U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Thanks to President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are set to boost green jobs and curb emissions by plugging old oil and gas wells!

U.S. to boost green jobs, curb emissions by plugging old oil and gas wells

Government sets aside $4.7 billion to stop wells leaking methane

Many abandoned well locations are unrecorded, unknown

Sealing them properly could create tens of thousands of jobs



CLEVELAND, Ohio, April 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For years, the smell of gas wafting through the grounds of the Franciscan Village senior housing facility in Cleveland was a joke among its residents, although they did not realize where the odor was coming from. A few months ago they found out.

An old gas well left unused since the 1950s had broken its clay plug, and methane and other chemical compounds were seeping out, just a few dozen feet from the three apartment buildings making up the 176-unit independent living facility.

“There were a couple of chairs back there, and I’d just sit around and read or listen to the birds, and it was beautiful. And all of a sudden, you’d go, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got to leave,’” said Susie Black, a resident for nearly eight years, recalling the nasty smell.

This year, construction at the facility uncovered the leaking well - and prompted quick action.

Curtis Shuck, chairman of the nonprofit Well Done Foundation that has been plugging the well, pointed to two nearby buildings, both just 30 feet (9 m) away.

He was squatting under a large rig that would be used to drill out the culprit: a shallow hole with an old, six-inch (15-cm) metal pipe going down perhaps as far as 2,700 feet - no one was sure, he said.

For the first time, the U.S. government is giving such old wells major attention in an effort to curb environmental pollution, reduce climate-heating emissions of methane, and create green jobs.

In November, it allocated $4.7 billion to tackle the problem of the orphan wells nationally.

This month officials released final guidance on how states could start applying for the money.

Already 26 states – almost every one with documented orphan wells – have indicated they intend to apply for the grants, according to the Interior Department.

There are tens of thousands of old wells on federal lands nationwide, and at least another 130,000 on state and private lands, according to department official Steven H. Feldgus.

But, he told a congressional hearing last month, "the actual number is probably much higher".

The full number is unknown because for decades energy companies were not required to maintain or even record where their capped wells were located.

Adam Peltz, a senior attorney with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said there could be up to a million in total across the country.

Government officials, green groups, oil service workers and others are now expecting a stampede of action throughout the coming decade, with implications for local economies, groundwater contamination and climate change.

A federal program to plug a half-million wells could create as many as 120,000 specialized oil and gas industry jobs, according to 2020 research from Columbia University and Resources for the Future, a think-tank.

The Well Done Foundation has already been doing this work for a few years, pioneering a funding approach that uses carbon credits linked to curbing the wells’ methane emissions.

That morning, it had received its plugging permit for the Cleveland site – a process that would probably take a small crew a week or two.

Shuck, who set up the foundation in 2019 after three decades in the oil and gas industry, wrapped a large bag around the top of the pipe and timed how long it took to quickly inflate with escaping gases.

“This one is averaging about 5,000 cubic feet per day - a lot of impact to the environment,” he explained.

Oil and gas development in the United States began in the mid-19th century in Pennsylvania, noted Peltz of the EDF, and since then about 4 million wells have been drilled.

Operators have long been required to plug wells once finished, but “the system hasn’t worked right", he added.

Most of the new federal money will now go to the known backlog of orphan wells, but some will also help track down lost wells using drones, landowner reports and more, said Peltz, who helped write the new legislation.

“These wells are everywhere, in every kind of urban, suburban and rural setting. Around 9 million people live within a mile of these documented orphaned wells,” he said.

Other funds will seek to bolster preparations for plugging the 1 million wells still active today, up to three-quarters of which are already producing low volumes, Peltz said.

Energy production is today one of the largest drivers of changing land use in the United States, said Matthew D. Moran, a biology professor at Hendrix College.

Most oil and gas wells are on private land, so companies typically lease the rights to drill, and after the wells run out, the rights revert to the owner, he said.

“In many cases, an abandoned pad might be an acre in size, and nothing is going on. It’s an abandoned piece of land, and restoring it costs money,” he explained.

Last year he and other researchers estimated it would cost about $7 billion to restore 430,000 well sites on 800,000 hectares nationally - but found the financial benefits of doing so would be about three times higher.

Factoring in harder-to-quantify effects such as rising property values and attractiveness would yield even more - altogether adding up to probably five or six times the cost, the team estimated.

“We think that’s pretty concrete and direct to the economies in these places,” Moran said. “We consider this an investment.”

WORK FOR DRILLERS

Back in Cleveland, Keith Moore was getting ready to do what his family has done for decades: drill oil and gas wells.

He has not drilled any new wells since 2014, however, with changing economics making small-scale operations unprofitable, he said.

Instead, for years, he and his crews have been doing the complicated work of plugging old wells.

“We un-drill them, that’s the best way to describe what we do,” he said, standing next to his equipment at the Franciscan Village site.

There was no formal record of the well here, said Donnald J. Heckelmoser Jr., chief executive of LSC Service Corporation, which manages the property.

“We always knew something was there, but never knew it was an orphan well,” Heckelmoser said.

Its discovery halted the construction of a new atrium that will cover the landscaped yard area, but with the capping underway, Heckelmoser felt the project was getting back on track.

As someone who oversees multiple properties and seeks to develop more affordable housing in the Cleveland area, he now knows what to do should the situation arise again.

“There’s a solution, and luckily we were able to find that,” he said.

After drilling out the well to its full depth, the hole is filled with concrete, which can take a few days to weeks, said Moore, who will do 15 to 20 such projects this year.

He recalled plugging wells in some crazy places, including a highway and a school gymnasium.

“If you took a shotgun and shot a map, that’s how many wells are left to be capped,” he said. "They’re anywhere and everywhere.”

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-boost-green-jobs-curb-emissions-by-plugging-old-oil-gas-wells-2022-04-27/

[Rick Plant]

Catholic League calls on Congress to sanction Marjorie Taylor Greene after she linked church leaders to Satan



On Thursday, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights released a statement calling on Congress to sanction Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for her recent statements attacking the Catholic Church.

"Greene has a history of offending African Americans and Jews, so bigotry is something that is apparently baked into her," wrote Catholic League President Bill Donohue in the letter to House Ethics Committee leaders Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN).

"The time has come for her to be either reprimanded or censured," Donohue added. "Her irresponsible behavior has already caused her to be removed from committee assignments. Accordingly, her burst of anti-Catholicism now demands stronger sanctions against her."

Greene, who has said she grew up Catholic but is now an evangelical Protestant, stirred controversy earlier this week when she claimed in an interview with Church Militant that the Catholic Church is "controlled by Satan," citing the work of Catholic charities that help immigrants in the United States, and the Church's history of covering up clergy who have committed sexual abuse of children.

"The Church is not doing its job, and it's not adhering to the teachings of Christ," she said in that interview.

The comments have drawn rebuke from other right-wing commentators, like Erick Erickson, who called Greene's attack on Catholics "inexcusable."

Greene, who has promoted QAnon conspiracy theories, was already stripped of her House committee assignments last year after the emergence of social media activity in which she appeared to endorse the killing of prominent Democratic politicians for treason.

https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-catholic-league/

[Rick Plant]

CNN's Jim Acosta throws Marjorie Taylor Greene's words back in her face during contentious exchange



Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) got into a heated exchange with CNN reporter Jim Acosta after he confronted her with her past text message where she floated declaring martial law to keep former President Donald Trump in the White House.

"Did you send a text asking the president to declare martial law?" Acosta asked her as the two of them walked down the street in Washington D.C.

"You know, I don't recall those being my text messages," Greene replied.

Even though Greene couldn't say for certain whether she'd really sent the text in question, she nonetheless grew very defensive about it and accused Acosta of mischaracterizing its contents.

At issue is the fact that Acosta's initial question implied Greene directly pushed for a declaration of martial law, whereas the actual text message shows she merely floated it as a possibility.

Acosta then took out his phone and read her text aloud.

"In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law [sic]," Greene wrote on January 17, 2021. "I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him."

Acosta then tried to ask her why she would even think of bringing up martial law more than ten days after Congress legally certified the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Greene, however, flew into a rage at him.

"You're lying!" she said. "You know why people don't like you? Because you're a liar! Why do you want to lie on television!"

Watch the video at this link: https://twitter.com/i/status/1519758033294925824

[Rick Plant]

Republican Paul Gosar tweeted a meme used by neo-Nazis on Holocaust Remembrance Day

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar posted — and later deleted — a meme rooted in violent and racist online culture that was praised by neo-Nazis and white nationalists.

Gosar’s social media postings on Twitter and Gab featured a picture of the Prescott Republican with a red filter that is part of the meme movement known as “DarkMAGA,” an aesthetic that evokes a dystopian view of the world and pushes for former President Donald Trump and other conservatives to be more violent and hardlined with their rhetoric.

Read more here: https://www.azmirror.com/2022/04/27/on-holocaust-remembrance-day-paul-gosar-tweeted-a-meme-used-by-neo-nazis/

[Rick Plant]

Democrats Target Big Oil Companies For Price Gouging Consumers

U.S. Democrats announced legislation Thursday to punish fuel companies they accuse of unfairly raising prices at the pump.

The reforms would allow regulators to impose heavy fines on companies exploiting the war in Ukraine and a pandemic-related surge in crude prices to cash in at the expense of American motorists.

"At this time of war -- at any time -- there is no excuse for Big Oil companies to profiteer, to price gouge or exploit families," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a news conference.

"That is why Democrats are moving forward with forceful action that will stop, and hold accountable, oil and gas companies for profiteering and manipulating markets."

The Democrats' proposals would give the Federal Trade Commission and individual states increased authority to go after businesses that manipulate prices in both wholesale and retail sales.

They are hoping to pass legislation before the end of May but would need support from Senate Republicans, who are pressing instead for hikes in domestic fossil fuel production.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone said however that oil giants were "ripping off the American people" by suppressing production to maximize profits.

In March, President Joe Biden announced a record release from US strategic oil reserves of a million barrels per day for six months to "ease the pain" of soaring prices.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm argued at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday that the Ukraine invasion underlined the need for Americans to stop relying on the volatile oil market.

"Ultimately, these crises tell us that global energy security, energy independence and energy affordability all depend on a shift toward American-made clean energy," she said.

© AFP

[Rick Plant]

President Biden
@POTUS

More Americans applied to start a small business in 2021 than ever before — and those small businesses are creating jobs at the highest rate in nearly a decade.
 
This didn’t happen by accident, it’s a direct result of the American Rescue Plan and our economic agenda.

To keep our historic small business growth going, we will:

- Offer $300 billion in loans and equity investments
- Make historic investments in technical assistance programs
- Level the playing field by reforming the tax code

We are working tirelessly to open doors for entrepreneurs.

Unfortunately, Congressional Republicans have a different approach. Their plan would raise taxes on 6.1 million small business owners.

My plan cuts taxes for 4 million small business owners and provides tools to thrive.

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1519796709378904067

[Rick Plant]

Thanks to President Biden's historic economic success small businesses were created in record numbers.   

New businesses soared to record highs in 2021. Here's a taste of one of them
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072057249/new-business-applications-record-high-great-resignation-pandemic-entrepreneur

A Record Number of Businesses Started in 2021
https://smallbiztrends.com/2022/01/record-number-new-businesses-started-2021.html

Business startups had record year, Census Bureau to begin keeping official tally
https://www.fox29.com/news/business-startups-had-record-year-census-bureau-to-begin-keeping-official-tally