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Obama Administration Reverses Course On Atlantic Oil Drilling

Obama Administration Reverses Course On Atlantic Oil Drilling

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration reversed course on Tuesday on a proposal to open the southeastern Atlantic coast to drilling as an oil price slump and strong opposition in coastal communities raised doubts about the plan.

Besides market and environmental concerns, the U.S. Interior Department said it also based its decision on conflicts with competing commercial and military ocean uses.

The decision, which is sure to reverberate in the presidential election campaign, reverses a January 2015 proposal for new leases in the Atlantic as part of the department’s five-year plan to set new boundaries for oil development in federal waters through 2022.

“We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said.

“When you factor in conflicts with national defense, economic activities such as fishing and tourism, and opposition from many local communities, it simply doesn’t make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the coming five years.”

Hillary Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination to run in the Nov. 8 presidential election, has moved to the left on environment under pressure from green groups. She tweeted: “Relieved Atlantic drilling is now off the table. Time to do the next right thing and protect the Arctic, too.”

Donald Trump, the businessman and former reality TV personality who is the Republican front-runner, has raised questions about whether more offshore drilling is necessary given the abundance of onshore shale production.

The proposal would have opened up drilling sites more than 50 miles off Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia to oil drilling by 2021.

Coastal communities in these states protested the administration’s plan, fearing the possibility of an oil spill like the BP Horizon accident in 2010 on the U.S. Gulf Coast, and its effects on tourism and their economies.

“With this decision coastal communities have won a ‘David vs. Goliath’ fight against the richest companies on the planet, and that is a cause for tremendous optimism for the well-being of future generations,” said Jacqueline Savitz, environmental group Oceana’s vice president for U.S. oceans.

Virginia officials had welcomed the initial plan to allow offshore drilling, saying it would bring economic benefits. On Tuesday, Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he was surprised that the Department of Defense had raised concerns about naval installations, one of which is off the state’s coast.

“The DOD has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before,” he said.

 

Objections

Major oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Shell and Chevron, had pushed for an open Atlantic.

Shell Oil Company spokeswoman Natalie Mazey said the decision was “short sighted” and would “jeopardize the abundance of affordable domestic energy the economy has become dependent on.”

The American Petroleum Institute said the decision goes against the will of voters, governors and members of Congress who support more development.

“The decision appeases extremists who seek to stop oil and natural gas production which would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and close the door for years to creating new jobs, new investments and boosting energy security,” said API President Jack Gerard.

The Interior Department also announced Tuesday that it would evaluate 13 other potential lease sales in other areas of the country – 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the coast of Alaska.

“The proposal focuses potential lease sales in areas with the highest resource potential, greatest industry interest, and established infrastructure,” Jewell said.

The Interior Department said that in the Gulf, resource potential and industry interest are high and infrastructure already exists.

It proposes two annual lease sales that include the Western, Central, and part of the eastern Gulf of Mexico not subject to the current congressional moratorium.

It also includes a potential sale each in the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and Cook Inlet planning areas in Alaska. The department would take comments on other options, including an alternative that includes no new leasing.

 

Concerns About Arctic

While green groups praised the decision to keep the Atlantic off limits for now, they raised concerns that the United States would keep the door open for drilling in the vulnerable U.S. Arctic.

“The administration must take Arctic leases out of the final five-year plan,” said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. “No place has potentially more to lose due to climate change than the Arctic.”

The Interior Department will open the five-year proposal to a 90-day comment period.

 

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, additional reporting by Timothy Gardner and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; editing by Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)

Photo: Marine One, carrying President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,  take an aerial tour of the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey in areas damaged by superstorm Sandy, Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, Pool)

How The Rise Of Renewables Brings A Fix For Climate Ever Closer

How The Rise Of Renewables Brings A Fix For Climate Ever Closer

By Alex Morales, Bloomberg News (TNS)

LONDON — United Nations climate talks set to begin in Paris next week promise to produce a landmark deal that has eluded diplomats for more than two decades.

All of the Group of 20 nations, including the biggest developing countries — China, India and Brazil — have prepared to limit emissions into the next decade. Plunging costs for wind and solar power mean alternatives to fossil fuels are more viable.

At least 130 heads of government and state will descend on the city for the opening of the two-week conference Monday as France’s biggest diplomatic gathering since 1948 coincides with a security lockdown spurred by the deadly Nov. 13 terrorist attacks. Thousands of police and soldiers will be deployed, and planned demonstrations by environmental activists have been canceled due to the terror threat.

While the fatal assaults will make the mood more “sober,” said Yvo de Boer, a former U.N. global-warming chief who is now director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute in Seoul, South Korea, “there is a broader desire to see global action on climate change, which was there before the unfortunate Paris attacks and is still there now.”

Momentum is building toward a comprehensive deal to curb greenhouse gases and the worst effects of global warming, including prolonged droughts, rising seas and melting glaciers. The previous effort, in Copenhagen in 2009, collapsed in acrimony, and fewer than 80 nations stepped forward with emissions pledges. More than 170 countries have done so this time.

The pledges would restrain the rise in global temperatures to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker. That’s better than its 2009 projection of 3.5 degrees Celsius, though short of the international target of 2 degrees and the goal sought by island nations of 1.5 degrees.

“In Paris we have two important positive points of departure: global political momentum and leadership and a better competitive environment for clean energy,” said International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol.

As costs come down, countries are investing more in renewables, especially developing countries. In six years, India has multiplied by five its solar power target for 2022, raising it to 100 gigawatts.

Wind turbines cost $935,000 per megawatt on average, down from 2009, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Solar panel prices have fallen to 65 cents per watt this year from about $2 at the end of 2009, according to Jenny Chase, BNEF’s head of solar analysis. The cost of a kilogram of polysilicon, the raw material used in most panels, this month fell to $14.76, a record low that’s a quarter of the price in December 2009.

Onshore wind power is cheaper than fossil generation in Brazil, Chile and the windiest parts of Texas and Oklahoma, said Amy Grace, who heads BNEF’s wind analysis. In most major European markets, including the U.K. and Germany, the best wind projects are cost-competitive with new coal and gas plants when accounting for the carbon price.

“It’s actually possible now to combine growth with a green agenda to tackle climate change,” Vestas Wind Systems A/S Chief Executive Officer Anders Runevad said in an interview.

“The cost of delivering this looks more manageable now,” said U.K. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd.

There are signs of a retreat from coal and oil. Investors with $2.6 trillion of assets under management have pledged to withhold money from fossil fuels, up from $50 billion a year ago. The oil industry is divided, with European majors in June breaking with their biggest U.S. competitors and supporting efforts to put a cost on carbon pollution.

Last year, renewables contributed almost half of the world’s new power generation capacity, according to the IEA. Mandatory energy efficiency regulations on everything from fridges to industrial boilers now cover more than a quarter of global energy use, the agency says. In the five years through 2014, new investment in clean energy totaled $1.46 trillion, up from $802 billion in the five previous years, according to BNEF.

While investment in renewable energy has boomed, the industry hasn’t been a safe bet in the stock market. WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index of 105 clean energy companies has tumbled 29 percent since the Copenhagen climate summit while global shares in the MSCI World Index appreciated 46 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The so-called NEX index fell 9.5 percent in the past year as concern about the global economy prompted a flight to safety in equities.

Politically, efforts to boost renewable and curb global warming are gaining traction. The turning point came in November last year, when U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping jointly announced efforts the world’s two biggest emitters will take to limit pollution, said Birol of the IEA.

Commitments by developing countries are crucial to a deal because their share of emissions has rocketed since 1992, when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change established the divide that required only industrialized nations compelled to adopt numerical targets on emissions.

“You’re going from action by few to action by all,” EU negotiator Elina Bardram said in an interview. “The momentum is really unique.”

©2015 Bloomberg News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: United Nations Photo via Flickr

State Department Cozies Up To Oil Lobbyists In Tar Sands Pipeline Deal

The construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is looking increasingly likely, despite fervent protests from environmental activists. As new correspondence shows, the government’s decision to support the massive pipeline project might be based more in close ties to oil lobbyists than in an independent analysis of risks and benefits.

The pipeline would transport difficult-to-extract oil from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. The State Department, which would give final approval to the TransCanada company project, has released reports in favor of the pipeline, claiming there are no significant environmental risks. Activists, meanwhile, have opposed the pipeline’s construction, arguing that the oil from the tar sands has a higher carbon output than conventional oil and that the pipeline bears a considerable risk of spills and accidents.

Now, newly released emails between the State Department and TransCanada suggest that the government might have too close a relationship with the oil company, increasing skepticism about the State Department’s objectivity in its decisions and support for the pipeline project. The activist group Friends of the Earth received the emails as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, and the correspondence reveals a blatant pro-pipeline bias the activists have long feared as the approval inches forward.

One senior State Department employee, Marja Verloop, writes “Go Paul!” to pipeline lobbyist Paul Elliott after hearing that TransCanada has Sen. Max Baucus’ support. Their emails indicate a close friendship, involving invitations to July 4th parties and a shared understanding that the pipeline project should go through. Other exchanges reflect TransCanada’s intention to obtain special permission to pump oil through the pipeline at higher-than-usual pressures — but the company will request this permit after the pipeline is already constructed as a means of avoiding protests. This revelation, although disturbing to people who have raised concerns about the risks for accidents with the pipeline, seems to not bother Verloop, who continues her regular banter with the TransCanada lobbyist. Elliott’s cozy relationship to the State Department is already a matter of concern, since he was previously a top Clinton campaign aide. Other email exchanges raise further questions about whether the government is carefully considering the potential negative impact of the project or whether they are unquestioningly bowing to oil industry interests.

“You see officials who see it as their business not to be an oversight agency but as a facilitator of TransCanada’s plans,” said Damon Moglen, the director of climate and energy project for Friends of the Earth.

Clearly, the State Department isn’t making its decisions solely on the basis of what is best for the environment and the American people. While it isn’t surprising that the government has overly friendly ties to oil companies, the released emails show a particularly egregious level of bias — one that could have a significant impact on the construction of a controversial pipeline.

Environmentalists Protest Against Tar Sands Pipeline

The president might be on vacation, but that hasn’t stopped environmental activists from protesting outside the White House. The crowd has been assembled since Aug. 20 in an attempt to raise awareness about the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. The demonstrators are fighting against the pipeline because oil from tar sands emits more carbon than normal oil, thereby contributing that much more to climate change.

The pipeline, proposed by the Canadian energy company TransCanada, would cost $7 billion and would stretch 1,700 miles south from the Alberta tar sands to Texas refineries. It would carry as much as 900,000 barrels of oil a day, doubling U.S. imports of Canadian crude. The proposed pipeline, scheduled for completion in 2013, would supplement the existing Keystone pipeline — which has already leaked several times in its one year of use.

The oil from the tar sands is particularly controversial because it has a carbon output 20 percent higher than conventional oil supplies. The State Department is finalizing an environmental impact statement on the proposal, which is expected this month, and they will issue a decision by the end of the year.

For the construction of the pipeline to begin, Obama would have to sign a certificate of national interest since it crosses the border. Congress is not involved in this measure, giving environmentalists more hope that they can effect change without dealing with climate change-skeptical politicians.

In an Aug. 16 Washington Post op-ed, organizer Bill McKibben wrote that more than a thousand people had signed up to be arrested during the two weeks of protests. He outlined the protesters’ goals, writing,

We have, not surprisingly, concerns about potential spills and environmental degradation from construction of the pipeline. But those tar sands are also the second-largest pool of carbon in the atmosphere, behind only the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.…For now, the Keystone pipeline is the best proxy we have for real presidential commitment to the global warming fight.

McKibben is one of more than 220 protesters who have been arrested for sitting in front of the White House. Demonstrators plan to come in waves during the two-week protest, with another 1,800 people promising to join. The biggest day of action is planned for Saturday.

The fossil fuel industry has fought back and is trying to convince the president to approve the pipeline. Given Alberta’s remote location, the Keystone XL pipeline is essentially the only viable route — meaning that if the president doesn’t approve, the oil will most likely stay in the ground.

The protesters will be waiting for the president upon his return from Martha’s Vineyard, urging Obama to take a stand for the environment. For now, the future of the Keystone XL pipeline is uncertain.