by wp_sysadmin | Feb 28, 2024 | Home, News
Today’s Key Takeaways: SEC backs off climate disclosure rule. New plan for Alaska LNG. Big Supreme Court copper win. Ranked choice voting on Alaska’s ballot again.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
SEC Expected To Scale Back Landmark Climate Disclosure
Declan Harty, Jordan Wolman, Climatewire, February 26, 2024
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to pare back a long-awaited climate-risk disclosure rule that has sparked a furious backlash from business lobbyists and GOP lawmakers, a person familiar with the matter said.
The final rule, which could be released in the coming weeks, is likely to include less-comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions disclosure requirements for public companies than the original plan, which was proposed almost two years ago, the person said.
The SEC issued the proposal in an effort to provide new clarity and standardization to corporate climate disclosures.
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GAS:
Alaska Gas Promoter Floats New Plan: Send North Slope Gas to Southcentral First
Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon, February 26, 2024
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. is proposing a phased approach to supply the Cook
Inlet region with natural gas as a prelude to LNG exports to Asia
With a giant North Slope natural gas pipeline still unbuilt after decades of efforts, the state entity now promoting the project has a new plan intended to spur construction of the megaproject: a first phase that delivers natural gas to the isolated Southcentral Alaska market rather than the vast Asian market that is the ultimate target.
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state government entity promoting the long-desired North Slope natural gas project, is characterizing the new plan as a way to address looming shortages of deliverable gas to the state’s most populous region.
Frank Richards, president of the AGDC, told state lawmakers on Monday that starting the project with an in-state phase would ultimately lead to the long-term goal of selling liquefied natural gas internationally.
“What I’m talking about here is a concept of working with the Alaska LNG project as currently envisioned but phasing it to be able to move forward with a pipeline first, to be able to utilize the North Slope gas resources through a pipeline to be able to deliver them to Southcentral Alaska to meet the needs that we hear about in Cook Inlet,” Richards said in a hearing of the House Finance Subcommittee on Commerce, Community and Economic Development, the first of two Monday hearings at which he was scheduled to explain the new idea.
Construction could start early next year, and deliveries could start in 2029, Richards said.
READ MORE
MINING:
Sandfire America scores legal win for Montana copper project
Staff Writer, Mining.Com, February 27, 2024
Sandfire Resources America (TSXV: SFR) stock soared on Tuesday following a positive ruling by the Montana Supreme Court which reversed a district court decision and reinstated the permit for the company’s flagship Black Butte copper project.
For years, the Black Butte project has divided opinions amongst local communities because of its close proximity to Smith River, one of the state’s most popular recreational rivers. The proposed mine is located on private land some 27 km north of the town of White Sulphur Springs in central Montana.
On Tuesday, Tintina won on all counts in the Supreme Court with a 5-2 decision, upholding the 2020 decision of the MT DEQ to allow copper mining at Black Butte, which, according to a 2020 feasibility study, will be underpinned by the large Johnny Lee deposit that is expected to produce 23,000 tonnes of copper a year during an eight-year life.
READ MORE
POLITICS:
Anti-ranked choice voting initiative clears first hurdle on way to November ballot
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media, February 27, 2024
A ballot measure to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting and return to a partisan primary has cleared an initial review.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who heads the Alaska Division of Elections, announced Tuesday that sponsors of the anti-ranked choice initiative gathered nearly 37,000 signatures — about 10,000 more than necessary. She said the state is still in the process of verifying all the signatures.
Phillip Izon, director of the group sponsoring the repeal, said he doesn’t expect they’ll have any trouble meeting the threshold.
“We did a lot of work on validation, verification. Spent many months on it. So we feel very confident,” he said.
The signatures come from 34 of Alaska’s 40 voting districts – four more than the law requires.
READ MORE
by wp_sysadmin | Feb 26, 2024 | Home, News
Today’s Key Takeaways: Federal judge doubles down on suspending ANWR survey work. Australia, Woodside, Santos double down on oil and gas exploration. Qatar doubles down on LNG. Texas doubles down on battery capacity.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Federal judge confirms decision that stopped oil work in Alaska’s Arctic refuge
James Brooks, Alaska Beacon, February 23, 2024
A federal judge in Anchorage has confirmed her decision to uphold the suspension of oil and gas survey work in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In a 19-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason declined to reconsider a 2023 ruling against the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which won oil leases in the refuge during a January 2021 sale and sued the Biden administration after it suspended those leases.
The Biden administration subsequently canceled the leases altogether, and AIDEA is challenging that decision in a separate lawsuit.
“Today’s court decision in Alaska is a small part, not the conclusion, in defending the rights of Alaskans and AIDEA to our ANWR leases. We will continue to fight against the wrongful cancelation of our leases,” said Randy Ruaro, executive director of AIDEA, by email.
OIL:
Australia Looks To Bolster Oil and Gas Industry Despite Climate Pledges
Felicity Bradstock, OilPrice.Com, February 25, 2024
- Woodside and Santos, Australia’s major energy players, are planning significant expansion of oil and gas exploration activities, aiming to address energy shortages and unlock new reserves.
- Environmentalists criticise Woodside for investing in contentious carbon offsets while pursuing fossil fuel exploration, leading to accusations of greenwashing.
- Legal battles, such as the dismissal of a lawsuit against Santos’s gas pipeline project, and potential mergers, like the discussed Woodside-Santos merger, add layers of complexity to Australia’s oil and gas landscape.
Australia has big plans for its oil and gas industry, despite calls from environmentalists to reduce its fossil fuel output. The country’s biggest company, Woodside, is planning to expand its exploration activities in response to the growing energy demand from the Asian market, despite having made ambitious climate pledges in recent years.
Santos also plans to go ahead with a major gas pipeline, following the dismissal of a lawsuit from Tiwi Islanders in opposition to the project. And, following a year of several major U.S. megamergers, it seems Australia could be following suit as companies discuss the potential consolidation of its oil and gas assets.
Woodside, Australia’s largest oil and gas producer, is continuing to pursue oil and gas exploration activities in a bid to develop the country’s fossil fuel industry while demand remains high.
This news came following the company’s announcement of far-reaching emissions reduction targets that appear to be at odds with new exploration. Woodside announced that it had cut emissions from operations and generating the electricity it uses by 11 percent in 2022, compared to the average between 2016 and 2020. Like many other oil and gas majors, it aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the mid-century.
GAS:
Qatar Doubles Down on Global Gas Bet
Stephen Stapczynski, Bloomberg, February 26, 2024
The tiny Persian Gulf nation is adding yet more LNG capacity on the assumption demand will keep climbing.
Qatar is unwavering in its view that the world isn’t investing enough in natural gas. And the tiny Middle Eastern nation is trying to fix that.
State-owned QatarEnergy said Sunday it will develop a 16 million-ton-a-year LNG export project by the end of the decade. That’s on top of its previously announced record-breaking expansion plans.
Altogether, the Gulf state will boost shipments of liquefied natural gas by more than 80% by 2030.
The move illustrates the nation’s conviction that demand for gas, especially in Asia, will continue rising even as the world shifts to renewables. That’s at odds with organizations such as the International Energy Agency, which sees global consumption peaking this decade.
Qatar is willing to take the risk.
POLITICS:
Texas will add more grid batteries than any other state in 2024
Julian Specter, Canary Media, February 26, 2024
With cheap land and a competitive market irresistible to energy storage developers, the Lone Star State will even overtake California in battery deployments this year.
California and Texas have a new clean-energy superlative to compete over: who’s got the most grid batteries.
Last year, Texas overtook California in large-scale solar power capacity. When huge amounts of solar power rush onto the grid, batteries tend to follow. Now, Texas is building more grid batteries than California, the longtime undisputed leader in clean energy storage.
Developers are expected to complete 6.4 gigawatts of new grid battery capacity in Texas this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. That’s more than double the 5.6 gigawatts of battery capacity it ended 2023 with. It’s also as much battery capacity as the entire United States built last year, which was a record year for the energy storage industry. The projection outpaces the 5.2 gigawatts set to come online in California.
by wp_sysadmin | Feb 23, 2024 | Home, News
Today’s Key Takeaway: “interest payments are real money that is diverted from more productive activities to less productive ones. The innovations necessary to move the world to lower emissions technology will take longer to be discovered and deployed when interest payments are taking money out of the hands of creative people. “
Why Our Debt is Bad for the Climate
John Hart, C3, February 21, 2024
For the first time in our history, America’s annual interest payments to service our debt are set to exceed defense spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government will spend $870 billion on interest payments this year compared to $850 billion on defense.
Whether you think the risks of climate change are zero, near zero, somewhat serious, or the existential threat of our time, as President Biden insists, this milestone raises serious questions about our nation’s ability to give sustained attention to an issue like climate change.
Our debt should be considered a climate problem for three reasons.
First, debt can slow innovation, which is important because innovation is by far the best way to address climate change. History shows (as this “hockey stick” graph illustrates) that nothing has done more to lift people out of poverty and solve vexing problems than innovation.
For most of human history, more than 90 percent of all people on earth lived in extreme poverty. In 1900, that was true for 75 percent of the world. As late as 1960, more than half of all people lived in extreme poverty. Today, that’s the case for less than 10 percent of the world.
Economic growth in England tells a fascinating story. In the year 1270 (when William Wallace was born), the per capita GDP in England was £806. It took more than 400 years for per capita GDP to double when the figure hit £1,614 in 1690. In the 1800’s, that figure doubled again from £2,332 in 1800 to £4,871 in 1900. After 1900, growth exploded and the upward “hockey stick” emerged. By 2016, England’s per capita GDP was £28,693 – a fivefold increase from 1900.
What caused this explosion of growth? It certainly wasn’t started by any top-down, government-led effort. There was no entity to wage a Global War on Poverty. Instead, it was triggered by factors like rising literacy rates, the transition from burning trees to fossil fuels, the Industrial Revolution, and advances in sanitation and health care. Stable governments, free societies and much-maligned alliances like NATO then helped keep innovation on its upward trajectory.
As I discussed with Rep. Estes recently, interest payments are real money that is diverted from more productive activities to less productive ones. The innovations necessary to move the world to lower emissions technology will take longer to be discovered and deployed when interest payments are taking money out of the hands of creative people.
Second, debt diverts scarce resources from not just the private sector but the public sector.
To be clear, the most important thing the government can do to promote innovation is to get out of the way. Every dollar not spent in Washington, D.C. is a dream realized by an entrepreneur somewhere in America. Biden’s “whole of government” approach to climate change is myopic and foolishly puts government at the center of our national life to the exclusion of people doing the actual work of innovation.
Top-down industrial policy is unimaginative and doesn’t work over the long haul. As we’ve shown, free economies are twice as clean as less free economies because free economies enable “whole of society” bottom-up entrepreneurship and empower private property owners to develop natural solutions.
Demagogic partisan Democrats describe this philosophy as anti-government but being appropriately skeptical of government and realistic about its limitations is the key to developing durable policies. Government can have a very limited role in research and development, particularly regarding national security (i.e. fusion), but should avoid playing venture capitalist.
The best way to make something expensive is for the government to make it “affordable.” When the government adopts a subsidy-heavy approach it tends to punish winners and prop up losers. The wisest posture for government is to be tech-neutral.
What the federal government can do under our Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3) is regulate interstate commerce and make appropriate tech-neutral investments in infrastructure.
Even though the U.S. has invested significant funds into infrastructure through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), The Economist notes that in real terms U.S. spending on infrastructure has fallen. This gap is exacerbated by the fact that regulatory inefficiencies are preventing taxpayer dollars from stretching further.
If Congress was interested in setting priorities, much of that funding could be found by smartly downsizing our bloated administrative state. Yet, the daunting task of forcing Congress to reprogram funds is made even more difficult by massive looming shortfalls in our safety net programs.
Over the next 75 years, Medicare and Social Security will make up 95 percent of our $79.5 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Medicare faces a $52.5 trillion shortfall while Social Security is $23.3 trillion in the red. Good luck persuading any rank-and-file member of Congress to adequately fund infrastructure by taking money away from Social Security and Medicare.
Finally, Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Obama is still right that “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” Mullen made that comment in what seems like another era, but it was only 14 years ago when our debt was at $13.5 trillion (today it’s at $34.2 trillion).
Economists disagree about the threat of unsustainable debt loads but common sense, the Law of Finite Resources, and economic history suggest that nations who insist “This Time is Different” come to regret their complacency. The greatest threat to climate progress isn’t climate denial but deficit denial and a refusal to recognize how unsustainable spending threatens innovation, infrastructure, and our national security.
by wp_sysadmin | Feb 20, 2024 | Home, News
Today’s Key Takeaways: Carbon storage and the future of coal. 10 reasons the world can’t run without fossil fuels. Warm winter leads to decade-low natural gas prices. A view of Alaska road construction and federal funding from Senate Transportation committee chair.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Alaska legislators give closer look at bill aimed at storing carbon emissions underground
Stefan Milkowski, Alaska Beacon, February 19, 2024
Combined with generous federal subsidies, the bill could enable enhanced oil recovery, sequestration of emissions from new coal-fired power
Alaska legislators are considering a bill proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy last year to store carbon emissions, which could have implications from Cook Inlet to the North Slope. According to industry experts, it could allow a wide range of new opportunities and enable the continuation of existing ones.
House Bill 50, the Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Act, would allow the state to lease subsurface rights for the purpose of storing carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to human-caused climate warming.
Combined with generous federal subsidies, the bill could enable everything from enhanced oil recovery using carbon dioxide to the sequestration of emissions from new coal-fired power generation to removing carbon dioxide directly from the air. According to a consultant hired by the state, a carbon capture framework could even make it economic for the state to export North Slope natural gas not as gas but as hydrogen or ammonia, with the carbon dioxide from processing sequestered underground.
The legislation could also help maintain existing fossil fuel production and justify new development amid pressure to reduce carbon emissions.
“Innovation, rather than elimination, is the future of coal,” Usibelli Coal Mine executive Lorali Simon wrote in a letter of support for the bill.
READ MORE
OIL:
10 Reasons Why the World Can’t Run Without Fossil Fuel
Gail Tverberg, OilPrice.Com, February 15, 2024
- Banks, governments, and businesses would face failure due to the essential role of fossil fuels in the economy.
- Critical infrastructure like electricity, internet, and trade systems would collapse without fossil fuel support.
- Agriculture and home heating would become inefficient and inaccessible to many, leading to widespread social upheaval.
It is now popular to talk about leaving fossil fuels to prevent climate change. Pretty much the same result occurs if we run short of fossil fuels: We lose fossil fuels, but it is because we cannot extract them. Practically no one tells us about the extent to which the current system depends upon fossil fuels, however.
The economy is extraordinarily dependent on fossil fuels. If there are not enough fossil fuels to go around, there is likely to be fighting over what is available. Some countries are likely to get far more than their fair share, while the rest of the world’s population will be left with very little or no fossil fuels.
If losing fossil fuels completely, or nearly completely, is a risk for some of the world’s population, it might be useful to think through some of the things that go wrong. The following are some of my ideas about things that change, mostly for the worse, in a fossil fuel-deprived economy.
READ MORE
GAS:
Warm Winter Drags U.S. Natural Gas Prices to Three-Decade Low
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, February 19, 2024
- Warmer winter temperatures in the U.S. have led to reduced demand for natural gas, resulting in a surplus and pushing prices to their lowest levels in 30 years.
- Despite record production levels, major producers are cutting back on drilling activity in response to the oversupply and low prices.
- With high inventory levels and reduced withdrawals from storage, analysts predict a prolonged period of low natural gas prices until the end of the winter season.
One of the warmest winters on record in the United States has created a natural gas glut, dragging benchmark gas prices to their lowest levels in three decades and prompting producers, who were pumping at record rates, to scale back drilling activity.
The front-month U.S. benchmark price at the Henry Hub settled on Friday at its lowest level since 1995 – except for a few days during peak pandemic in 2020.
POLITICS:
What’s Up with Alaska Road Construction and Federal Funding?
Alaska’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) recently got rejected by the Federal Government agencies responsible for review and approval of the plan, the FHWA and FTA. We received a letter on Monday, February 12, noting the rejection alongside a detailed finding list. You can read those here:
The Federal Highway Administration’s STIP Finding Transmittal Letter
FHWA’s Detailed Finding List with Corrective Actions
Note: The STIP is the state’s four-year program for transportation system preservation and development. It includes interstate, state and some local highways, bridges, ferries, and public transportation, but does not include airports or non-ferry-related ports and harbors.
If you look at the linked documents above you can see that there are many findings, but I believe they can be grouped into a few main categories. Lack of coordination with local planning organizations was the largest category that stood out to everybody. Quotes in news articles noted “no coordination” between the state and local planning organizations for Anchorage and Fairbanks. Other categories are the inclusion of projects that had cost increases exceeding federal guidelines, new projects not integrated into a ‘transportation system,’ projects misrepresenting fund sources, and a number of misattributed federal grants.
We are the only state to receive such a rejection this year. However, in response to many extreme reactions, it is my opinion that Alaska DOT will return a revised STIP within the required timeframe and fix many of the major issues that were noted in the findings report. It is still early in the notification and response process so I can’t speak to the specific ramifications, but it is my understanding that DOT will remove highly contested projects and move forward with the first tranche of federally approved projects while continuing to negotiate further additions to the STIP.
As the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, this topic is of extreme importance to me. This year and last year, we held hearings specifically focused on the planning process and STIP development (see topics and links below). A major question that I have now is what changed! Did the development process change or the assessment process change? It is my understanding that this may be more of a planning process issue, but there may be some minor assessment issues with regards to high-visibility projects.
1/31/2023 Federal Funding and Planning for the Future: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/1c9d0c51/Ohwgvh4_Pky7PCleHWqmKg?u=https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail?Meeting=STRA%25202023-01-31%252013:30:00%23tab4_4
2/14/2023 Strategic Investment Decisions and Transportation Planning Data: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/af99cf69/Yv0v1m4V8EKOBdcUzh6GfQ?u=https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail?Meeting=STRA%25202023-02-14%252013:30:00%23tab4_4
8/22/2023 (Joint Senate and House) Alaska’s Modern STIP: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/af99cf69/Yv0v1m4V8EKOBdcUzh6GfQ?u=https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Meeting/Detail?Meeting=STRA%25202023-02-14%252013:30:00%23tab4_4
As you can see, we followed the development process over the full year, but DOT hadn’t led on that there were major issues. The Senate Transportation intends to have another hearing focused on the STIP and the issues, but I want to allow DOT to put all available resources towards fixing and resubmitting the current plan. As soon as we can rest assured that Alaska’s construction season will move forward, we will look for ways to provide any systemic fixes that are needed so that this doesn’t happen again.
From Senator James Kaufman, Chair, Senate Transportation Committee
by wp_sysadmin | Feb 16, 2024 | Clips, News
In a reversal of our normal Friday award – we want to take the opportunity this week to recognize the GOOD bill of the week: HJR 20, introduced by Representatives Tom Baker, Frank Tomaszewski, Zack Fields, Stanley Wright, George Rauscher, and Tom McKay.
HJR 20 is a resolution for the legislature to consider, urging “ withdrawal of proposed Bureau of Land Management regulations affecting the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; and urging meaningful engagement with tribes, local governments, and affected communities.”
Some background:
- The proposed ruled was announced on September 6, 2023 (the same day that Kaktovik landed its first whale of the fall whaling season)
- The 9 federally recognized tribes who are directly impacted by the decision have the legal right to consultation on such matters.
- The tribes were left out of the decision-making process
- The federal government clearly violated their legal obligation to consult with federally recognized tribes.
- On September 8, 2023, the proposed rule was published in the Federal Register with only a 60-day comment period ( a request for a 30-day extension was later granted).
- In the Federal Register publication, the drastic changes to land management were ruled “not economically significant.”
- There are several hundred existing leases in the NPR-A and oil production in the Greater Mooses Tooth and Colville River area and major future production on deck from the Willow development- aka ECONOMICALLY SIGNIFICANT!
- The proposed rule would have a major negative impact on any new activity or development in NPR-A.
When the rule-makers become rule-breakers, who don’t follow their own rules of consultation and ignore the significant economic impacts of their proposed rule, they should be challenged.
Kudos to the legislature for the resolution doing just that! We expect it to move quickly and receive strong bi-partisan support from our Alaska legislators.
If you would like to send a note of support for the resolution – you may do so by emailing:
Representative.Thomas.Baker@akleg.gov and
Representative.Tom.McKay@akleg.gov
