Complete list of press releases

(BATON ROUGE, La. – January 12, 2016) Last week, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) released its draft Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Annual Plan for Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana. This year’s Annual Plan expands on last fall’s recommendation by CPRA to advance two sediment diversion projects at Mid Barataria and Mid Breton.

CPRA is required by the state legislature to produce an Annual Plan that reports on the progress of projects as well as project funding schedules and budgets. The agency will host a series of three public meetings this week in Lake Charles, New Orleans and Thibodaux and is accepting comments on the draft plan.

National and local conservation groups working together on Mississippi River Delta restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana – released the following statement:

“The drafting of the Annual Plan is a vital part of the restoration process in Louisiana. It gives CPRA the opportunity to take inventory of projects in the Coastal Master Plan, project real dollars to continue progress and communicate directly with the public on the status and potential futures of specific projects.

“We are pleased to see the most current and best-available science from the Coastal Master Plan process continue to drive prioritization and planning by CPRA. As the Annual Plan says, the Mid Barataria and Mid Breton sediment diversions must continue to move forward into engineering and design, and eventually, implementation.

“Sediment diversions like these provide the best opportunity to restore our coast over time. They use the most powerful tools we have at our disposal to help rebuild our collapsing delta – the power, sediment and water from the Mississippi River itself. Our disappearing land can only survive if we allow the river that built it to rebuild and sustain it. Ensuring these diversions move forward in an expedited manner should be of utmost importance to us all.

“We look forward to continuing to work alongside CPRA, other organizations and residents all along the coast to get diversions up and running.”

(Austin, Texas — January 12, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Caddo Lake Institute (CLI) are asking America’s environmental protection agency to strip Texas of some of the responsibilities that it had previously delegated to the state under the nation’s Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.

The groups filed a petition  with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last night asking the federal agency to “review and withdraw its delegations of permitting authority to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ),” documenting recent actions by the Texas legislature that have made it impossible for TCEQ to fulfill its duties to protect the health of Texas citizens. 

During the last Texas legislative session, EPA sent a letter warning – and numerous people testified — that proposed legislation damaged core safeguards for clean air and water guaranteed to the public under our nation’s landmark environmental laws, and that the proposed legislation jeopardized delegation of federal programs.

“The legislature and Governor Abbott thumbed their noses at these warnings. They passed and signed laws, respectively, that resulted in Texas’s clean air and clean water programs no longer meeting minimum legal safeguards, which puts the health of Texas families at risk,” said Jim Marston, EDF Vice President and Regional Director of its Austin, Texas office. “The Texas laws create fundamentally unfair legal processes that deprive all Texans of basic rights and will result in more pollution in our state. The legislature also has repeatedly underfunded the state environmental agency to the point that the TCEQ cannot adequately do its job. Sadly, because our current office holders will not protect Texans from dangerous pollution, we have no choice but to ask EPA to exercise its fundamental duty under the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and to retake responsibility to administer these vital national health programs.”  

The petition specifically asks EPA to revoke the state’s authority for permitting under the Clean Air Act’s new source review program and under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination program.

It cites recent “ongoing noncompliance with federal standards” as the reason, along with recently passed amendments to Texas law that would restrict the public’s ability to question or oppose permits. The petition states that the recently enacted amendments to Texas law  “restrict and limit the public’s ability to obtain judicial review of TCEQ’s permitting decisions … reduce opportunities for public participation by increasing the burden on permit opponents in a contested case hearing … [and] provide inadequate resources for implementation and enforcement” of clean air and clean water laws. 

“These amendments prevent TCEQ from adequately implementing and enforcing delegated programs under the [Clean Air Act] and [Clean Water Act] contrary to the commitments the State of Texas made when it sought and received delegation and approval of these programs from EPA,” states the petition.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The legislature’s swift and concrete proposal for responding to Aliso Canyon, and cutting methane pollution across the board, is welcome news for protecting the people and environment of California. With its multi-part proposal, the state legislature is joining the governor and local leaders to both end the crisis and assess how to better manage our future energy infrastructure.

“It is critical that the legislature fully reviews the state’s rules governing well construction and maintenance, and that a commitment be made to continuously revise and improve standards overseeing California’s aging natural gas infrastructure. Aliso Canyon is a wakeup call not only for California but for other states to conduct similar reviews in order to prevent future leaks like this from happening. 

“We applaud the legislature for including a requirement that SoCalGas reduce methane pollution as restitution for the damage being done by the Aliso Canyon leak. It is critical that as the state sets these reduction measures, it looks to achieving a reduction aligned with the national goal of reducing oil and gas methane up to 45 percent by 2025. EPA recently proposed rules to help meet that goal across the country’s oil and gas infrastructure, and Aliso Canyon illustrates the importance of moving forward with those efforts.

“Legislative action is important to ensure lessons learned in response to Aliso Canyon last beyond the end of the crisis and prevent it for happening elsewhere. By codifying methane reduction commitments for California, the state legislature can help ensure the state reduces a pollutant that is responsible for 25% of today’s man-made warming.”

-Tim O’Connor, Director of California Oil and Gas at Environmental Defense Fund

(Washington, D.C. – January 11, 2016) Leading oil and gas companies are putting themselves and their investors at financial and reputational risk by failing to adequately disclose meaningful information on emissions of methane, the heat-trapping pollutant that is drawing increased scrutiny from regulators and the public. A new report by Environmental Defense Fund finds that none of the 65 market leaders reviewed in the production and midstream segments disclose targets to reduce methane emissions and less than a third report such emissions via accessible, investor-facing data sources.

Methane – the key component of natural gas and a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide – is responsible for more than a quarter of the warming we are experiencing today and represents a fast-emerging form of carbon risk for investors. The oil and gas industry releases seven million tons of methane annually in the United States alone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“As a shareholder with a global portfolio, we have a financial stake in the long-term performance of the natural gas industry,” said Jack Ehnes, CEO of CalSTRS, one of California’s largest pension funds, and author of the report’s foreword. “However, for the gas industry to be part of the solution in the needed transition to a low-carbon global economy, methane emissions – which reduce the potential climate benefits of natural gas over other fossil fuels – must be actively managed. Improved methane disclosure is one important piece of the climate change risk management puzzle.”

The report, “Rising Risk: Improving Methane Disclosure in the Oil and Gas Sector,” examines the current state of voluntary reporting on methane in the U.S. oil and gas sector. The authors found that the data which is publicly disclosed through sources like CDP questionnaires, corporate sustainability/CSR reports and 10-K filings is generally low in quality and lacks rigorous and standardized metrics, making comparisons among operators difficult.

The “Rising Risk” report provides a number of pragmatic, forward-looking recommendations to improve methane disclosure centered around four key methane metrics that aim to bring a level of standardization and quantitative rigor to methane reporting. Operator and disclosure platform adoption of these metrics will help give investors much-needed meaningful information to properly assess risk from methane.

“The global agreement in Paris this December buried any confusion regarding the direction of the world economy: the future is low-carbon,” said Chris Fowle, Vice President of Investor Initiatives for sustainability reporting organization CDP. “Investors preparing for that future depend on a bedrock of accurate emissions disclosure, including risky methane, which CDP is committed to providing. Companies who fall behind on transparency could see themselves locked out of a new and growing suite of investment vehicles.”

Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector are increasingly viewed as a financially material issue for companies, and by extension, their investors. Every pound of methane allowed to escape represents not only a loss of sellable product, but also undercuts natural gas’ climate benefits as a fuel source. A 2015 study by the Rhodium Group found that the sector loses $30 billion globally each year from leaked or vented methane at oil and gas facilities.

Potential liability issues that can arise as a result of methane leaks are starkly illustrated by the massive leak currently underway at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in California, which has cost $50 million for mitigation of environmental and community impacts, over $12 million in lost product to date and reputational damage. The Aliso Canyon leak is a large example of the types of leaks that occur daily across the world’s oil and gas infrastructure.

The analysis comes at a time of increased scrutiny from both investors and regulators on when and how fossil fuel companies are reporting on greenhouse gases and climate risks. Shareholders filed 83 resolutions in 2015 related to carbon accounting and risk management disclosure. Further, investors have been making their voices heard specifically on methane, filing 15 methane-related shareholder proxies from 2014-2016, urging companies to better disclose and manage their methane emissions.

“Some leading companies are already instituting best practices to reduce emissions, but without rigorous, consistent data, investors can’t gauge progress, manage risks, or compare company performance,” said lead author Sean Wright, a manager in EDF’s Corporate Partnerships Program. “Improved corporate disclosure can show investors that company management is serious about addressing this rising risk, and encourage other companies to start on the path of continuous improvement.”

(AUSTIN – January 8, 2016) TXU Energy announced a new electricity plan this week, giving its customers the option to power their homes with 100 percent local solar. The innovative offering is the market’s first electricity plan entirely comprised of Texas solar power.

“The cost of solar has dropped a whopping 82% over the past five years, and with this program TXU is allowing its customers to reap the benefits. This innovative, new solar plan will not only spur our state’s clean energy economy and create local jobs, but also move Texas toward a less costly, safer, and healthier energy future.” 

• Jim Marston, Vice President, Clean Energy

(LOS ANGELES – Jan. 6, 2016) Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) applauded the order from Governor Jerry Brown declaring the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak an emergency and calling for swift action to stop the massive leak that began more than two months ago. At peak measurement, the leak was pumping 72 million cubic feet of methane into the atmosphere and causing, every day, as much climate damage in the next 20 years as 7 million cars on the road.

“This leak has been a state of emergency for the Porter Ranch community and the climate since day one. Governor Brown is right to call it such and to shut down the facility until it is made safe.

“Eyes are now open to the world’s methane problem. Leaks from the oil and gas industry occur every day, and Aliso Canyon is an extreme example of what can happen when companies don’t properly monitor and maintain aging oil and gas infrastructure.

“Stronger state and national methane policies are needed to prevent these types of problems in the future. The steps Governor Brown outlines in his order recognize both the immediate need to stop the massive leak, but set in motion a longer term effort to protect people and the environment from methane leakage – it’s a great first step.”

• Mark Brownstein, Vice President, Climate & Energy

(BATON ROUGE, La. – January 5, 2016) Today, Louisiana Governor-Elect John Bel Edwards announced that Johnny Bradberry is his appointee for Executive Assistant to the Governor for Coastal Activities. In this position, Bradberry will also serve as the Chairperson of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Bradberry, who is a former Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, succeeds current Chair Chip Kline, who took the position in February 2015.

National and local conservation groups working together on Mississippi River Delta restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana – released the following statement:

“This is a critical appointment, given the state of our coast and increased funding opportunities to restore it. Perhaps no other area of responsibility offers as much hope, or peril, for our state’s future.

“We very much appreciate the dedication, commitment and progress of the CPRA leadership to date, and look forward to working with Governor-elect Edwards’ choice to continue and expand that leadership. We expect Mr. Bradberry’s long record of private sector and public service to serve the state and the coast well, and offer any and all assistance to achieve that result.”

(AUSTIN, Texas - January 5, 2016) Robert E. Jones, regional director for the Gulf of Mexico at Environmental Defense Fund, made the following statement regarding the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana’s ruling upholding sector separation in the Gulf red snapper fishery:

“We applaud the court’s ruling because sector separation will better meet the needs of all participants in the recreational fishery. Separate catch limits for charter fishermen and private anglers in the Gulf can enable better management options that will end persistent overharvests while allowing greater access to the resource.

“We filed an amicus brief in this case because one-size-fits-all management for diverse types of fishing was failing miserably. We look forward to working with private anglers, charter captains and regulators to help design tailored management approaches for each component that maximize sustainable fishing opportunities, continue to rebuild red snapper and promote healthy coastal economies.”

(OHIO – December 30, 2015) Exelon, a leading competitive energy provider, today filed testimony to challenge FirstEnergy’s four billion dollar bailout request for its uneconomic power plants. Exelon argues that existing power markets, rather than subsidies, will provide the lowest-cost and most reliable power in Ohio.

“Exelon is prepared to supply reliable electricity at a far lower cost to Ohioans than FirstEnergy is proposing. In asking for a fair and competitive energy market, Exelon joins the growing chorus of opposition toward FirstEnergy’s bailout.”

• Dick Munson, Director, Midwest Clean Energy

New aerial footage released today by Environmental Defense Fund provides the first birds’ eye view of the massive natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility owned by Southern California Gas Company. The ongoing leak is disrupting lives in the nearby Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, fouling the San Fernando Valley air and pumping out 62 million cubic feet of potent, heat-trapping methane emissions into the atmosphere each day.

The video, filmed by Earthworks ITC-certified thermographer using a specialized infrared camera, confirms the massive scale of pollution flowing from the ruptured underground gas well, which is one of the nation’s largest-ever methane leaks. Aerial images for the first time also reveal the damage at the location of the well, a site that has been heavily restricted due to safety concerns. Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, can be flammable under high pressures and inflict immediate climate damage – methane packs over 80 times the 20-year warming power of carbon dioxide.

“Events of this size are rare, but major leakage across the oil and gas supply chain is not. There are plenty of mini-Aliso Canyons that add up to a big climate problem – not just in California, but across the country,” said Tim O’Connor, Director of Environmental Defense Fund’s California Oil & Gas Program. “Regardless of what the future holds for the Aliso Canyon storage field, this is one reason why strong rules are needed to require that oil and gas companies closely monitor for and manage methane leaks.”

A digital counter developed by EDF tracks the leak using state data to estimate its real-time climate impact. Current estimates indicate the daily leakage has the same 20-year climate impact as driving 7 million cars a day— or equal to the rate of emissions from all of California’s oil refineries combined. Nationally, the problem of industrial methane pollution is estimated to be over 7 million tons per year.

“I hate seeing SoCalGas’ pollution billowing over my home and community. Knowing this gas leak has been polluting us since October and won’t stop until March, if then, makes it clear there’s only one way to keep us healthy and safe now and in the future,” said Matt Pakucko, President of Save Porter Ranch. “Governor Brown needs to shut down the Aliso Canyon facility.”

At least a thousand odor complaints have been filed with the South Coast Air Quality Management District as a result of the leak. The health department has ordered the gas company to help relocate residents due to ongoing health concerns. Over a thousand people have been relocated so far, with at least 2,500 additional people requesting relocation. Two local schools are being forced to close.

“What you can’t see is easy to ignore. That’s why communities that suffer from pollution from oil and gas development are often dismissed by industry and regulators,” said Earthworks spokesman Alan Septoff. “Making invisible pollution visible shows the world what people in Porter Ranch have been living with every day for months.”

The new footage of the massive plume in the California sky drives home the severity of the methane problem, and the risk presented to communities and the climate as the nation’s oil and gas infrastructure ages.

(WASHINGTON—Dec. 17, 2015) Yesterday, the U.S. Congress unveiled a year-end spending bill that includes more than $10 million in funding for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Program. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 is expected to be approved in coming days by the full Congress. This funding includes $10 million for LCA Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials (BUD Mat) Construction and $50,000 for LCA General Investigations and reflects a request in the President’s FY 16 budget. These levels were previously included in both U.S. House and U.S. Senate versions of FY 16 Energy and Water Appropriations bills.

National and local conservation groups working together on Mississippi River Delta restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana – released the following statement:

“We commend Congressional leaders and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for including critical funding for the Louisiana Coastal Area Program in this year-end spending bill. LCA projects will help restore critical wetlands throughout the Mississippi River Delta, which will protect Louisiana’s vital coastal infrastructure and natural resources. We would especially like to thank the Louisiana Congressional delegation for their bipartisan efforts and dedication to Louisiana’s coast.

“The Mississippi River Delta is home to more than 2 million people and countless wildlife and birds, and is an economic engine for the entire nation, providing billions of dollars in economic activity. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina and five years after the Gulf oil disaster, this funding provides a critical opportunity to advance much-needed coastal restoration. We are gratified by the commitment to restoration the Obama Administration and Congress have shown in advancing the restoration program in fiscal year 2016, and we look forward to continued progress in the years ahead. 

“The state of Louisiana has included many LCA projects in its 2012 Coastal Master Plan, and this funding is an important down payment in the effort to move that important suite of projects forward along the path to completion. Our organizations look forward to working with the state of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on seeing these Louisiana Coastal Area Program projects through from engineering and design to implementation.”

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The Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition is working to protect people, wildlife and jobs by reconnecting the river with its wetlands. As our region faces the crisis of threatening land loss, we offer science-based solutions through a comprehensive approach to restoration. Composed of conservation, policy, science and outreach experts from Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, we are located in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; and around the United States. Learn more at MississippiRiverDelta.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

(SAN FRANCISCO – December 16, 2015) The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a draft climate change policy today, stating it will develop policies that support the state’s ambitious climate and energy goals. Commissioners and their staff are not currently required to factor greenhouse gas emissions impacts into energy policy decisions affecting California’s electricity sector, like they do with reliability, safety, and affordability. While this is a step forward, it does not specify what kind of policies the Commission plans to use to support the state’s pollution reduction goals.

“With a clearly-defined greenhouse gas target, this proposed update to the CPUC’s decision-making process could be a huge win for Californian’s health, economy, and environment. Environmental Defense Fund urges the Commission to include an ambitious emissions reductions target within their climate change policy in order to ensure reduced pollution, more renewables, and increased customer choice and control.”

• Gavin Purchas, California Director, Clean Energy

(Washington, D.C. – December 15, 2015) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will leave the life-saving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in place to continue protecting the health of millions of Americans.

The court issued an unanimous order today saying that the vital clean air measure will remain in effect while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responds to a recent Supreme Court decision. 

“Today’s court decision is a holiday gift to all Americans who are afflicted by the toxic pollution from fossil fuel power plants,” said Fred Krupp, president of EDF, which was a party to the case. “The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are protecting our families from serious, and sometimes deadly, health problems. Vacating the standards would have jeopardized those protections, and needlessly put people at risk.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards set the first-ever national limits on hazardous air pollutants from power plants, including mercury, arsenic, chromium, and hydrochloric acid gas. Power plants are our nation’s single largest source of those pollutants, which are dangerous to human health even in small doses – mercury causes brain damage in children, metal toxics like chromium and nickel cause cancer, and acid gases cause respiratory problems. 

In June, a sharply divided Supreme Court remanded the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards to the D.C. Circuit Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the EPA must consider the costs of regulation in making its threshold determination whether it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate hazardous air pollution from power plants.

Certain opponents asked the court to vacate the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards while EPA fulfilled that Supreme Court directive. EDF and a broad coalition of 15 states, several cities, the American Academy  of  Pediatrics and other major public health and medical professionals’ associations, the NAACP, environmental groups and power companies argued that blocking the standards while EPA responds to the Supreme Court’s decision would be unnecessary and dangerous. 

Today, the court decided to leave the standards in place.

EPA has already issued a supplemental finding reaffirming the enormous health benefits of reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution. (The agency had already found that the public health benefits of the standards were valued at up to $90 billion annually, but that finding was made later in the process of creating the standards.) 

EPA had also found that the value of the benefits far exceeded the compliance costs – and since then, power companies have been able to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards at less than one-quarter of  EPA’s original cost estimates, further weakening arguments that it’s now necessary to vacate the standards.

EPA has said it will finish the process of responding to the Supreme Court by April of 2016.   

You can find more about the history of the case and all the legal briefs on EDF’s website.

“Today, Secretary Jewell has echoed President Obama’s call for landscape-scale approaches and market-based solutions for conservation by establishing a Natural Resource Investment Center, furthering this administration’s commitment to preserving our nation’s land, water and wildlife.

“This announcement sends a strong signal to investors that the path to prosperity lies in protecting the natural resources that sustain us all.

“My hope is that all federal agencies – from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Bureau of Land Management – will now embrace new tools that bring the efficiency of markets to the business of conservation.

“At EDF, our approach to conservation has always been consistent with the preferences outlined today by Secretary Jewell – approaches that align economic incentives with the highest environmental outcomes. We worked tirelessly to develop habitat exchanges for the greater sage-grouse that achieve more advanced habitat accounting, more efficient permitting and higher quality mitigation – all in a way that is scalable beyond the capacity of previous tools. I am hopeful that the new Natural Resource Investment Center will begin to drive more dollars into these types of programs, creating investment opportunities that benefit us all.”

- Eric Holst, associate vice president of working lands at Environmental Defense Fund 

(OHIO – December 14, 2015) In an ongoing effort to subsidize four of its outdated coal-fired power plants, American Electric Power (AEP) today filed a settlement with Ohio regulators. The new proposal would guarantee continued pollution, raise rates for Ohioans by roughly $2 billion, and represent a move from a competitive electricity market to monopoly control.

“At a time when world leaders have pledged to stand together to fight carbon pollution with the historic Paris Agreement, AEP is urging Ohio to move backward and asking Ohioans to foot the bill. AEP and its allies will tout the utility’s commitment to close coal plants 15 years from now with this proposed subsidy, even though economics would force its aging, inefficient coal plants to close much sooner. Ohio regulators should foster a fair energy marketplace and reject AEP’s bailout.”