Not everyone agrees with the air quality plan!
From the Press Release, Shell Global Web-Site Post, November 22, 2017
BP, Eni, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell, Statoil, Total and Wintershall today committed to further reduce methane emissions from the natural gas assets they operate around the world. The energy companies also agreed to encourage others across the natural gas value chain – from production to the final consumer – to do the same.
The commitment was made as part of wider efforts by the global energy industry to ensure that natural gas continues to play a critical role in helping meet future energy demand while addressing climate change. Since natural gas consists mainly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, its role in the transition to a low-carbon future will be influenced by the extent to which methane emissions are reduced.
The eight energy companies today signed a Guiding Principles document, which focuses on: continually reducing methane emissions; advancing strong performance across gas value chains; improving accuracy of methane emissions data; advocating sound policies and regulations on methane emissions; and increasing transparency.
“Numerous studies have shown the importance of quickly reducing methane emissions if we’re to meet growing energy demand and multiple environmental goals,” said Mark Radka, Head of UN Environment’s Energy and Climate Branch. “The Guiding Principles provide an excellent framework for doing so across the entire natural gas value chain, particularly if they’re linked to reporting on the emissions reductions achieved.”
The Guiding Principles were developed in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Gas Union, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Climate Investments, the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Sustainable Gas Institute, The Energy and Resources Institute, and United Nations Environment.
“Our analysis at IEA shows that credible action to minimise methane emissions is essential to the achievement of global climate goals, and to the outlook for natural gas,” said Tim Gould, Head of Supply Division, World Energy Outlook, IEA.
“The commitment by companies to the Guiding Principles is a very important step; we look forward to seeing the results of their implementation and wider application. The opportunity is considerable – implementing all of the cost-effective methane abatement measures worldwide would have the same effect on long-term climate change as closing all existing coal-fired power plants in China.”
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Shell’s Pennsylvania Ethane cracker project enters main construction phase
From an Article by Sara Welch, Shale Gas Reporter, November 16, 2017
Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC has officially entered its main construction phase in the Ohio River valley in Beaver County, PA.
The new complex will use low-cost ethane from Marcellus and Utica shale gas producers to manufacture 1.6 million tonnes per year of polyethylene, which is used in products such as food packaging, furniture and automotive components. The facility will have three polyethylene units and an ethane cracker.
The complex will also have a 900-foot long cooling tower, rail and truck loading facilities, a water treatment facility, an office building, a laboratory and a 250-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant.
During operations, Shell expects the project to support up to 6,000 construction jobs and about 600 permanent employee positions. This Beaver County project is a $6 billion investment by the company.
Hillary Mercer assumed the role of vice president for the local Shell project, replacing its former vice president since 2014, Ate Visser. Mercer’s previous experience includes 30 years working for Royal Dutch Shell in a variety of roles. As vice president for the ethane “cracker” project, she will oversee all aspects of the project, from the construction of the plant and safety issues to production and customer relations.
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Enviro group names names in new anti-pollution campaign
>>> By Reid Frazier, NPR StateImpact PA, October 3, 2017
A Pennsylvania environmental group is launching an ad campaign against two large industrial facilities near Pittsburgh.
PennFuture is kicking off its “Your Toxic Neighbor” campaign, which will include bus shelter posters throughout Allegheny County, targeting U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works and Shell’s yet-to-be-built ethane cracker in Beaver County.
In addition, it has created two websites that direct users to send letters and petitions to local officials urging stricter oversight of both the Shell and Clairton facilities.
The Clairton Coke Works is the largest source of particle pollution, carbon monoxide, and benzene in Allegheny County, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The Allegheny County Health Department determined the plant violated the terms of its air permits 6,700 times over a 3 ½ year period.
Shell is slated to begin construction at its ethane cracker in the next few months. When it’s built and operating, it will become one of the state’s largest sources of volatile organic compound pollution, a key component of ground level ozone, or smog.
“In both cases, we’re dealing with major pollution sources,” says Larry Schweiger, PennFuture’s President and CEO. “In the case of the cracker plant, it’s clear to us, policymakers were not fulfilling their trustee obligations and have moved beyond any consideration of citizen concerns.”
Schweiger says the campaign’s budget was yet undetermined. (PennFuture is funded by private donors and foundations, including The Heinz Endowments, which helps fund The Allegheny Front.)
Clairton’s pollution is the subject of a lawsuit from local residents, who claim that it’s making them sick. U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shell recently agreed to a settlement with environmental groups to conduct fenceline monitoring of air emissions at the plant, which can quickly detect elevated leaks, and place more stringent requirements on flaring, in order to burn off pollutants.
It received $1.6 billion in state tax credits, and will bring thousands of construction jobs to western Pennsylvania and 600 permanent ones once it’s built along the Ohio River in Beaver County. The plant will produce 1.6 million tons of plastic a year out of the region’s natural gas.
Schweiger says his group is trying to make people downwind of the plant aware of the pollution it will create, even with its state-issued air quality permits.
“It represents a new very large source of pollution. It will also trigger other developments which will add to the burden,” Schweiger says. “It ends up shifting the region from a place people want to come and live to a place where air quality prevents new enterprises, like Amazon and others from wanting to come to this area.”
Shell spokesman Michael Marr said in an email the company has worked with the state to make sure its impact on air quality in the region would be minimal. It acquired emissions reductions credits from other industrial plants that have closed down as a requirement of its air quality permit with DEP.
“Our site will utilize the best available technology to control emissions along with fenceline monitoring, with that data available to the public.”
DEP spokesman Neil Shader said: “DEP will enforce all applicable laws and regulations regarding clean air and clean water to the fullest extent of the department’s authority.”
Source: https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/10/03/enviro-group-names-names-in-new-anti-pollution-campaign/
What Shell Knew About Climate Change in 1991
By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, February 28, 2017
Oil giant Shell also knew of the dangers of climate change decades ago, while it continued to lobby against climate legislation and push for fossil fuel development, a joint investigation by The Guardian and the Dutch newspaper The Correspondent revealed Tuesday.
Shell created a confidential report in 1986 which found that the changes brought about by global warming could be “the greatest in recorded history” and warned of an impact “on the human environment, future living standards and food supplies, [that] could have major social, economic and political consequences.”
The company also made a 28-minute educational film in 1991, Climate of Concern, that warned oil extraction and use could lead to extreme weather, famines and mass displacement, and noted that the dangers of climate change were “endorsed by a uniquely broad consensus of scientists.” The film was developed for public viewing, particularly for schools.
“Our energy consuming way of life may be causing climatic changes with adverse consequences for us all,” the video states.
“If the weather machine were to be wound up to such new levels of energy, no country would remain unaffected,” it continues. “Global warming is not yet certain, but many think that to wait for final proof would be irresponsible. Action now is seen as the only safe insurance.”
Despite its own warnings, Shell invested billions of dollars into tar sands operations and exploration in the Arctic. It has also devoted millions to lobbying against climate legislation.
The revelations about Shell come after a separate investigation into ExxonMobil revealed that company had also been waging a climate science suppression campaign and burying its own reports on the global warming impacts of fossil fuel use for decades. Exxon, whose former CEO is now U.S. secretary of state, is currently under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general for allegedly lying to investors about the risks of climate change.
In 2016, a group of lawmakers asked the Department of Justice to look into Shell’s knowledge of global warming as well.
“They knew. Shell told the public the truth about climate change in 1991 and they clearly never got round to telling their own board of directors,” Tom Burke of the green think-tank E3G, told the Guardian on Tuesday. “Shell’s behavior now is risky for the climate but it is also risky for their shareholders. It is very difficult to explain why they are continuing to explore and develop high-cost reserves.”
Bill McKibben, co-founder of the environmental advocacy group 350.org, added:
The fact that Shell understood all this in 1991 and that a quarter-century later it was trying to open up the Arctic to oil-drilling, tells you all you’ll ever need to know about the corporate ethic of the fossil fuel industry. Shell made a big difference in the world—a difference for the worse.
Patricia Espinosa, the United Nations’ climate change chief, said action by fossil fuel companies is critical to combating climate change.
“They are a big part of the global economy, so if we do not get them on board, we will not be able to achieve this transformation of the economy we need,” she said.
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/shell-climate-video-2290679999.html
Report: Shell Complicit in Human Rights Abuses
From Climate Nexus, November 29, 2017
Amnesty International activists clean up a Shell gas station in Gothenburg in protest against Nigeria oil, April 2010.
Amnesty International is calling for an international investigation into Royal Dutch Shell’s practices, alleging in a new report released Tuesday that the oil giant was involved in human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government in the early 1990s.
The report, created following a review of thousands of internal company documents and testimony statements, charges Shell with aiding Nigerian security forces in silencing protests in the country’s oil-producing Ogoniland region.
“The evidence we have reviewed shows that Shell repeatedly encouraged the Nigerian military to deal with community protests, even when it knew the horrors this would lead to—unlawful killings, rape, torture, the burning of villages,” Amnesty Director of Global Issues Audrey Gaughran told Bloomberg.
Esther Kiobel poses with a picture of her late husband, executed by Nigeria’s military government after a peaceful uprising in 1995 against Shell’s widespread pollution in Ogoniland.Amnesty International
Shell is the oldest oil company established in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and the sixth largest oil-producing country in the world, and currently operates a joint venture with the Nigerian government that produces more than one-third of the nation’s crude oil.
As reported by The Guardian:
“Mark Dummett, a researcher for Amnesty, said: ‘The fact Shell was running a shady undercover unit and then passing on information to the Nigerian security agency is incredibly disturbing.
‘This was a time when Nigeria was cracking down on peaceful protesters, and there must have been a risk that information gathered by Shell’s secret spy unit contributed to grave human rights violations.’
He added: ‘The revelations show how close and insidious the relationship was between the oil company and the Nigerian state, and Shell has serious questions to answer.’”
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/shell-nigeria-amnesty-2513278575.html/