biden — who has said that “we can, and we will, deal with climate change” — in the White House, and his fellow Democrats in control of Congress, the country is poised to try again. But this time lawmakers and policy experts have a new idea about the best way to shepherd the U.S. into a new, greener era. It’s not big or splashy, not a sweeping, nationwide carbon tax, or a giant, economy-transforming Green New Deal. It’s “quiet climate policy” and, in the post-COVID-19 era — with Congress planning a package to revamp the country’s decrepit infrastructure — it just might work.
2030 is the new 2050 for emissions-cutting pledges
Ben Geman, Axios, March 24, 2021
Pledges to end net emissions by midcentury are now commonplace for big countries and companies, but several looming summits are putting a fresh focus on a much closer horizon.
Driving the news: U.S. officials intend to unveil a 2030 greenhouse gas emissions-cutting target under the Paris deal by April 22 — the date of a big summit Biden is hosting.
- And more broadly, the next major UN climate conference in Scotland late this year is aimed at showcasing nations’ updated medium-term pledges — and how they’ll breathe life into them.
- China, the world’s largest emitter by far, is under lots of scrutiny because it has not yet unveiled policy specifics behind its vow to have its emissions peak before 2030.
- Nikkei Asia reported Tuesday that Japan plans to unveil a more ambitious 2030 target before the G7 summit in June.
Where it stands: John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, used a multilateral meeting Tuesday to call for countries to show “concretely” how they’ll meet those midcentury pledges with nearer-term steps.
- “The scientists tell us it just doesn’t work to issue a mid-century goal without reducing sufficiently between now and 2030,” Kerry said at the annual Ministerial on Climate Action hosted by China.
- “Without that, and without a miracle, it’s as highly improbable as it is highly implausible that you could ever get to 2050 net zero in a way any country would ever choose,” Kerry said.
- Separately, new analysis from the investor network Climate Action 100+ finds that among scores of the world’s largest carbon-emitting companies, there’s a “critically important” need for “more robust” medium-term targets (i.e. the 2026-2035 range). Reuters has more.
The intrigue: A deeply reported Washington Post story gets to the dilemma facing U.S. officials — crafting a 2030 pledge over the next few weeks that’s ambitious but not just a paper tiger.
- That’s especially tricky because while Biden is looking to leverage executive actions at agencies government-wide, his push for deep cuts will require lots of help from the narrowly divided Congress.
- “Nobody will be satisfied with good targets without anything backing it up,” Laurence Tubiana, a former French climate diplomat who now heads the European Climate Foundation, tells the paper.
Why it matters: Any hope of meeting the Paris Agreement’s longshot target of limiting warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial means steep cuts need to be happening now.
- The UN’s science panel estimates that a path toward that goal would mean greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 need to be 45% below 2010 levels.
- UN officials made that point when releasing a late February report finding that medium-term pledges thus far don’t create anything close to a pathway to those cuts.
