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Pipelines

Fossil Fuel Giant Launches Legal Attack Over Standing Rock Protests

March 8, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
Energy Transfer, the US energy giant that owns or operates over 125,000 miles of oil pipelines throughout the US, is suing environmental activism group Greenpeace for USD 300 million in damages in a trial that began last week. The company claims that the nonprofit organized the mass demonstrations and protest camp at the Standing Rock Reservation against the Dakota Access Pipeline between 2016 and 2017. If Greenpeace loses this case and is forced to pay the hundreds of millions in damages demanded by Energy Transfer, it would effectively end their operations in the United States.

Energy East Pipeline Revival: Why Canada Shouldn’t Waste Billions

February 25, 2025 Mitch Anderson, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
Like zombies rising from the grave, many long-rejected oil pipeline projects like Energy East are suddenly being promoted as national necessities in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s musings about annexing Canada. To be clear, most Canadians agree that Canada needs to take Trump’s threats seriously and accelerate long-overdue efforts to make our country less economically dependent on our newly menacing neighbour. Previous political impediments to building interprovincial infrastructure are melting away as Canadians realize protecting our national sovereignty is more important than the priorities of any given region or industry. But before the country considers writing another blank cheque for an oil industry mega-project that may take a decade to complete, let’s make sure to “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

Court Of Appeals Hears Arguments Against Line 5 Tunnel Project

January 16, 2025 Kyle Davidson, Michigan Advance. , , , ,
Attorneys representing Native American tribes and environmental organizations brought their case Tuesday before a three-judge panel in the Michigan Court of Appeals to challenge a 2023 permit from the Michigan Public Service Commission — one of three needed for Enbridge to proceed with its controversial Line 5 tunnel project. Enbridge’s Line 5 is a 645-mile pipeline stretching from Northwest Wisconsin through Michigan into Sarnia, Ontario, carrying 540,000 barrels of light crude oil, light synthetic crude and natural gas liquids daily through the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Permit for Pipeline Reconstruction Near Sacred Site Rescinded

January 10, 2025 Akičita Šuŋka-Wakaŋ Ska, Unicorn Riot. , , , , , ,
St. Paul, MN — Minnesota regulators have rescinded a controversial permit allowing Magellan Pipeline Co. to reconstruct a petroleum pipeline near Pipestone National Monument, following sustained opposition from tribal nations, community groups, and environmental advocates. The decision, made during a recent Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) public hearing, reflects mounting pressure to safeguard the sacred site and its surrounding environment. The PUC unanimously voted to revoke the route permit granted in Oct. 2024 and favored the RA-01 pipeline route (alternative proposed by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe — 13.1 miles long), citing inadequate tribal consultation and incomplete cultural and archaeological surveys.

Who’s Funding ‘Newspaper’ Mailed To Potential Jurors In Greenpeace’s Trial?

December 16, 2024 Emily Sanders, DeSmog. , , ,
In early September, fossil fuel executive and Donald Trump megadonor Kelcy Warren quietly made a large donation to a political action committee few people have ever heard of. Warren is CEO of Energy Transfer, the company behind the infamous Dakota Access Pipeline, which in 2016 faced thousands of protesters including members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other opponents. The timing is potentially significant because Warren made his $5 million donation to the super PAC called Turnout for America while his company pushed forward with a lawsuit against the nonprofit Greenpeace related to the Standing Rock protests.

Wisconsin Approves Pipeline Reroute Near Bad River Reservation

November 29, 2024 Ray Levy Uyeda, Prism. , , , , , ,
According to Indigenous water protectors, it’s not a matter of whether a pipeline will rupture and leak, but when. The federal government’s own data supports this, with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration reporting that there were 1.5 incidents per day in 2023. But in northern Wisconsin on the Bad River Reservation, the incontrovertible claim that the safest way to build a pipeline is not to build one at all isn’t being heeded. On Nov. 14, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) granted the Canadian pipeline corporation Enbridge the permits needed to proceed with a plan to build a 41-mile section of pipeline around the Bad River Reservation.

Plan For Aging Gas Pipelines Runs Up Against Energy Transition

November 1, 2024 Sharon Kelly, DeSmog. , , , , ,
If you ask Chicago’s gas pipeline utility, Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company, or PGL, the best way to fix the problem of leaks from underground gas pipelines, their answer is the most ambitious option — running new, upgraded plastic pipelines throughout the city, leaving their old network of leak-prone iron pipes behind. Consumer watchdogs, however, are calling foul. A newly published report by the Illinois Citizens Utility Board (CUB), a nonprofit utility watchdog established by the state legislature, finds PGL’s cost projections underestimate how expensive and time-consuming those upgrades would be, while massively overestimating how costly other options might be.

US Navy Was At Scene Of Nord Stream Blasts: Danish Media

October 12, 2024 Al Mayadeen, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , , ,
Prior to the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, US Navy ships were present at the location, according to a local harbormaster quoted in the Danish newspaper Politiken. The Nord Stream 2 pipelines, a major infrastructure project aimed at delivering natural gas from Russia to Europe, were targeted in an act of sabotage in September 2022, with Moscow pointing fingers at the West or Ukraine. In August, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian businessmen had funded the attack on the project, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had ordered to halt the attack at the CIA’s request.

First Just Stop Oil, Now Extinction Rebellion Activists Found Guilty

October 4, 2024 The Canary. , , , , , ,
Extinction Rebellion activists who took action in defence of life, known as the “Worley Three,” have been found guilty of causing £6,000 in “damages” for their peaceful protest at the offices of multinational corporation Worley. It was over the so-called EACOP project. Sentencing will take place on 14 November. The action involved washable fake oil and chalk spray, designed to spotlight Worley’s ties to the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a project widely condemned for its devastating environmental and social impacts and to ultimately demand a boycott of the pipeline.

Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Expansion Hasn’t Delivered Promised Benefits

September 12, 2024 Mitch Anderson, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
It has been four months since the $34 billion expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline finally became operational, realizing the longstanding dream of getting Alberta bitumen to tidewater. This much-hyped milestone was supposed to be a gamechanger for the Alberta patch, ending the reliance on U.S. buyers by accessing new Asian markets with allegedly higher prices. While it is still early days, the results so far have been a big fat bust. The price discount of Alberta’s Western Canada Select compared to West Texas Intermediate crude actually increased by $3.25 per barrel since TMX came online on May 1.

Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs Close Road To LNG Trucks

August 26, 2024 Brent Patterson, Peace Brigades International-Canada. , , ,
Gitanyow Hereditary Chief Watakhayetsxw (Deborah Good) says: “As of tonight, I am closing the Cranberry Connector from 11 kilometers to 31 kilometres. ...I am closing the road and I will keep it closed. There will be no trucks permitted through the territory. No LNG equipment will be permitted through the territory." The Nass Forest Service Road, Highway 13, Nisga’a Highway and Cranberry Connector appear to be interchangeable names for the same road. Simogyet Watakhayetsxw of the Lax Ganeda, or the Raven Frog clan, adds: “The BC government, the federal government, defending PRGT. I am putting you on alert. There will be no trucks on my territory. And I will defend the territory as best I can.”

Canada’s First ‘Prisoner Of Conscience’ Is An Indigenous Land Defender

August 23, 2024 Taylar Dawn Stagner, Grist. , , , , ,
In 2019, construction began on a natural gas pipeline that would cut through the unceded homelands of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in western Canada. Wet’suwet’en land and water protectors were forbidden from coming near the construction area operated by Coastal Gaslink, owned by TC Energy. However, the project was met almost immediately with resistance and gained international attention due to the tribe’s use of traditional law. Under Wet’suwet’en law, the pipeline trespassed on Wet’suwet’en land. With no treaty signed with Canada or Britain, Wet’suwet’en argue that their laws are still applicable — a political status recognized by the Canadian supreme court — and they have the right to evict Coastal Gaslink, and its pipeline, from its homelands. 

DC Circuit Rules Against FERC Approval Of LNG And Pipeline Projects

August 6, 2024 Lindsay Stafford Mader, Sierra Club. , , , , ,
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the D.C. Circuit Court issued a decision that effectively cancels the previous approval of three harmful methane gas projects in South Texas by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), marking the first time a court has vacated FERC approval of an LNG terminal. In 2023, FERC reapproved Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and the Rio Bravo pipeline, despite widespread concerns for the harm the projects would cause to the surrounding communities and the climate. The Sierra Club, the City of Port Isabel, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, and Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera sued FERC for failing to adequately consider the environmental justice impacts and greenhouse gas emissions of the three projects, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Natural Gas Act.

NYC Protesters Target AIG Over East African Crude Oil Pipeline

July 27, 2024 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. , , , , , , ,
The "Summer of Heat" continues—both in terms of record-breaking temperatures driven by fossil fuels and a series of nonviolent direct actions targeting Wall Street for its contributions to the climate emergency. After protests last month calling out Citibank for "financing the arsonists," climate campaigners on Friday set their sights on finance and insurance giant AIG for "stubbornly" refusing to join over two dozen other insurers that won't cover the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). EACOP is set to run nearly 900 miles from Uganda's Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. Rights groups have sounded the alarm about how the project has devastated the lives and livelihoods of people in its path as well as violence endured by African activists, who have been "kidnapped, arbitrarily arrested, detained, or subjected to different forms of harassment."

Court Rejects Jail For Wet’suwet’en Chief Who Defied Injunction

July 5, 2024 Amanda Follett Hosgood, The Tyee. , , , ,
A Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief will spend two months under house arrest for interfering with construction on the Coastal GasLink pipeline project nearly three years ago. The sentence comes more than four months after Chief Dsta’hyl, a Wing Chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan who also goes by Adam Gagnon, was found guilty of criminal contempt for breaching a court injunction obtained by Coastal GasLink. The injunction bars anyone from impeding work on the controversial pipeline project. As he emerged from the Smithers courthouse following Wednesday’s sentencing, Dsta’hyl announced he will appeal his conviction.
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