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House passes bill to study effects of abandoned oil wells in bipartisan vote

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Tuesday, April 30, 2024

The House passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) Tuesday, that aims to address environmental hazards from abandoned gas and oil wells, in a 333-75 vote. The bill, the Abandoned Wells, Remediation, Research and Development Act, would direct the Energy Department to develop a research and development program for abandoned wells. Pennsylvania has the second largest amount of abandoned and orphaned wells of any state, surpassed only by Texas. Some 27,000 abandoned wells have been documented across the Keystone State. The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), previously passed the House Science Committee in a unanimous vote last July. Abandoned wells have been linked to the release of toxic air pollutants and carcinogens, including methane and benzene. They have also been linked to drops in property values and, due to historical practices of “redlining” in minority neighborhoods, disproportionately hurt the health of people of color. “[U]ntil Congress takes action to invest in the identification and remediation of abandoned wells starting with the House passage of my bipartisan bill, tens of thousands of people in my district and across Pennsylvania will continue to be exposed to toxins in their air and explosive gasses, and lower property values,” Lee said in a statement. Lee’s office highlighted that the measure is the first she has sponsored that has passed the full House since she took office in 2023. It comes the week after she won the Democratic primary for her seat by 20 points, a closely watched contest that marked the first involving a member of the progressive “Squad” of House Democrats this cycle. Environmental groups praised the bill’s provisions and urged the Senate to take it up as soon as possible. “Orphaned oil and gas wells threaten public health and safety, the water we drink and the climate,” Environmental Defense Fund director and senior attorney for energy transition Adam Peltz said in a statement. “This essential bipartisan bill will fund the research necessary to improve well plugging practices, find unregistered orphan wells in hard-to-reach places like streams, forests, farmland and backyards, and develop beneficial clean energy uses for end-of-life wells." "This bill will create jobs and benefit public health, particularly for communities overburdened by legacy oil and gas development – and now the Senate should take up this bill so that President Biden can sign it into law," Peltz added.

The House passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) Tuesday, that aims to address environmental hazards from abandoned gas and oil wells, in a 333-75 vote.

The bill, the Abandoned Wells, Remediation, Research and Development Act, would direct the Energy Department to develop a research and development program for abandoned wells. Pennsylvania has the second largest amount of abandoned and orphaned wells of any state, surpassed only by Texas. Some 27,000 abandoned wells have been documented across the Keystone State.

The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), previously passed the House Science Committee in a unanimous vote last July.

Abandoned wells have been linked to the release of toxic air pollutants and carcinogens, including methane and benzene. They have also been linked to drops in property values and, due to historical practices of “redlining” in minority neighborhoods, disproportionately hurt the health of people of color.

“[U]ntil Congress takes action to invest in the identification and remediation of abandoned wells starting with the House passage of my bipartisan bill, tens of thousands of people in my district and across Pennsylvania will continue to be exposed to toxins in their air and explosive gasses, and lower property values,” Lee said in a statement.

Lee’s office highlighted that the measure is the first she has sponsored that has passed the full House since she took office in 2023. It comes the week after she won the Democratic primary for her seat by 20 points, a closely watched contest that marked the first involving a member of the progressive “Squad” of House Democrats this cycle.

Environmental groups praised the bill’s provisions and urged the Senate to take it up as soon as possible.

“Orphaned oil and gas wells threaten public health and safety, the water we drink and the climate,” Environmental Defense Fund director and senior attorney for energy transition Adam Peltz said in a statement. “This essential bipartisan bill will fund the research necessary to improve well plugging practices, find unregistered orphan wells in hard-to-reach places like streams, forests, farmland and backyards, and develop beneficial clean energy uses for end-of-life wells."

"This bill will create jobs and benefit public health, particularly for communities overburdened by legacy oil and gas development – and now the Senate should take up this bill so that President Biden can sign it into law," Peltz added.

Read the full story here.

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Offshore Wind Moves Forward on California Coast

Progress continues on the controversial proposal to install a multi-billion dollar wind farm off the California coast. The five project areas will provide future power needs equivalent to the electricity produced by Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, which was on schedule to be retired until this past legislative session. On November 21, PG&E received a federal grant of $1.1 billion to keep it operating for another five years. California’s deep waters, 3,000 feet, are three times as deep as any floating wind turbines have been launched. Forging into the unknown presents a number of concerns and promises that engineers, officials and citizens are weighing out. Leases to Outer Continental Land, needed to locate as many as 1,300 mega-sized wind turbines, will be auctioned off December 6. The process for building 2-5 GigaWatt offshore wind projects, producing more electricity than Diablo Canyon, gets underway with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s lease sale auction starting at 7 a.m. Pacific. They will warm up with a practice auction the day before. The auction could take two days to reach a conclusion and settle on five winning bidders. The lease sale includes three Morro Bay areas, (80,062 acres, 80,418 acres, 80,418 acres), and two Humboldt areas, (673,338 acres and 69,031 acres) totaling 373,268 acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, 20-30 miles offshore. Forty-three bidders have qualified and ponied up the $5 million bid deposit to participate.‍ Bidding credits‍ Bids will be considered not only on amount of money, but also on how they propose to use the bidding credits. Bidders can qualify for up to 20 percent credit by committing to investing in workforce training and supply chain development. They can also get up to five percent credit for a Lease Area Use Community Benefit Agreement and five percent for a General Community Benefit Agreement. CBAs are intended to mitigate potential impacts on- and offshore to communities, tribal, or other stakeholder groups and may assist fishing and related industries by supporting their resilience and ability to adapt to impacts that may arise from the development of the lease area. A Lease Area Use CBA would be between the lessee and a community or stakeholder group “whose use of the geographic space of the Lease Area, or whose use of resources harvested from that geographic space, is directly impacted by the Lessee’s potential offshore wind development. ”The General CBA would be with communities, tribes, or stakeholder groups that are expected to be affected by the potential impacts on the marine, coastal, and/or human environment from activities resulting from lease development that are not otherwise addressed by the Lease Area Use CBA. Eric Endersby, Morro Bay’s harbor director, sees how those credits can help the waterfront. “We are the closest port to the Morro Bay area, and we are a protected port, so it makes sense for the operations and maintenance boats to be coming and going out of Morro Bay,” he said in an interview. “There would be a lot of fuel sales, a lot of high-dollar, high-skilled jobs. The cable is coming into Morro Bay, through the grid system, so there’ll be that aspect to it. We see a revitalization of our working waterfront.” Other ocean users The leases require consideration of other users, from commercial fishing and Department of Defense national security to vessel speed requirements, use of low-energy geophysical survey equipment and coordinating with the Coastal Commission on plan submissions. Bidders know that BOEM has no authority to issue leases in national marine sanctuaries. The Morro Bay wind areas are adjacent to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the proposed Chumash Heritage NMS. Violet Sage Walker, chair of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, wrote in an op-ed in The Tribune, “The Northern Chumash Tribal Council advocates for marine conservation, equitable mitigation measures and fair community benefits. We believe offshore wind must coexist and cooperate with marine protections, and we see this as a unique opportunity for a collaborative effort, not a combative one.” Frankie Myers, vice chair of the Yurok Tribe in Northern California, said at the Floating Wind USA 2022 conference in San Francisco, that the ocean is the last place his people have to pray. “We can’t go any further west,” he said. “What will our descendants see? Another colonial resource or a collaborative partner?” Lines on a map are abstractions that are irrelevant to fisheries and tribal lands. Full details are in the Final Sale Notice National and state goals The West Coast Floating Offshore Wind projects, with a goal of 4.5 GW of power by 2030, are part of the Biden administration’s goal for Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, a commitment to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and at least 25 gigawatts of onshore renewable energy by 2025.The state of California has set a target of 2-5 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045. Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant’s two units combined produce 2.2 GW. Although intended to be retired in 2024 and 2025, in 2022 the legislature extended the plant’s licenses five years. ‍New port terminals needed Ten additional port terminals along California’s coast will be required to support the projects. None of California’s current ports is large enough or strong enough to support the wind turbine staging and fabrication. Terminals may be located in existing ports such as Long Beach and San Francisco, but construction of entirely new ports may be required. ‍Building the turbines Turbines are 1,100 feet tall on a base 425 feet wide. About 1,300 are projected to be installed in the West Coast projects. The size of the turbines presents problems yet unsolved, including moving the assembled turbines from the manufacturing facility into the water. It could take two weeks or longer to tow them out to the site where they will be tethered. The size and complications of constructing the turbines and setting them in place presents risks that are difficult to evaluate and insure. “What keeps me up at night is a project that is uninsurable,” one insurance executive said.‍ Deeper waters, bigger ships Hanson Wood, regional senior vice president for development in the West Region, EDF Renewables, said that although technical lessons have been learned from projects in Asia, there is no precedent for a wind project in California’s depths, around 3,000 feet. The chains tethering the turbines to sea floor anchors could put marine mammals at risk by catching drifting fishing gear and ensnaring them. The area is known as the Blue Serengeti for its migration routes of whales and seals. A ship large enough to transport the turbine parts, in compliance with U.S. Jones Law, is under construction in Texas. The 472-foot-long Charybdis is estimated to cost around $500 million. Humboldt has already received a grant for $10.5 million to renovate its facilities into the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Marine Terminal, which will be capable of handling large heavy cargo vessels, offshore wind floating platform development and integration and decommissioning, and other maritime activities. Developing the Central Coast wind area could create around 15,000 new jobs, according to a report on the economic impact by REACH Central Coast and Cal Poly. Environmental impacts Environmental impacts such as the loss of wind energy that drives the ocean upwelling which is the central feature of ocean ecology in the area remain to be evaluated in the future. The amount of money involved is staggering, hundreds of billions of dollars, so those credits – 20 percent for workforce and supply chain, and five percent each for offshore and onshore impacts – will represent large amounts of money to communities like Morro Bay and Humboldt. It’s not without significant risk, though. In mid-November, Shell, with partners China General Nuclear Power Group and France’s Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) canceled a demonstration floating wind project offshore France. Shell’s statement cited ”technical, commercial and financial challenges” in the execution of the project as the main reasons for the decision to cancel the EUR 300 million, 28.5 MW Groix & Belle-Île pilot wind farm, Le Parisien reports.“ The economic conditions linked to the project have been significantly modified, calling into question, for all the partners of the consortium, the economic viability of the project,” Shell was quoted as saying in a statement. State regulators Representatives of California’s State Lands Commission and the Coastal Commission attended the San Francisco conference, supporting the projects. Governor Gavin Newsom is committed to floating offshore wind and the regulatory agencies are on board. All projects will be subjected to California's notoriously contentious permitting process, but the pressure is on to get turbines in the water by 2030. With the workforce development required – it will take as long as two years to train welders to the skill level needed – new port terminals to be constructed, and techniques for anchoring the turbines in such deep water refined, sussing out the risks of screwing it up is needed. Yurok Vice Chair Myers said, “The path to messing it up is just so wide. ”While the powers behind the idea and the money are moving forward, those communities that will be most affected are watching from the sidelines. “I’m afraid that it will be just such a bright, shiny object that it will distract us from the changes we need to make,” one conference participant said privately. The question of whether this provides the solution California needs for its future power requirements, or if expenses and technical problems overwhelm it remains to be seen. We will keep you posted.

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MIT conductive concrete consortium cements five-year research agreement with Japanese industry

The MIT EC^3 Hub, an outgrowth of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, will develop multifunctional concrete applications for infrastructure.

The MIT Electron-conductive Cement-based Materials Hub (EC^3 Hub), an outgrowth of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub), has been established by a five-year sponsored research agreement with the Aizawa Concrete Corp. In particular, the EC^3 Hub will investigate the infrastructure applications of multifunctional concrete — concrete having capacities beyond serving as a structural element, such as functioning as a “battery” for renewable energy. Enabled by the MIT Industrial Liaison Program, the newly formed EC^3 Hub represents a large industry-academia collaboration between the MIT CSHub, researchers across MIT, and a Japanese industry consortium led by Aizawa Concrete, a leader in the more sustainable development of concrete structures, which is funding the effort. Under this agreement, the EC^3 Hub will focus on two key areas of research: developing self-heating pavement systems and energy storage solutions for sustainable infrastructure systems. “It is an honor for Aizawa Concrete to be associated with the scaling up of this transformational technology from MIT labs to the industrial scale,” says Aizawa Concrete CEO Yoshihiro Aizawa. “This is a project we believe will have a fundamental impact not only on the decarbonization of the industry, but on our societies at large.” By running current through carbon black-doped concrete pavements, the EC^3 Hub’s technology could allow cities and municipalities to de-ice road and sidewalk surfaces at scale, improving safety for drivers and pedestrians in icy conditions. The potential for concrete to store energy from renewable sources — a topic widely covered by news outlets — could allow concrete to serve as a “battery” for technologies such as solar, wind, and tidal power generation, which cannot produce a consistent amount of energy (for example, when a cloudy day inhibits a solar panel’s output). Due to the scarcity of the ingredients used in many batteries, such as lithium-ion cells, this technology offers an alternative for renewable energy storage at scale. Regarding the collaborative research agreement, the EC^3 Hub’s founding faculty director, Professor Admir Masic, notes that “this is the type of investment in our new conductive cement-based materials technology which will propel it from our lab bench onto the infrastructure market.” Masic is also an associate professor in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, as well as a principal investigator within the MIT CSHub, among other appointments.For the April 11 signing of the agreement, Masic was joined in Fukushima, Japan, by MIT colleagues Franz-Josef Ulm, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and faculty director of the MIT CSHub; Yang Shao-Horn, the JR East Professor of Engineering, professor of mechanical engineering, and professor of materials science and engineering; and Jewan Bae, director of MIT Corporate Relations. Ulm and Masic will co-direct the EC^3 Hub.The EC^3 Hub envisions a close collaboration between MIT engineers and scientists as well as the Aizawa-led Japanese industry consortium for the development of breakthrough innovations for multifunctional infrastructure systems. In addition to higher-strength materials, these systems may be implemented for a variety of novel functions such as roads capable of charging electric vehicles as they drive along them.Members of the EC^3 Hub will engage with the active stakeholder community within the MIT CSHub to accelerate the industry’s transition to carbon neutrality. The EC^3 Hub will also open opportunities for the MIT community to engage with the large infrastructure industry sector for decarbonization through innovation.

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Senators grill Haaland on Biden's energy strategy

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland faced intense scrutiny from senators regarding the Biden administration’s energy policies during her appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.Michael Doyle reports for E&E News.In short: Sen. Joe Manchin accused the Biden administration of prioritizing politics over long-term strategy and criticized Haaland for a lack of progress on energy-related decisions.Republicans, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, denounced recent Interior decisions that limit Alaska’s development, specifically in oil, gas, and mining projects.Haaland defended her policies, stating she provides vision and direction while others detailed specific issues, like the Lava Ridge wind energy project.Key quote: "The radical climate advisers in the White House have put election-year politics ahead of a thoughtful and achievable long-term strategy for the country." — Senator Joe Manchin.Why this matters: As the Biden administration aims to align energy policy with environmental goals, the scrutiny from senators signals a growing divide on energy and climate priorities and ongoing struggles to reduce greenhouse emissions. Read more: Natural gas vs. renewable energy — beware the latest gas industry talking points.

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Clean energy in rural America gets another big boost of federal funding

The Biden-Harris administration is bringing clean power to America’s less populated – and sometimes overlooked – regions. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy announced $78 million for 19 clean energy projects in rural communities from Alaska to Alabama, for installing everything from solar and batteries to power lines and heat pumps. The funding is part of the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program, a $1 billion initiative created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This latest influx of funds to support rural communities, defined as having populations of fewer than 10,000, comes on the heels of the program’s biggest wave of funding so far: $366 million for 17 mostly larger-scale projects announced in February. All told, the funding to date covers 20 states and 30 tribal nations, according to Regina Galer, the ERA program manager at the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, a division of the Department of Energy (DOE). Last July, the office also awarded $6.7 million under the program to 67 winners of the Energizing Rural Communities Prize to develop clean energy partnerships and financing strategies. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm feted the funding for rural communities in a statement: “Through these transformative investments, rural and remote communities from coast to coast are able to map a clean energy future that revitalizes local economies and cuts the pollution that is fueling the climate crisis and driving environmental injustice.” What clean energy means for rural communities Rural communities, with their small populations and isolation from larger electrical systems, grapple with unique energy challenges. These include high electric bills, high fuel costs, and unreliable energy supplies — or lack of access to electricity altogether. At the same time, rural communities have untapped potential for generating clean energy. The ERA funding is meant to help ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels in places that could most use the support; of the nation’s 318 persistently poor counties, 270 are rural. “We are trying … to help rural communities transition to clean energy where there has been a lack of resources to do that in the past,” Galer said.

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Campaign to erect new city on Solano County ranchland submits signatures for November ballot

The tech titans backing the controversial project promise a livable, energy-efficient city in close proximity to the Bay Area.

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House passes bill to study effects of abandoned oil wells in bipartisan vote

Related News

Offshore Wind Moves Forward on California Coast

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House passes bill to study effects of abandoned oil wells in bipartisan vote

Related News

Offshore Wind Moves Forward on California Coast

MIT conductive concrete consortium cements five-year research agreement with Japanese industry

Senators grill Haaland on Biden's energy strategy​​

Clean energy in rural America gets another big boost of federal funding

Campaign to erect new city on Solano County ranchland submits signatures for November ballot

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Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Senators grill Haaland on Biden's energy strategy

Join us to forge
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