Message From the Editor

It’s no secret that the oil and gas industry is betting its future survival on investments in petrochemicals and plastics, but Sharon Kelly reports that this approach may come with huge financial risks, particularly as the world starts to wise up to industry deception around plastic waste and recycling. Read the full story.

Another image problem for the petroleum industry is its persistent, leaking, globe-warming methane emissions, reports Justin Mikulka, and the resulting fallout is starting to catch up with major players in U.S. oil and gas.

Speaking of methane emissions, Dana Drugmand reports that a controversial new natural gas facility near Boston had an emergency shutdown before it even opened after it experienced a large gas leak.
Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected].

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
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Oil Industry’s Shift to Plastics in Question as Report Warns $400 Billion in Stranded Assets Possible

— By Sharon Kelly (11 min. read) —

Off Africa’s eastern coast, north of Madagascar, lies Aldabra Atoll, a cluster of coral islands that surround a tropical lagoon.

Aldabra is a UN World Heritage Site that’s home to a stunning array of wildlife, including tens of thousands of wild giant tortoises, far more tortoises than in the Galapagos Islands. Sir David Attenborough, the documentary filmmaker, has called Aldabra “one of the wonders of the world.” The atoll is exceedingly difficult to visit, not only because it’s so remote, but also because new arrivals must contend with a $225 per-visitor daily environmental impact fee — as well as piracy in the region.

The US Oil and Gas Industry's Methane Problem Is Catching up With It

— By Justin Mikulka (13 min. read) —

For years, the oil and gas industry has been able to downplay, or outright ignore, the problem of methane. Methane is an invisible gas, and lax state and federal regulations in the U.S. have allowed oil and gas producers to self-report how much of this potent planet-warming gas leaks from its supply chain, which researchers have repeatedly found is a lot more than the industry was admitting to.

But improved technologies, particularly from satellites, have allowed the world to increasingly fact-check industry numbers, shining a light on the true climate impact of natural gas, which is primarily methane. These days, methane emissions have become an industry black eye, to the point that major players are now clamoring for regulations after the Trump administration recently finalized the rollback of Obama-era rules meant to reduce methane leaks from oil and gas.

'Unplanned Gas Release' at Controversial Gas Facility in Weymouth, South of Boston

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

The standard, pre-operational testing of a new natural gas compressor station in the Massachusetts community of Weymouth, south of Boston, had barely begun last week when a gasket failure prompted an emergency shutdown of the facility and resulted in an unintentional gas leak. Weymouth's compressor station, once open, would keep gas pumping through a regional pipeline system, but even before this gas leak, its road to get there has been bumpy, with outcries over its air pollution permit and health concerns from the surrounding community.

Enbridge, the Canadian-based energy pipeline corporation behind the controversial Weymouth compressor station, sent a written notice to Massachusetts state regulators on Friday, September 11 informing them of the mechanical failure and “unplanned” gas release. The compressor station’s approval plan requires this notification when there is an unplanned gas release exceeding 10,000 standard cubic feet in volume. According to Enbridge, 265,000 standard cubic feet of gas and 35 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were leaked during the incident.

Fossil Fuel Industry and Koch Network Fighting Pennsylvania's Move to Join Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

As Pennsylvania took a significant step this week towards joining a regional climate initiative to curb carbon pollution from power plants, newly revealed email records show how fossil fuel interests campaigned to oppose this initiative in a state that has the fifth most polluting electric power sector in the nation.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board, part of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), voted on September 15 to adopt draft regulations limiting carbon emissions from power plants as part of the state’s process of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-invest program designed to slash emissions from the electric power sector. An ongoing battle has been brewing over Pennsylvania joining this program. Its Republican-controlled legislature is opposed to the state participating, while Democratic Governor Tom Wolf has taken executive action to start the process of joining.

European Thinktanks Repeating ‘Well-worn’ US Climate Denial Tropes

— By Isabella Kaminski (3 min. read) —

Organizations promoting climate science denial and anti-environmentalism in Europe share the same rhetoric, narratives and right-wing links as their US counterparts, new research has found.

The paper published in the journal Climatic Change examines publications from eight of the most prominent contrarian thinktanks in six EU countries over 24 years from 1994 to 2018, and argues the organizations enjoy a “remarkable” level of political influence for their size.

How Charles Koch Is Buying Credibility With Academic Investments

— By Tom Perrett (7 min. read) —

In 1996, Richard Fink, an executive at Koch Industries and a top advisor to Charles Koch, outlined a three-tiered strategy for getting the petrochemical industrialist's free-market ideas out into the world: through academia, think tanks, and activists’ organizations. Fink described the first tier of this “structure of social change” strategy as “investment in intellectual raw materials” and the “exploration and production of abstract concepts and theories” that academia would develop.

Nearly two and a half decades later, Koch influence in the academic sphere is far ranging. Koch money funds individual courses, professorships, fellowships, and even energy research and policy programs, like the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. These centers represent significant investments in the “intellectual raw materials” of free-market advocacy.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Heather R. Zichal

Heather R. Zichal served as President Barack Obama's top White House advisor on energy and climate change and is currently an advisor to presidential candidate Joe Biden on the issues of climate change and energy. After working in the White House, Zichal transitioned to industry employment, including serving on the board of directors of LNG company Cheniere Energy for four years, during which she was paid more than $1 million. In 2012, Zichal praised President Barack Obama for giving a permit for the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline. In 2016, she said, “...when I close my eyes and listen to some Sanders supporters' outrage about the environmental planks of the Democratic Party Platform, I hear echoes of the Tea Party.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.