Message From the Editor

Those who have received oil and gas industry funding like to attack federal incentives for renewable energy, like the wind energy production tax credit. But for over two decades, the oil and gas industry received an estimated $10 billion in taxpayer help from an unconventional gas production tax credit that helped spur the fracking boom, reports Dana Drugmand.

Speaking of federal subsidies, a recent report from Columbia University suggests that carbon capture technologies for gas and coal-fired power plants will require major new taxpayer incentives in order to attract the necessary investment for this struggling sector.

Meanwhile, Oregon is seeing increased pressure to approve Pembina’s Jordan Cove gas terminal coming from an obscure group whose personnel also happens to — separately — work for an oil industry trade group that Pembina belongs to, reports Nick Cunningham.
Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected].

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. In case you missed it, check out Julie Dermansky’s powerful photos and reporting from New Orleans’ recent protests against police brutality and environmental racism.

For Decades, the Oil and Gas Industry Got Taxpayer Help from the Fracking Production Tax Credit

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

Before the U.S. fracking boom took off, shale drillers had access for over two decades to a particular tax incentive that experts say played a key role in setting the stage for the so-called shale revolution.

Known as the Section 29 Unconventional Fuels Production Tax Credit, this subsidy resulted in more than tripling the production of unconventional gas, at a cost of at least $10 billion to taxpayers, from 1980 to 2002.

Carbon Capture Will Require Large Public Subsidies to Support Coal and Gas Power

— By Justin Mikulka (9 min. read) —

In April, the Center for Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University released a report concluding that, without major new subsidies from the American public, technologies for capturing heat-trapping carbon dioxide from coal and natural gas-fired power plants will remain uneconomical.

However, CGEP, which has a history of strongly supporting the interests of the fossil fuel industry, concludes in this report that the government should implement new publicly financed policies in order to ensure investors are willing to take the risk of investing in carbon capture — and use the public to backstop that risk so those investors make money.

With Prospects Souring for Oregon Gas Terminal, an Obscure Group Raises Pressure for State Approval

— By Nick Cunningham (11 min. read) —

On May 24, a full-page ad appeared in The Oregonian, Oregon’s largest newspaper. The “open letter,” addressed to Gov. Kate Brown, asked her to support Jordan Cove LNG, a controversial coastal liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal. Between the “COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout,” the project would be crucial to restoring the state’s economy, the letter argued. “We’re going to need as many jobs as we can get, and very soon.”

“We ask you to listen because Jordan Cove is about Oregon, but it is also about much more,” the letter said, a statement that certainly seems to describe the entity that bought the ad, the Western States and Tribal Nations Natural Gas Initiative, or WSTN. Despite its sole focus on exporting natural gas through the West Coast, the group is virtually unknown in Oregon.

Transportation Fairness Alliance Revealed: Behind the Oil Industry's Latest Attack on Electric Cars

— By Dana Drugmand (7 min. read) —

Earlier this spring, while much of the nation’s attention focused on the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. oil and gas industry quietly launched a new coalition using messaging that invokes “transportation fairness.” Like other petroleum interest front groups that have campaigned against clean transportation measures, this new coalition appears poised to counter policies designed to accelerate the transition away from petroleum-powered transportation.

The Transportation Fairness Alliance (TFA), as the new coalition is called, describes itself as “a diverse partnership of businesses, associations, and organizations that support a competitive and equitable transportation sector. Collectively, we represent our nation’s manufacturers, small business owners, farmers, and folks who pay utility bills.”

Op-ed: Charles Koch's Radical Free Market Ideology Is Not a Symptom of America’s Disastrous Response to COVID-19. It’s a Cause.

— By Lisa Graves (5 min. read) —

Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, is receiving credit for launching a COVID-19 relief fund, as he urged a “distinctly American response” of private charity — and not public benefits — to address this deadly pandemic.

Koch kickstarted the fund with a $5 million contribution, pocket change for a man who runs the second largest privately held corporation in the country, which makes about $5 million every twenty minutes.

Black Environmentalists Are Organizing to Save the Planet From Injustice

— By Rachel Ramirez, Grist (4 min. read) —

“I can’t breathe.” These were among the final words that George Floyd and Eric Garner gasped before their deaths at the hands of white police officers. That plea has become part of the current rallying cry for racial justice and an end to police brutality in the U.S. But for Black people living near industrial facilities, the phrase has an additional layer of meaning: a reminder of their disproportionate pollution burden.

“While many in power seemed surprised that COVID-19 is killing twice as many Black Americans, those of us in the environmental justice movement know that the health impacts of cumulative and disproportionate levels of pollution in our communities have created underlying health conditions that contribute to our higher COVID-19 mortality rates,” said Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, at a virtual press conference on Monday.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Transportation Fairness Alliance

Transportation Fairness Alliance (TFA) is a recently launched coalition that describes itself as “a diverse partnership of businesses, associations and organizations that support a competitive and equitable transportation sector.” Led by the American Petroleum Institute, the coalition consists mainly of a range of petroleum industry trade groups, as well as a couple agricultural and trucking groups. TFA’s website and communications are managed by FTI Consulting, a consultancy that has done extensive work for the oil and gas industry. Based on its website, TFA appears poised to counter policies designed to accelerate the transition away from petroleum-powered transportation.

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