Robert Bradley, Richard Fulmer In our previous post, we examined the Inside Climate News (ICN) claims about Exxon's research goals and processes with regard to climate change. The success of their proposal, however, was contingent on government funding. Dont miss a beat. It just goes to show the lengths that polluters will go to to prevent true justice from coming forward, said Stefania Tomaskovic, director of the Coalition for Environment, Equity and Resilience in Houston. Two years ago, Inside Climate News and Los Angeles Times investigations found that while Exxon Mobil internally acknowledged that climate change is man-made and serious, it publicly manufactured . projecting a 13-fold increase in carbon capture, presented data about an inevitable transition, wrote a column for The Wall Street Journal, cost of applying carbon capture to hydrogen, roughly one-sixth of global CO2 pollution, Corpus Christi Sold Its Water to Exxon, Gambling on Desalination. 6 2021, Published 9:29 a.m. A district court in 2017 ordered the Texas-based energy giant to pay almost $20 million. Exxon has declined to answer specific questions from InsideClimate News. Please visit our About page to learn more about our journalistic mission and our impact, our staff and our board, our sources of funding and our editorial independence. Dead End is a story of crime and politics in the Garden State. If you power the systems with renewable energy, you consume precious clean power that could be put to other uses. by | Nov 4, 2022 | local alarm companies | rest api to fetch data from database | Nov 4, 2022 | local alarm companies | rest api to fetch data from database With Pulitzer Prize ambitions, Inside Climate News (ICN) in 2015 published an investigative series on Exxon's shift from "cutting-edge climate research" to "the forefront of climate denial, manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus that its own scientists had confirmed."Nine articles from four primary authors went into ICN's eight-month effort that included interviews and . Founded in 1919, Exxons Baytown refinery has the fourth largest production levels in the U.S. and is the second largest Exxon refinery in the world (after the companys Singapore facility). This is a big deal.. Originally published by Inside Climate News. October 18, 2022 1 BY Robert L. Bradley, Jr. "Exxon knew about climate change half a century ago," reads the home page of the Greenpeace USA et al. 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. But the project was designed to capture only a fraction of the coal plants emissions, and according to the report it failed to reach its overall capture target because of numerous problems that arose, including equipment outages and difficulties delivering the gas to its ultimate destination, a nearby oil field. Fossil fuels become relics, or disappear altogether. Since the company released its proposal, Congress has given the Energy Department $20 billion to spend on carbon capture and clean hydrogen projects and authorized another $250 billion in loan guarantees for these and other emissions-cutting technologies. The company has also said it expects to sell even more oil and gas five years from now than it does today. September 22, 2015 Using a technology called carbon capture and storage, Exxon said it could collect 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from industrial smokestacks by 2030, and double that amount by 2040. This nine-part history of Exxons engagement with the emerging science of climate change is the result of an eight months-long investigation conducted in 2015. By Neela Banerjee and Lisa Song . Exxon's role in hiding the mounting emergency has been widely publicized for four years, since the publication of an investigation by InsideClimate News, the Los Angeles Times and the Columbia. So Far, It's Losing the Bet . Investigative journalists at Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times revealed in 2015 that Exxon's own scientists have known since the 1970s that fossil fuels contribute to climate. Many analysts and environmental advocates received Exxons announcement with skepticism. Exxon Review of Climate Research Program (1981)_jp2.zip download 14.3M Exxon Scientist Lobbies the White House (2002)_jp2.zip download Inside Climate News was founded in 2007 and provides unbiased, non-partisan reporting on climate . The carbon capture equipment would require vast quantities of power. Ironically, the projects finances depended on using the captured CO2 to squeeze oil out of the ground and generate cash from the sales, which helps explain Petra Novas largest failure. Later that decade, James Hansen's declaration that anthropogenic . Thats whats exciting, he said. The companies have said the hubs use of carbon capture and hydrogen fuel could reduce some air pollutants from the areas power plants and trucks, such as soot and sulfur oxides, but it is unclear how it would reduce the emissions of toxic pollutants. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Inside Climate News . Exxon and other industry . On the wall is a mural showing smiling children playing below industrial stacks topped with bright orange flames, like a dystopian dream. ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and TotalEnergy have together earned more than $100 billion in profits so far this year. Charisma Troiano, an Energy Department spokeswoman, declined to elaborate on what was discussed at the meeting with Exxon, saying only that the department and the secretary meet with a lot of companies interested in carbon capture given the recognition that it is needed to reach President Bidens net zero by 2050 goals.. By some measures the project was a success. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. Its frequently in the interest of a company to drag out cases for as long as possible to try and get the other side to give up, but we are not giving up, said Josh Kratka, senior attorney at the National Environmental Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs in the trial. Oil giant Exxon didn't hide the climate research it funded, nor did the company interfere with scientists' iconclusions. McConnell led the Energy Departments Office of Fossil Energy from 2011 to 2013, and he said his experience there is not lost on the companies as they seek federal funding. The activists at InsideClimate News are up with another story that fundamentally misrepresents ExxonMobil's climate research.. You'll recall that ICN erroneously stated, "Toward the end of the 1980s, Exxon curtailed its carbon dioxide research.In the decades that followed, Exxon worked instead at the forefront of climate denial." Note the use of the terms "curtailed" and "worked . And when that money begins flowing next year, a good portion is widely expected to land in Houston. Buffalo Bayou was once a swampy, mosquito-infested creek that seeped through Houston to Galveston Bay. They comprise all the industrial pieces needed to convert hydrocarbons into the fuels, fertilizers and plastics that feed the modern economy. It would also require substantial government financing, Exxon said. 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. 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. 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. That natural gas turbine also sent its own carbon dioxide and all its other emissions straight into the air. Environmentalists warn that such efforts will only entrench fossil fuels while failing to deliver climate benefits. Exxon needed to invest $11.75 million dollars in improvements to comply with its Clean Air Act obligations.. Many of the projects, including Exxons Baytown proposal and that of BP and Linde, would convert natural gas into hydrogen while capturing CO2 emissions. Add in the fact that the companies already hold many pipeline rights of way and enjoy the permissive oversight of Texas regulators, and you have what many experts say is the ideal place to build a major carbon capture hub. But just past the fence lines, in many cases, are the homes and schools of the areas mostly Latino residents. [6] The publication writes that it "covers clean energy, carbon energy, nuclear energy and environmental science plus the territory in between where law, policy and public opinion are shaped." [5] Exxon's climate foray was an easy scratch amid company-wide budget cuts and layoffs. It describes how Exxon conducted cutting-edge climate research decades ago and then pivoted to work at the forefront of climate denial, manufacturing doubt about the scientific consensus that its own scientists had confirmed. Utilities and the federal government have already spent many billions of dollars trying to launch commercial-scale carbon capture power plants. Exxon had real doubts about the state of the science, and it supported reasonable public policies based on the science. The decision still doesnt guarantee a conclusion to the long-running case, which Exxon may be able to appeal further. First they sued to block a sewage treatment plant, and then bridge construction. 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. These sectors account for roughly one-sixth of global CO2 pollution, and currently, carbon capture and storage is one of the few tools for reducing them. The story spans four decades, and is based on primary sources including internal company files never before seen, interviews with former company employees, and other evidence. Building new wind and solar farms is simply cheaper, and perhaps more reliable. Exxon, Chevron and others have proposed some of the first projects that could begin to make up the hub, but they have yet to publicly commit anything beyond small initial investments despite raking in what could be record profits this year: Exxon earned $17.9 billion from just April through June. Inside Climate News uses cookies. The judge upheld the high fine in part due to elements of the Clean Air Act designed to ensure that paying emissions fines isnt a cheaper alternative for polluters than building adequate facilities. Refineries are one of the largest sources of carbon emissions in the Houston region, according to EPA data, and they are among the most expensive to retrofit with carbon capture technology. Inside Climate News uses cookies. The regions refineries and chemical plants spew toxic chemicals like benzene, which drive cancer risks far higher for workers and nearby residents. Our work has been consistently recognized with honors bestowed by peers in the profession, including the Pulitzer Prize. Get a daily email of our original, groundbreaking stories written by our national network of award-winning reporters. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. Oil and gas executives reacted to the bills passage with wild enthusiasm, said Charles McConnell, energy officer and director at the University of Houstons Center for Carbon Management and Energy Sustainability, who is serving as an academic adviser to Exxon and the other companies pursuing the hub. In March of this year, while the climate bills fate was uncertain, Exxon announced the first proposal for the hub, a plan to make hydrogen with natural gas while capturing the processs emissions, at its Baytown refinery complex. Thats what is going to put the tailwinds into the sail here. Exxon The Road Not Taken This nine-part history of Exxon's engagement with. Just as Exxon began tracking climate science in the late 1970s, when only small groups of scientists in academia and the government were engaged in the research, other oil companies did the same, the documents show. Their smokestacks and flares form an industrial skyline of white plumes and orange flames, belching greenhouse gases into the thick Gulf Coast air and toxic pollution into residential neighborhoods. 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. So last year, Exxon proposed a herculean industrial effort for the Houston area that would allow the regions fossil fuel infrastructure to continue operating at full throttle for decades while steadily lowering its climate emissions. Few if any residents have heard of the hub proposal, Gutierrez and other community advocates say, but people in the communities around the Ship Channel are skeptical of any plan presented by Exxon or other corporations to clean up the industry. Exxon's plastic plant started operations this year and will eventually consume 25 million gallons per day, . In this story of the future, oil refineries continue to distill crude. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. 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. She added that while some diminishing volumes of oil and gas will likely be needed to produce materials or fuels for decades, for like bulk oil production and refining, and transportation fuels in particular, we are not going to succeed at decarbonization if thats still a thing.. New York AG: Exxon Climate Fraud Investigation Nearing End At a hearing to force the oil giant to turn over more records, the attorney general's office said it had found 'smoking guns' suggesting Exxon misled investors. Exxon declined to make anyone available for an interview, but spokesman Todd Spitler emailed a statement that pointed to several carbon capture proposals the company has announced around the world, most of which are in the early planning stages, as evidence of its intentions to deploy the technology. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. Last month, the climate legislation passed by Congress included a significant expansion of a carbon capture tax credit as well as a new clean hydrogen production tax credit. It is unclear whether they would welcome it. Early last year, Exxons top executives were in the uncomfortable position of playing defense. In short, many experts say, Exxons vision is an extreme long-shotsome would say bad-faithproposal for the largest-ever deployment of a technology that has failed to prove itself at scale, despite billions of dollars of public subsidies and private investments and decades of effort. . This tax credit change is likely the most important subsidy of all for the Houston hub: 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide could work out to more than $4 billion annually. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. One of the goals of the Houston hub effort is to keep refineries like Valeros operating for decades, albeit with new, emissions-capturing equipment. 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. Even if that electricity were generated by emissions-free sources, many advocates and experts argue it would be more effective to simply send that power into the grid and displace fossil fuels altogether, rather than run carbon capture operations. A digest of the most pressing climate-related news, released every Tuesday and Friday. ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas.It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil, both of which are used as retail brands, alongside Esso, for fueling stations and downstream products today. Weve got an opportunity to essentially build a new business here from scratch, working with the government and with industry.. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. Exxon and others have already made strides in securing this support. Throughout the 1980s, the company struggled to solve the carbon problem of one of the biggest gas fields in the world out of concern for climate impacts. Inside Climate News . Many experts have charted pathways for achieving zero emissions within the power sector by building massive amounts of renewable energy, and light-duty transportation, through electrification. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. About 200 yards from the gate are a playground and community center. Inside Climate News is a non-profit [5] news organization, focusing on environmental journalism. But billions of tons of carbon pollution are emitted every year by the manufacturing of iron, steel, cement, chemicals and many other products central to society. The investigation by Inside Climate News pushed the clock on Exxon's knowledge of climate change back even further to the 1970s. Exxon: The Road Not Taken After eight months of investigation, InsideClimate News presents this history of Exxon's engagement with the emerging science of climate change. According to an analysis last year by ProPublica, the greater Houston region has the third-biggest hot spot of cancer-causing air in the country.. Economics would suggest that the most cost-effective plants will be built first. Two weeks later, BP and Linde, a chemical company that is among the 12 supporting corporations, said they would team up to produce low-carbon hydrogen and support the storage of carbon dioxide captured from other industrial facilitiespaving the way for large-scale decarbonization of the Texas Gulf Coast industrial corridor.. His work has won numerous awards, including from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Washington Post, Businessweek, The Nation, Fast Company and The New York Times. Corpus Christi Sold Its Water to Exxon, Gambling on Desalination. The change could push many of the proposals, including one announced this year by Exxon for its Baytown refinery, across the economic threshold of profitability. 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. 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. Imagine a clean energy future, and you might picture giant turbines twisting in the wind, or electric vehicles zipping quietly down the highway. 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. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. The company chairman would later mock climate models as unreliable while he campaigned to stop global action to reduce fossil fuel emissions. After a lobbying blitz from Exxon and many others, Congress soon allocated more money to carbon capture and storage than any government anywhere has to date, and much of it closely matched what Oswald said his company needed for the Houston hub. By David Hasemyer, Nicholas Kusnetz. Tens of thousands of new jobs would be created in the process, they said, and thousands of existing jobs would be preserved. There are substantial hurdles to building so much renewable energy production, including opposition from communities where it would be sited and backlogs in permitting. Whats more, over the last several decades, only a few dozen carbon capture operations have been built, and collectively they capture far less CO2 than what Exxon said it could achieve over just eight years. The hedge fund presented data about an inevitable transition away from fossil fuels and how Exxons investments were failing to anticipate that trend. August 29, 2018. Baddour holds bachelors degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Heres How They Plan to Use It, A Timber Mill Below Mount Shasta Gave Rise to a Historic Black Community, and Likely Sparked the Wildfire That Destroyed It, With Fossil Fuel Companies Facing Pressure to Reduce Carbon Emissions, Private Equity Is Buying Up Their Aging Oil, Gas and Coal Assets, New Jersey Joins Other States in Suing Fossil Fuel Industry, Claiming Links to Climate Change, In Court, the Maryland Public Service Commission Quotes Climate Deniers and Claims Theres No Such Thing as Clean Energy, The EV Battery Boom Is Here, With Manufacturers Investing Billions in Midwest Factories. InsideClimate News in 2015 laid out the discrepancies between Exxon Mobil's "cutting-edge climate research" and its public stance of climate change denial. Upon review, the court reduced the number of actionable violations to 3,651 and reduced the fine to $14.25 million. Still, McConnell said, the new, higher tax-credit value means companies can now start running business modeling for specific projects. It spawned the popular hashtag #ExxonKnew and many climate liability lawsuits. 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.