Message From the Editor

Many stories about the oil and gas industry in the United States focus on the Permian Basin or the Gulf Coast. This week instead, we’re taking you to the Pacific Northwest. Nick Cunningham dove deep into the fierce opposition that has stopped 70 percent of fossil fuel projects in the region in the past decade. If all had gone forward, the Pacific Northwest would have added more than 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. That is roughly equivalent to 30 percent of the United States’s greenhouse gas emissions or nearly three times the emissions of Canada, the world’s tenth largest emitter.
But the oil and gas industry isn’t giving up — it’s just changing its tactics. One approach it’s taking, as Nick explained, is to expand along existing pipelines rather than build new ones, and try to push through multiple smaller projects rather than one larger project.
And Geoff Dembicki revealed a third strategy that's in play in British Columbia: make First Nations the public face of support for new fossil fuel infrastructure. At a recent "Beyond Net-Zero" conference sponsored by pipeline builders like Enbridge and Coastal GasLink one attendee described Indigenous support as "the magic sauce" that makes those projects easier to finance and build. And while it's true that some First Nations do support fossil fuel projects, "those interests are in the minority," a source told Geoff. "Most large scale resource projects do not have the support of First Nations."
Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmog.com. Curious to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter!

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
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Image credit: Nick Cunningham

The Pacific Northwest Has Defeated Dozens of Fossil Fuel Projects — But the Industry Still Wants to Quietly Expand​​​​​​​

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

New large-scale fossil fuel projects have become mostly unworkable in the Pacific Northwest, with dozens canceled over the past decade due to fierce opposition from local communities. But the industry’s blitz is not yet over. Instead, rather than building new pipelines, it is seeking to expand existing infrastructure in a way that will provoke less pushback.

Since 2012, an estimated 55 coal, oil, and natural gas projects have been proposed for the Pacific Northwest — encompassing Oregon and Washington, as well as British Columbia. But more than 70 percent of them have been defeated, according to a recent study from the Seattle-based Sightline Institute.

First Nations Are ‘The Magic Sauce’ for Getting Gas Projects Built, Says LNG Insider​​​​​​​

— By Geoff Dembicki (4 min. read)—

Efforts by oil and gas companies to build massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on B.C.’s west coast have faced prohibitively high costs, scathing critiques from climate activists, and fierce opposition from some Indigenous communities.

But LNG producers have a strategy for navigating those barriers: make First Nations the public face of support for new fossil fuel infrastructure.

Rep. Grijalva Tours Cancer Alley Communities Plagued by Racial Discrimination and Environmental Injustice

— By Julie Dermansky (7 min. read)—

Temperatures soared into the high nineties on Saturday, June 18, as Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee Rep. Raúl Grijalva spoke about the moral imperative to achieve environmental justice at a press conference on the grounds of the Whitney Plantation, a converted historical museum about slavery, in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana.

After delivering an update on the bill that he spearheaded, known as the Environmental Justice For All Act, Grijalva and his team were taken on a tour of Cancer Alley where they could learn firsthand the challenging circumstances some fenceline communities face.

Climate Denial Group Criticised For Ties to Pro-Putin Millionaire​​​​​​​

— By Adam Barnett (5 min. read)—

A climate science denial group campaigning against the UK’s green policies has close ties to a right-wing businessman who backed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, DeSmog can reveal.

CAR26, which launched in October with a call for a referendum on the UK’s net zero target, is run by Lois Perry, a regular guest on GB News and talkRADIO who has used Russia’s war to argue that the UK should extract more fossil fuels.

Climate Deniers and the Language of Climate Obstruction​​​​​​​

— By Stella Levantesi (9 min. read) —

On a recent episode of the Fox Business show “Mornings with Maria,” American Petroleum Institute CEO and President, Mike Sommers, said that “the most important environmental movement in the world is the American oil and gas industry.”

“A super absurd example of oil and gas companies appropriating and weaponizing the language of climate advocates for their own greenwashing,” commented author and climate activist Genevieve Guenther on Twitter.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Canada Action

Canada Action is a Canadian federally-registered non-profit organization launched in 2012 that advances pro-oil and gas industry sentiments through public engagement and social media. The group was founded by Cody Battershill, a realtor from Calgary, Alberta. Battershill advocates for the oil and gas industry in Canada through mainstream and social media and uses online campaigning to generate public support for specific energy projects, like the Alberta tar sands, as well as pipelines and fossil fuel energy sources such as natural gas.
Read its full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.