Welcome back.
We’re leading again this week with the Weymouth compressor station. Both National Grid and Eversource this week stated they can meet their capacity needs without the compressor. Enbridge and the Baker administration are nonetheless pushing to move forward. Frustrated? If you agree this compressor station represents a danger to the Weymouth community and an obstacle to meeting Massachusetts’ own emissions goals, please call Governor Baker’s office at (617) 725-4005, and ask when the Office of Coastal Zone Management plans to release the Climate Resiliency Review that Mr. Baker promised in 2017. More details about that here. Public pressure counts.
A new report on the climate crisis, endorsed by 11,000 scientists worldwide, lays out priorities and guideposts for huge necessary changes – and underscores the fact that action can no longer be delayed.
Good news on both the clean energy and clean transportation fronts. The US is expected to rapidly increase clean energy infrastructure in the near future, and researchers are beginning to explore viable solutions for the tricky problem of recycling lithium ion batteries from electric vehicles.
We thought it appropriate to offer analysis of the Saudi Aramco IPO alongside a New York Times book review of Blowout, Rachel Maddow’s new book on the fossil fuel industry.
Finally, a report details how a planned Rhode Island natural gas power plant was rejected because demand could be met by renewable energy. And Vermont is rethinking its reliance on biomass based on updated science.
— The NFGiM Team
WEYMOUTH COMPRESSOR STATION
Shifting Demand Fuels Weymouth Compressor Debate
By Barbara Moran and Miriam Wasser, WBUR
November 05, 2019
The energy company Enbridge has a plan, and it’s called the Atlantic Bridge Project. Approved by federal regulators in 2017, the $452 million project would pipe more natural gas north from New Jersey into New England and Canada. To make the project work, Enbridge says it needs to build a 7,700-horsepower compressor station in Weymouth to push gas up the pipeline to customers farther north.
But two of the customers that signed on to the Atlantic Bridge Project — New Brunswick-based New England NG Supply Limited (NENG) and Exelon Corporation — have backed away from their contracts with Enbridge and agreed to sell at least part of their capacity to National Grid.
And National Grid — along with Eversource and Norwich Public Utilities in Connecticut — says it does not need the proposed Weymouth compressor to meet customer demand for gas.
This shift in demand for contracts has left Enbridge with fewer northern customers for its Atlantic Bridge Project. And opponents of the project are questioning again why Enbridge is pushing forward with plans for the Weymouth compressor station.
» Read article
Weymouth Compressor Station’s Permit Is Delayed Again
By Miriam Wasser, WBUR
November 5, 2019
The long saga of the Weymouth natural gas compressor station — proposed by the Canadian energy giant Enbridge to get natural gas to Canada — continues.
A state permit, which would have been a major step toward starting construction has been delayed — again.
WBUR discovered last week that at least three utility companies planning to use Enbridge’s pipelines say they don’t even need the compressor to get gas to their customers.
» Read article
National Grid, Eversource Say They Can Meet Natural Gas Demand Without Weymouth Compressor
By Bruce Gellerman, Barbara Moran, Miriam Wasser, WBUR
November 1, 2019
Two utility companies involved with the proposed natural gas compressor station in Weymouth say they don’t need the facility to meet customer demand. Now, opponents of the compressor station are calling into question whether the project — which has been the subject of public protests and lawsuits — meets the “public convenience and necessity” requirement for federal approval.
In September, one of those contract holders, New Brunswick-based New England NG Supply Limited, announced that it is withdrawing from the project. Shortly after, National Grid applied to take over the contract, and in testimony before the state on Oct. 25, said it could deliver this gas to customers “without the installation of the Weymouth compressor station.”
“The implication is that they would be shipping the gas within their service territory in the greater Boston area as opposed to sending it up and out of the country,” said Kathryn Eiseman, president and CEO of the Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast, Inc., an advocacy group based in Cummington, Massachusetts.
If the state decides in favor of the project, then the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must make its own determination before construction can begin.
“FERC really looks at whether there is market demand for a project [and] if there are signed contracts for a project,” Eiseman said. “But if you dig down a little and you see that the signed contracts will now be using the gas within Massachusetts, then there just is no justification, as far as I can tell, for building this compressor station.”
» Read article
Natural gas protesters urge Governor Baker to take action
By Jodi Reed, WWLP Boston Channel 22 News
November 1, 2019
Climate activists took to the Statehouse Friday to send a message to Governor Baker.
A group of activists from the south shore are worried that gas pipelines leading to a compressor station in their area will explode.
The group called, Fore River Residents Against Compressor Station said they have been voicing their concerns to the Governor Baker for years now but still, nothing has been done.
They outlined their concerns at a rally outside Baker’s office Friday, where they delivered hundreds of petitions to administration officials.
They want Governor Baker to deny the state permits needed for the project to advance.
» Read article
» More about Weymouth compressor station
CLIMATE
Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’
Statement sets out ‘vital signs’ as indicators of magnitude of the climate emergency
By Damian Carrington, The Guardian
November 5, 2019
» Read article
Most countries’ climate plans ‘totally inadequate’ – experts
US and Brazil unlikely to meet Paris agreement pledges – while Russia has not even made one
By Damian Carrington, The Guardian
November 5, 2019
» Read article
Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Global Warming
By Clifford Krauss, New York Times
November 3, 2019
HOUSTON — A surge of oil production is coming, whether the world needs it or not.
The flood of crude will arrive even as concerns about climate change are growing and worldwide oil demand is slowing. And it is not coming from the usual producers, but from Brazil, Canada, Norway and Guyana — countries that are either not known for oil or whose production has been lackluster in recent years.
This looming new supply may be a key reason Saudi Arabia’s giant oil producer, Aramco, pushed ahead on Sunday with plans for what could be the world’s largest initial stock offering ever.
Together, the four countries stand to add nearly a million barrels a day to the market in 2020 and nearly a million more in 2021, on top of the current world crude output of 80 million barrels a day. That boost in production, along with global efforts to lower emissions, will almost certainly push oil prices down.
Lower prices could prove damaging for Aramco and many other oil companies, reducing profits and limiting new exploration and drilling, while also reshaping the politics of the nations that rely on oil income.
» Read article
» More on climate
CLEAN ENERGY ALTERNATIVES
New Estimates Predict a Lot More Renewable Power Growth in the U.S. Very Soon
By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog
November 5, 2019
After revising its three-year U.S. power forecast, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has predicted major declines for fossil fuels and nuclear power alongside strong growth in renewables by 2022, according to a review of the data by the SUN DAY Campaign, a pro-renewables research and education nonprofit.
“FERC’s latest three-year projections continue to underscore the dramatic changes taking place in the nation’s electrical generating mix,” noted Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “Renewable energy sources are rapidly displacing uneconomic and environmentally dangerous fossil fuels and nuclear power — even faster than FERC had anticipated just a half-year ago.”
While the independent federal agency forecasts robust wind and solar development, it also predicts a large increase in natural gas capacity, which is consistent with the current public emphasis of the newly rebranded “natural gas and oil industry.” The projected gains in natural gas power, however, aren’t enough to offset the sizeable drops in coal and oil, resulting in an overall decrease in burning fossil fuels for power in the U.S.
At this point, the cost of wind and solar combined with battery storage is cheaper than coal power, much cheaper than new nuclear power, and in many places also competitive with natural gas. In some areas, electric utilities are already moving from coal to renewables and skipping over the so-called “bridge fuel” of natural gas. The argument for a natural gas “bridge” to affordable renewable energy has been crumbling, and the economics of future power generation don’t look good for this fossil fuel.
» Read article
First cyberattack on solar, wind assets revealed widespread grid weaknesses, analysts say
New details of a denial-of-service attack earlier this year show an energy sector with uneven security.
Robert Walton, Utility Dive
November 4, 2019
A March 5 cyberattack of U.S. wind and solar assets is back in the news, with fresh documents helping shed light not just on the extent, but also the simplicity of the first-of-its-kind intrusion. Cybersecurity experts say it reveals a utility sector not sufficiently vigilant, and failing to employ the most simple fixes.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) in September revealed details about the denial-of-service (DoS) attack, urging utilities to keep firewalls patched and up to date, but held back the name of the impacted entity. E&E News last week revealed, based on documents obtained through a public records request, the victim was sPower.
» Read article
» More on clean energy
CLEAN TRANSPORTATION
The electric vehicle industry needs to figure out its battery problem
Without recycling, electric vehicle batteries could lead to mountains of waste
By Justine Calma, The Verge
November 6, 2019
Electrifying transportation is one of the biggest keys to solving the looming climate crisis. With more electric vehicles on the road and fewer gas-guzzlers, drivers burn less fossil fuels and put out fewer planet-heating gases into the atmosphere. But as electric vehicles become more popular, they’re posing another environmental challenge: what to do with their batteries once they’re off the road.
Those batteries are starting to pile up into a problem, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature today. We’ll inevitably need to recycle many of the batteries, but harvesting useful materials from used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles remains tedious and risky. Luckily, there’s still hope. The authors of the paper say that institutional changes — like designing batteries with recycling in mind and using robots to automate disassembly — could reshape battery recycling. In turn, those improvements could make electric vehicles even greener by using old batteries to supply materials needed to build new ones.
» Read article
» More on clean transportation
FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY
Saudi Aramco IPO: the ultimate marriage between carbon and capitalism
A firm with the biggest carbon footprint seeks cash to grow just as the fight against climate change needs it to shrink
By Jonathan Watts, The Guardian
November 3, 2019
» Read article
Rachel Maddow Takes on the Oil Industry
Book review by Fareed Zakaria, New York TImes
October 30, 2019
BLOWOUT Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth By Rachel Maddow
“Blowout” is a rollickingly well-written book, filled with fascinating, exciting and alarming stories about the impact of the oil and gas industry on the world today. While she is clearly animated by a concern about climate change, Maddow mostly describes the political consequences of an industry that has empowered some of the strangest people in the United States and the most unsavory ones abroad. It is “essentially a big casino,” she writes, “that can produce both power and triumphant great gobs of cash, often with little regard for merit.”
» Read review
» More on the fossil fuel industry
POWER PLANTS
Renewables growth, market changes tanked Invenergy’s Rhode Island gas plant, regulators say
Robert Walton, Utility Dive
November 7, 2019
Invenergy’s efforts to persuade regulators that the ISO’s decision to end the capacity supply obligation was not indicative of declining need for the new plant were unsuccessful.
Experts “presented strong and credible evidence demonstrating that the need for this type of facility would likely decrease in the coming decade” the board said. And reports that were referenced during testimony on the plant “revealed plans forecasting a significant increase in renewables and a continued decrease in peak load.”
“The Board found those reports to be reliable and credible and strong indicators of the lack of need for the Clear River Energy Center.”
The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), an opponent of the project, praised the written decision.
“As we said in June, this is a huge victory for Rhode Island and for the health of our communities,” CLF Senior Attorney Jerry Elmer said in a statement. “After years of lies and misinformation, Invenergy’s efforts to pave over a forest to build this dirty plant have been dealt a substantial loss.”
» Read article
» More on power plants
BIOMASS
In a Warming World, New Thinking Imperils Vermont’s Wood-Fueled Energy Market
By Kevin McCallum, Seven Days
October 9, 2019
Biomass is organic material used to create energy. In the Northeast that means one thing: wood.
That includes the cord wood that Vermonters have traditionally cut, seasoned and burned in woodstoves to heat their homes. It also encompasses wood pellets burned in efficient modern pellet stoves and boilers, both of which the state promotes with generous financial incentives.
Then there are the industrial-scale energy facilities such as the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station in Burlington, the largest producer of electricity in the state, and the Ryegate Power Station in Caledonia County. Both plants burn woodchips by the ton to generate electricity for the grid.
Proponents say biomass technology is crucial to helping Vermont reach its renewable energy goals. The state has committed to getting 90 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. Its energy plan calls for doubling the use of wood for heat by 2025.
Now those goals are bumping up against a growing body of scientific evidence that suggests planting new forests, better managing existing ones and designating more lands off-limits to logging can play major roles in moderating climate change.
» Read article
» More on biomass
» Learn more about Pipeline projects
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