News of the Day:
OIL
Tech Giants Are Building Carbon Footprint Software For Big Oil
Charles Kennedy, OILPRICE.COM, August 19, 2020
A growing number of oil and gas companies are looking to measure and reduce their carbon emissions under increased pressure from shareholders to join the fight against climate change – and the result is that the tech industry is starting to get into the oil and gas game. A growing number of technology companies – from well-established names to start-ups – are now launching carbon emissions tracking and accounting software, Reuters reports. In June, Germany’s SAP launched a carbon emissions accounting system to help firms manage and reduce their carbon footprint and accelerate the move to sustainable business practices. “Our goal is to create transparency about carbon emissions all the way through the value chain, across industries, geographies, products, and services,” Toby Croucher, head of Solution Management for Climate 21 and Sustainability at SAP, said in June.
GAS
Rule allowing LNG rail shipments in US challenged in court
Mark Levy, AP, August 18, 2020
A coalition of six environmental advocacy groups asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block a new Trump administration rule to allow rail shipments of liquefied natural gas, a new front in the movement of energy products backed by both the natural gas and rail freight industries. The groups will argue in court that, among other things, the administration did not adequately study the new rule to ensure that the activity it is authorizing is safe for workers, communities and the environment, said Jordan Luebkemann, a lawyer for Earthjustice, which is representing the groups court.
MINING
Alaska Republicans back Northern Dynasty Pebble mine
Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, August 19, 2020
Northern Dynasty Minerals’ (TSX: NDM) shares jumped on Wednesday after the company revealed that the Alaska Republican Party officially endorses its proposed Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum mine. The stock climbed almost 5% in Toronto at opening from C$2.02 to C$2.12 as the Canadian miner published excerpts of a party resolution. The document, dated August 9th, says it “unequivocally” supported the responsible development of the Pebble mine. The party resolution states it “unequivocally” supports the responsible development of the proposed copper-gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area. It also highlights that the operation would create more than 1,000 jobs, contribute to the state treasury and benefit Alaskans in what it describes as an otherwise impoverished area.
POLITICS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
CRACKS IN DEMOCRATIC UNITY: The Democratic Party projection of unity is showing cracks as liberals are criticizing the party’s leadership for backtracking on a call to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
The decision to remove an anti-fossil fuel subsidies provision from the DNC platform, confirmed by the DNC to Josh, is rankling some of the same liberal climate activists who have been praising their nominee, Joe Biden, an establishment figure who’s proposed the most progressive climate change agenda in history.
“I really want to feel good about my vote for @JoeBiden in November, but how do the @democrats think they can win the trust of young ppl and progressives when they pull this kind of weasely shit on behalf of Big Oil?” tweeted Phil Aroneanu, a co-founder of 350.org who was the New York state director for the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016.
Aroneanu was not alone.
“The DNC’s last-minute decision to remove language opposing fossil fuel subsidies from the party platform is a bewildering betrayal of climate voters and a surprising rejection of the climate leadership of the Biden-Harris campaign,” said Jamal Raad, campaign director of Evergreen Action, a new climate policy group of aides from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign. “The DNC should immediately take steps to fix its platform,” Raad told Josh.