Message From the Editor

Nearly two dozen major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects around the world are struggling to move forward, a new report reveals, as investors grow skittish from poor economics and increasing scrutiny on the industry’s large carbon footprint. “LNG was sold to policymakers and to investors as a safe, clean, secure bet,” said Lydia Plante, lead author of the report. “Now all those attributes have turned into liabilities.” Nick Cunningham reports.

Meanwhile, the tide is turning against Louisiana’s proposed $2 billion Mississippi River sediment diversion project that supporters say is needed to save the coast from rapid land loss. A growing number of the project’s opponents see it as a risky, expensive experiment that, rather than creating the meaningful coastal restoration, will degrade the country’s most productive estuary, harming dolphin populations and the region’s fishing industry. Julie Dermansky takes a look.

Finally, new analysis reveals that leaking methane from oil and gas infrastructure is widespread across the European continent. More than 60 percent of the sites analyzed by researchers using state-of-the-art technology were releasing large volumes of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere. This is the first large investigation of methane leakage from oil and gas sites in Europe. Read more here.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

Global LNG Industry Reeling as its Image as a Climate Solution Shifts to ‘Climate Problem’

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

As recently as 2019, the global market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) looked bright. Analysts saw demand for LNG in Asia rising in both a steady and unrelenting fashion, expanding for years or even decades into the future. The industry gave the greenlight to 71 billion tonnes per annum (mtpa) of new LNG capacity in 2019, an all-time record.

But a lot has changed in the past two years, with “business conditions drastically diminished,” and even “the basic rationale of an industry built around a relatively small number of massive but highly vulnerable facilities” now called into question, according to a new report from Global Energy Monitor.

Can The Fate Of Dolphins and Louisiana’s Fishing Industry Stop A Massive Mississippi River Diversion Plan?

— By Julie Dermansky (13 min. read) —

The tide is turning against Louisiana’s proposed $2 billion Mississippi River sediment diversion project, that supporters say is needed to save the coast from rapid land loss due to subsidence, damage done by the oil and gas industry, extreme weather events, and sea level rise quickened by climate change.

The proposed Mid-Barataria sediment diversion project, is a key part of the state’s $50 billion master plan to restore the rapidly eroding coast. If constructed, the diversion is designed to let the river’s natural land building process restore Louisiana’s disappearing marshland.

‘Massive’ Methane Leaks Found Coming From Oil and Gas Sites in Europe

— By Nick Cunningham (5 min. read) —

Leaking methane from oil and gas infrastructure is widespread across the European continent, reveals an investigation of more than 150 sites in seven countries. More than 60 percent of the sites analyzed by researchers using state-of-the-art technology were releasing large volumes of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere.

This is the first large investigation of methane leakage from oil and gas sites in Europe.

‘Historic Moment’: ‘Ecocide’ Definition Unveiled By International Lawyers

— By Theodore Whyte (3 min. read) —

A team of international lawyers has unveiled a definition of “ecocide” that, if adopted, would treat environmental destruction on a par with crimes against humanity.

After six months of deliberation, a panel of experts yesterday published the core text of a legal document that would criminalise “ecocide” if taken on by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

North Sea Donors Gave Tories £420k as Government Considered Oil Industry’s Fate

— By Rich Collett-White (6 min. read) —

Companies and individuals involved in North Sea oil and gas donated a total of £419,900 to the Conservatives ahead of and during the government’s recent review into the future of the sector, a DeSmog analysis shows.

Most of the donations, dating from July 2020 onwards, were made this year in the run-up to the publication of the government’s North Sea Transition Deal, launched at the end of March. The policy has been billed as a “transformative” partnership designed to put the industry on a net zero pathway, including a 50 percent cut in operational emissions by 2030, but has been criticised by campaigners for leaving the door open to further fossil fuel exploration.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Western Energy Alliance

Western Energy Alliance (WEA) represents over 300 member companies “engaged in all aspects of environmentally responsible exploration and production (E&P) of oil and natural gas in the West,” according to its website. It is located in Denver, Colorado. WEA was founded in 1974 as the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS). It changed its name to Western Energy Alliance in 2010. WEA runs Western Wire, a joint initiative with FTI Consulting—a communications firm known for its pro-fracking Energy In Depth (EID) campaign on behalf of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA).

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