Today’s Key Takeaways: Goldman Sachs joins other financial companies, leaves Climate Action group. PA hasn’t forgotten Harris trashing fracking. DOE finalizes gas stove rule. Kensington is on track to produce more gold. Trump “unleash American Energy with Alaska Oil and Gas.”
NEWS OF THE DAY:
ICYMI – GOLDMAN SACHS LEAVES CLIMATE ACTION 100+: Goldman Sachs has left Climate Action 100+, joining other financial companies in severing ties with the green investor group amid political opposition from Republicans.
As Reuters outlines, the group follows other investment companies – like Invesco, JP Morgan, and State Street Global Advisors – in leaving the climate coalition. A few companies have left just in the last couple of weeks, such as Aristotle Credit and Aristotle Pacific Capital, TWC Group, and Vert Asset Management.
Why this is important: Friday’s move to leave Climate Action comes as Republican lawmakers have accused climate groups of breaking antitrust law by pushing companies to prioritize cutting emissions. At the end of last month, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan wrote to more than 130 investor groups to explain their environmental, social, and governance goals.
A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs told Reuters that its fund division would leave the group and stated it will continue to engage with companies on its own account.
“We’ve made investments in our ability to meet the sustainable investing needs of our clients and remain committed to leveraging our global capabilities,” the spokesperson said. Read more on that here.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, August 12, 2204
OIL:
Kamala Harris Once Trashed Fracking and Pennsylvania Hasn’t Forgotten
Ari Natter, Bloomberg, August 14, 2024
Kamala Harris faces a problem in Washington County, Pennsylvania, where gas drilling rigs and well pads dot the rolling green farmland.
Ask Mickey Molinaro, an asphalt worker with a bushy beard and easy-going smile. Harris, in her last White House run, called for a ban on fracking, before reversing her stance this year. And fracking helped Molinaro survive the Great Recession.
The oil and gas extraction process triggered an economic boom in southwestern Pennsylvania, bringing him steady work paving access roads for energy companies. A former Donald Trump voter, Molinaro, 50, says he’s undecided about the upcoming election, put off by the ex-president’s personality. But Harris’ energy policies push him away.
“Energy is a big deal here,” Molinaro said, leaning against his truck, tar coating his jeans. “Harris supports the Green New Deal and that kind of stuff. She runs on a platform that’s anti-fossil fuel.”
To win in this highly competitive battleground state, Harris will have to overcome that baggage. No matter that her campaign insists she doesn’t want to ban fracking. Harris has not yet spelled out how she would treat the oil and gas industry should she win the presidency, and in the absence of a new approach the old one could be costing her votes.
GAS:
DOE finalizes contentious gas stove rule – E&E News by POLITICO (eenews.net)
Brian Dabbs, E & E News, August 13, 2024 (subscription required)
The department said the regulation is “economically justified” despite pushback from conservative groups.
The Department of Energy on Monday shot down attempts by conservative groups to scrap a regulation on cooking appliances, including gas stoves.
DOE said its regulation, which was finalized in February, will be implemented in 2028 as planned after a comment period. Because the regulation was released as a “direct final rule” that wasn’t published earlier as a proposal, the department could have withdrawn the plan under some circumstances, such as if it determined there were “substantive adverse” comments.
In comments to DOE, Republican attorneys general, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Antonin Scalia Law School Administrative Law Clinic, and other critics argued the rule represented federal overreach and would increase costs for consumers.
But in the Federal Register on Monday, DOE said the comments “do not provide a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule,” adding it was “confirming the effective and compliance dates” of the standards.
MINING:
Kensington gold production tracks higher
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, August 13, 2024
Southeast Alaska mine on pace to produce 100,000 oz this year; exploration at Kensington and Silvertip show future promise.
Coeur Mining Inc. Aug. 7 reported that its Kensington Mine in Southeast Alaska heads into the second half of 2024 on track to produce roughly 100,000 ounces of gold this year, and the summer exploration program at the Silvertip mine project in Northern British Columbia is now underway.
“Improved operating performance at Kensington was especially noteworthy as operational improvements and capital investments over the last two-plus years begin to take hold,” Coeur Mining President and CEO Mitch Krebs said upon the release of the company’s second-quarter results.
Over the first half of this year, Kensington produced 44,385 oz of gold from 349,482 metric tons of ore averaging 0.14 ounces per metric ton (approximately 4.4 grams per metric ton) gold.
The Southeast Alaska mine produced 23,202 oz of gold during the second quarter, which is 8% higher than the 21,434 oz recovered during previous quarter and 76% higher than the 13,193 oz produced during the second quarter of 2023.
Coeur attributes the increased gold output during the second quarter to higher tonnage fed through the mill and improved gold recoveries.
As a result of the increased ounces produced, the cost per ounce of Kensington gold sold during the second quarter was $1,734, which is 6% lower than the $1,840/oz of gold sold during the previous period.
With improvements expected to continue into the second half of the year, Coeur anticipates that Kensington will produce 92,000 to 106,000 oz of gold this year at a cost of $1,525 to $1,725 per oz sold this year.
POLITICS:
Trump Promises To Unleash American Energy With Alaskan Oil And Gas During Musk Interview
Tristan Justice, The Federalist, August 13, 2024
“I’ll get it going very quickly because not only is it big for Alaska,” Trump said, but also “for the United States.
Former President Donald Trump pledged to unleash American energy production with new oil and gas operations approved in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
In a Monday night interview on X with platform CEO Elon Musk, Trump promised to get oil and gas production on Alaska’s north slope up and running “quickly” four years after President Joe Biden suspended plans for drilling.
“I’ll get it going very quickly because not only is it big for Alaska,” Trump said, but also “for the United States.” It’s “pure, really good stuff.”
The Republican president had previously opened the 1.6-million-acre stretch on Alaska’s north coast for oil and gas development through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The administration issued the first leases to drill in ANWR’s coastal plain on Trump’s final full day in office before Biden halted projects and ultimately terminated the leases last summer.
Drilling along the 1.6 million acres of the nearly 20-million-acre refuge has remained a political football for decades, with Republican administrations repeatedly failing against Democrats to bring oil and gas production to communities within what is known as the 1002 Area. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that below the surface of an area roughly the size of South Carolina lie between 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil. If successful, the region, just 60 miles from where companies have been drilling for decades with minimal environmental impact in Prudhoe Bay, could become the most productive oil field in the country.
William Shughart, a research director of the Independent Institute and professor at Utah State University, wrote in 2017 “the potential daily peak production there, 1.4 million barrels per day, is more oil than the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia.”