View an archive of our most significant work. Dan Gearinos habit-forming weekly take on how to understand the energy transformation reshaping our world. A decade after Exxon began its assessment of Natuna, it "became a driving force in industry organizations committed to derailing" U.S. participation in the 1997 Kyoto protocol an international treaty calling on the world's developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Inside Climate News reported. By Neela Banerjee and Lisa Song . A digest of the most pressing climate-related news, released every Tuesday and Friday. Regulators Say Growing Crops With Oil Wastewater Is Safe, But Evidence Is Scant. The reporting has alleged the company misled the public about what its own. The Houston region is home to one of the greatest concentrations of heavy polluters in the country, but most of the emissions come from refineries and power plants, which are among the most expensive applications for carbon capture technology. We found that decades ago, Exxon conducted cutting-edge climate research and then worked at the forefront of climate denial, manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus that its own scientists had confirmed. This series was named a finalist for the2016 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, and earned national recognition from many other quarters. Inside Climate News uses cookies. Days after the bill was signed, the company secured the mineral rights beneath a swath of federal waters off Houston that align closely with where Exxon has said it would inject the hubs CO2. Related: Tillerson ducks Exxon climate change allegations. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Within weeks, the commissioners of Harris County, home to Exxons Baytown refinery and many of the industrial facilities along the Houston Ship Channel, passed a resolution in support of the company and the proposal, too. To say any more would probably be more than I care to share.. Working with university scientists and the U.S. Department of Energy, Exxon strove to be on the cutting edge of inquiry into what was then called the greenhouse effect. Only one was completed in the United States, and it happens to be outside Houstonattached to a coal plant that was the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the region in 2020, after Exxons Baytown refinery. The bill also directed the Interior Department to issue regulations within a year that would open offshore areas to CO2 storage, another step Exxon needed. Exxon appealed, arguing that not all of those violations could be directly traced to specific health problems. The infrastructure bill that passed last year, for example, created a new Energy Department program that will provide $2.1 billion in loans and grants for building carbon dioxide pipelines and authorized billions more for clean hydrogen and carbon capture demonstration projects. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. While the new value of the carbon capture credit isnt as high as what Exxon has sought$100 per metric tonit comes close, increasing the value by about 70 percent, to $85 for every metric ton of CO2 captured and stored underground. Valeros Houston refinery, for example, borders two sides of the Manchester neighborhood. Exxon calls its Baytown campus the largest integrated petrochemical complex in the U.S. and one of the most technologically advanced petroleum and petrochemical complexes in the world. It includes a refinery, two chemical plants, an engineering office and a technology center. The company would then compress the gas and deliver it through hundreds of miles of new pipelines to injection wells drilled beneath the Gulf of Mexico, where the climate-warming gas would remain locked away forever in porous rock. When you retrofit, for example, a power plant with carbon capture, it has a special value in the broader decarbonized grid that often doesnt get fully recognized, Crabtree said. The shareholder vote was scheduled for late May. Our work has been consistently recognized with honors bestowed by peers in the profession, including the Pulitzer Prize. To build the hub, Exxon would need the department to expand or amend its loan programs, according to a presentation given to state regulators last year by Erik Oswald, vice president of strategy and advocacy at Exxons low-carbon business. As the central pillar of Exxons low-carbon strategy, it would build on the companys expertise managing hydrocarbon molecules, as executives like to say, rather than attempting to enter entirely new businesses like wind or solar energy. Death, Sex & Money Many analysts and environmental advocates received Exxons announcement with skepticism. Its not unlike the things that our industry has done, and our company in particular has done, as we move around the world, is building some of these industries grassroots, from scratch, he said. The stories span four decades, and are based on primary sources, including internal company documents dating back to the late 1970s; interviews with former company employees; and other evidence published for the first time by ICN. Environmentalists warn that such efforts will only entrench fossil fuels while failing to deliver climate benefits. Exxon The Road Not Taken This nine-part history of Exxon's engagement with. Hillary Clinton's 2016 running mate, read from a 1982 letter uncovered by Inside Climate News that was written by an Exxon scientist. But academic research has shown that any benefits achieved by capturing CO2 can be offset by leaks of natural gas, which consist primarily of methane, a far more potent greenhouse gas. First they sued to block a sewage treatment plant, and then bridge construction. So Far, Its Losing the Bet, Over 130 Power Plants That Have Spawned Leaking Toxic Coal Ash Ponds and Landfills Dont Think Cleanup Is Necessary. But just past the fence lines, in many cases, are the homes and schools of the areas mostly Latino residents. Exxon's own climate models predictedwith great accuracythe track the global temperature has . A federal judge this week rejected a third appeal by ExxonMobil in the 12-year legal battle over toxic emissions from one of the Texas-based energy giants Gulf Coast facilities. The Ship Channel has spawned an almost entirely industrial landscape. After eight months of investigation, InsideClimate News presents this history of Exxons engagement with the emerging science of climate change. For the people who live close to the industrial development, however, carbon dioxide is not the most important pollutant. We hope this is the end of it.. The suit was first filed in 2010 by Environment Texas and the Sierra Club under the citizen suit provision of the Clean Air Act, which empowers civilians to sue polluters for violations of federal environmental law. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Dead End is a story of crime and politics in the Garden State. We have built a network of local reporting hubs and forged many media partnerships to help fill the gap left by a shrinking local news industry. Its shallow waters couldnt accommodate oceangoing vessels, so local leaders, aiming to build a true inland port, embarked on a series of projects beginning in the late 19th century to dredge and widen the waterway. American Petroleum Institute Exxon climate denial Exxon lied about climate change . Exxon Confirmed Global Warming Consensus in 1982 with In-House Climate Models . His competitor, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, suggested that human-caused climate change was BS. Johnson leads in the polls. . If we really think about, what is the world that we need to make in order to achieve and stay at net-zero emissions within the next couple of decades, I dont really personally see a role for the ongoing dependence on fossil fuels at the kind of intensity that that would indicate, said Emily Grubert, an associate professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame who recently completed a year leading the Energy Departments office of carbon management, which conducts research into carbon capture. Paying them to do this is paying a ransom on the planet, said Corey Williams, who until recently served as the research and policy director at Air Alliance Houston, an environmental advocacy group. Inside Climate News uses cookies. Our #1 newsletter delivers the weeks climate and energy news our original stories and top headlines from around the web. Even if every one of those planned projects were completed, all of the worlds carbon capture plants would prevent about 150 million metric tons of pollution annually, or less than one-half of 1 percent of global CO2 emissions, which amounted to about 36 billion tons last year. "They deceived the public, misled their shareholders, and robbed humanity of a generation's worth of time to reverse climate change." Exxons shareholders nevertheless voted to replace three corporate directors in May. And a giant loophole exempts coal ash piles that stopped receiving coal plant waste before that year. Researchers say improvements in solar panels mean we need to change expectations about when theyll need to be repurposed or recycled. The facility was the site of a major explosion and fire in late December 2021, prompting another lawsuit from local community members. This in-depth series by InsideClimate New s has explored Exxon's early engagement with climate research more than 35 years ago - and its subsequent use of scientific uncertainty as a shield against forceful action on global warming. The bill also authorized the Energy Department to offer $250 billion in loan guarantees for projects that would help energy facilities avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. This closely matched a request in Oswalds presentation last year. Our groundbreaking investigations have held bad actors to account, exposed scientific misinformation and illuminated environmental injustice. September 22, 2015 Before he joined the Biden administration, Crabtree was the director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, a collection of energy companies, unions and environmental groups that advocates supportive policies. It is one of the countrys biggest sources of carbon dioxide pollution, pumping out more than 11 million metric tons in 2020, the last year for which data is available, according to figures reported to the Environmental Protection Agency. Exxon has said the Baytown project could reduce the refinerys emissions by up to 30 percent, or about 3 million metric tons per year, while also selling hydrogen to help others lower their emissions. CORPUS CHRISTI, TexasFive years ago, when ExxonMobil came calling, city officials eagerly signed over a large portion of their water supply so the oil giant could build a $10 billion plant to. Companies have until 2033 to begin construction to qualify for the credit and are eligible to receive it for 12 years. Tens of thousands of new jobs would be created in the process, they said, and thousands of existing jobs would be preserved. These guys know what they want to do, he said. 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