Todayâs Key Takeaways: Fairbanks construction projects back on track. Federal regulators reject Hilcorp request. AGDC signs agreement with the private sector to lead and fund project. Billionaire bets on coal and wins big. Republicans will use every tool to undo Bidenâs offshore ban.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
EPA plans to lift air pollution sanctions that paused Fairbanks construction projects
James Brooks, Alaska Beacon, January 7, 2025
State has two years to fix the boroughâs dirty air, or the limits could return to the Golden Heart
An Environmental Protection Agency action expected Wednesday will unfreeze $150 million in paused Fairbanks-area road construction projects.
In a draft public notice published Tuesday, the EPA said it is planning to suspend sanctions imposed on the state for its failure to acceptably deal with toxic air pollution that affects the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The EPA imposed those sanctions a year ago, and the state has since revised its air pollution plan. On Wednesday, the EPA is expected to state that the stateâs revisions are acceptable and that the sanctions, which have affected federally funded road construction, should be lifted immediately.
An EPA official declined comment ahead of Wednesdayâs official announcement, which will be published in the Federal Register.
State officials said they were thrilled by the EPAâs decision.
âThe fat lady hasnât sung yet, but we are celebrating,â said Jason Olds, director of the Division of Air Quality in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
OIL:
Interior agency rejects Hilcorp request for more time to develop Arctic Alaska offshore oil field
Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon, January 8, 2025
Federal regulators have rejected Hilcorpâs attempt to gain more time to develop Liberty, an offshore Arctic oil prospect that has languished since being discovered in the 1990s.
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an agency of the Department of the Interior, denied Hilcorpâs application for what is known as a âsuspension of production,â or SOP. Such suspensions stop the permitting clock, effectively delaying development deadlines that are usually included in the terms of leases that companies have with the federal government.
The federal BSEE action denied what would have been the 12th suspension granted to current or former Liberty leaseholders. It is the latest setback for a field that was once touted as a breakthrough in Arctic oil development but has remained undeveloped for decades.
Without a suspension or some other type of extension, the Liberty leases are due to expire by the end of this year.
GAS:
AGDC signs agreement to develop Alaska LNG project
Alex Proczyk, Oil and Gas Journal, January 7, 2025
Alaska Gasline Development Corp. signed an exclusive framework agreement related to development of the Alaska LNG project
Alaska Gasline Development Corp. signed an exclusive framework agreement with a private company to lead and fund the development of the Alaska LNG project, said Pantheon Resources plc in a Jan. 7 release. The parties will develop legally binding agreements.
The proposed project will include a gas treatment plant with average daily capacity of 3.5 bcf in Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope, an 807-mile, 42-in OD, 3.3 bcfd natural gas pipeline transecting the state, and a 20-million tonnes/year LNG export terminal at Nikiski. North Slope fields are expected to deliver on average about 3.5 bcfd.
In June 2024, Pantheon and AGDC signed a gas supply precedent agreement, under which Pantheon would supply its natural gas into the pipeline pursuant to a definitive gas sales agreement.
MINING:
The Billionaire Mining Magnate Who Bet Coal Had a FutureâAnd Won Big
Jon Emont, The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2025(subscription required)
Deep in Indonesian Borneo, workers laid asphalt on a new 60-mile road being built to transport coal from mines that have never been busier.
At one end of the road, crews built a 40-foot-high conveyor belt that whisks the coal over swampland to a new jetty on the Mahakam River. From there, the coal is funneled onto barges and floated downstream to a private port on the Pacific Ocean. Giant loading machines fill equally massive ships headed for China, India, and the Philippines.
Coal, the worldâs dirtiest fossil fuel, is booming, and few are profiting more than Low Tuck Kwong, the 76-year-old businessman behind one of Asiaâs largest coal-mining complexes. Coalâs resurgence as a cheap and reliable energy source propelled him to a spot on Forbesâs 100 richest people. Lowâs wealth is estimated to have swelled to $28 billion from $1 billion in the years since coal was assumed to be headed for the slag heap.
Some experts had concluded that coal consumption peaked in 2013 at 8 billion metric tons. It has since surpassed that level three years in a row. Indonesia, the worldâs largest coal exporter, is shipping more of it than any nation in history. In December, the International Energy Agency abandoned projections that coal use would drop in coming years, saying that it will increase through at least 2027 to nearly 9 billion tons.
Western nations have turned away from coal, but emerging economies are taking up the slack, as more nations seek to industrialize, modernize, and pull their people out of poverty. A swath of Asia that spans Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines to India, Bangladesh, and Pakistanâtogether home to 30% of humanityâhas increased the share of its power supply that comes from coal.
POLITICS:
REPUBLICANS VOW TO USE âEVERY TOOLâ TO REVERSE OFFSHORE DRILLING BAN: A number of Republican lawmakers have promised to back Trumpâs efforts in reversing Bidenâs recent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in some federal waters, indicating a Congressional pathway to revoke the executive order.
Yesterday, the White House announced Bidenâs plans to permanently ban new oil and gas drilling off the entire East Coast and the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington state. Drilling is also to be barred in some areas off of Alaska and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The order does not impact current leases or drilling operations and does not target regions considered to be the drilling hubs for the industry, such as the western and central regions of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trumpâs promise: The incoming president has vowed to revoke the order. Though he will likely face difficulty doing so as a court ruled against Trump in 2019 when he attempted to walk back a similar ban implemented by former President Barack Obama. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which allows presidents to protect federal waters from oil and gas development, does not include language allowing presidents to reverse past orders.
Though that ruling has not deterred the president-elect who said today, âIâm going to have it revoked on Day one.â Trump added that his administration would take action immediately and noted that he doesnât believe he should have to go through to the courts to do so.
Details: In the 2019 ruling, the judge ruled that only Congress would be able to revoke federal water protections implemented in a past executive order. With Republicans in control of the House and Senate, that may be possible.
âIn the 119th Congress, we will use every tool, including reconciliation, to restore and unleash these revenues, fueling conservation, coastal resilience and energy independence, and ensuring America â not OPEC, Russia or China â leads the world,â House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) told E&E News.
Meanwhile Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana posted on X that he would be introducing legislation allowing Trump to overturn Bidenâs ban.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, January 8, 2025