Biden Signals Support for Alaska Drilling // Offshore Wind's Whale Problem // Bangladesh Buys Gas, Finally

Biden Signals Support for Alaska Drilling

The Biden administration is poised to show support for a scaled back ConocoPhillips's Alaskan drilling project.

The Bureau of Land Management has recommended limiting ConocoPhillips to drilling as few as three wells at the Willow site in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The project originally planned for five wells.

"The release of the analysis is set to be a critical milestone for the $8 billion project the Interior Department says could produce some 180,000 barrels of oil per day and inject new crude into the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System," reports Bloomberg.

The green wing of the Democratic party is not happy. “It is incomprehensible how an administration that is as climate-conscious as this one could even be contemplating letting this project move forward,” Abigail Dillen, the president of Earthjustice, an environmental group told the New York Times. But supporters of the project counter that Willow will bring much needed crude to the market, enhance US energy security, and generate revenue for the government.

ConocoPhillips applied to develop the project in 2018 and received the Trump administration's approval in 2020. A federal district court then tossed out the approval for insufficient climate analysis. The release of the final supplemental environmental impact statement will set the stage for project approval, which rests with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who could add stipulations to limit drilling even more.

"The head of ConocoPhillips’s Alaska operations has warned further restrictions that scale down drilling to just two locations would not be economically viable," reports Bloomberg.

Offshore Wind's Whale Problem

Dead right whales have been washing up on America's eastern shores, sparking debate about offshore wind projects on the East Coast, specifically in New Jersey.

The debate threatens Biden's aspiration to produce 30 GW of offshore wind by the end of the decade and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's plan to build 11 GW of offshore wind by 2040.

North American right whales are in a bad spot. "There are only 340 of the whales left, down from 348 just one year earlier. So many North Atlantic right whales are killed by man-made factors that there have been no documented cases of any of them dying of natural causes in decades. Their average life expectancy has declined from a century to 45 years. A single additional unnatural and unnecessary death could risk the loss of the entire species," reports Public News. "Surveying for, building, and operating industrial wind projects could harm or kill whales, according to the U.S. government’s own science."

Specifically, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management say that offshore wind development could harm the whales with exposure to noise and pressure changes, entangle the whales in equipment, increase the risk of vessels striking the whales, and change the habitat so as to alter the abundance of the right whale's prey. "Disturbance to right whale foraging could have population-level effects on an already endangered and stressed species," BOEM's lead biologist Brian Hooker said.

But BOEM has also stated that they have no direct evidence linking the whale deaths to offshore wind development. "Since January 2016, NOAA Fisheries has been monitoring an Unusual Mortality Event for humpback whales with elevated strandings along the entire East Coast. There are currently 178 humpback whales included in the unusual mortality event. Partial or full necropsy examinations were conducted on approximately half of the whales. Of the whales examined, about 40% had evidence of human interaction, either ship strike or entanglement," Lauren Gaches, the NOAA Fisheries Publica Affairs Director said. "And to date, no whale mortality has been attributed to offshore wind activities."

The kerfuffle is giving lawmakers pause about offshore wind development. “Since offshore wind projects were being proposed by Governor Murphy to be built off the coast of New Jersey, I have been adamantly opposed to any activity moving forward until research disclosed the impacts these projects would have on our environment and the impacts on the fishing industry,” Van Drew, whose South Jersey district includes coastal counties, said.

Bangladesh Buys Gas, Finally

Bangladesh just purchased liquified natural gas shipments for the first time in eight months.

"The South Asian country bought a shipment from the spot market earlier this week for February delivery, according to traders with knowledge of the matter," reports Bloomberg. "That comes after Asian LNG prices dropped about 70% since August."

The drop comes as a wave of relief for Bangladesh's government, which had to implement rolling blackouts to conserve fuel when Asian LNG prices reached double their 10-year average. Bangladesh has also secured a $4.7 billion loan from the IMF, improving their ability to purchase fuel on the international market.

Europe and North Asia's mild winter is making LNG more affordable for countries like India and Thailand, too.

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Conversation Starters

1. Wind power is coming to Maine. "The Maine Public Utilities Commission Tuesday unanimously approved a 1,000-MW wind farm to be built by Longroad Energy and a 345-kV transmission line planned by LS Power to deliver electricity from the project to ISO New England," reports Utility Dive. "With Massachusetts utilities preparing to buy up to 40% of the wind farm’s output and similar capacity on the power line, Maine ratepayers will pay about $1 billion for the projects, with a typical residential ratepayer seeing a $1 per month increase in their bills over 10 years, according to Philip Bartlett II, commission chair."

2. A top Republican is looking to defang the Environmental Protection Agency after the Pebble Mine rejection. "A top Senate Republican is promising to ramp up oversight of EPA’s Clean Water Act veto power after the agency used its authority to block a contentious gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to a world premier salmon fishery. Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) blasted EPA’s final determination that barred waters within the Bristol Bay watershed from receiving dredge and fill," reports E&E News. "The federal action essentially killed the proposed mine. Capito accused the agency of circumventing the agency review process and said upcoming talks on permitting reform legislation may address the issue. Capito and 38 other Republicans last year floated a bill called the 'Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency (START) Act.'"

3. America's proved reserves significantly increase in 2021. "In 2021, U.S. proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased 16% from 2020, totaling 44.4 billion barrels, according to our recently released Proved Reserves of Crude Oil and Natural Gas in the United States, Year-End 2021 report. Proved reserves decreased 19% in 2020 because of pandemic-related constraints on crude oil demand and production. In 2021, however, demand for petroleum and natural gas returned, prices rose, and proved reserves increased," reports the Energy Information Administration. "In 2021, proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate increased in each of the five states with the most U.S. oil reserves. Two of these states, New Mexico and Alaska, set new state records for proved reserves."

Crom's Blessing