The past week's announcements provide evidence of the industry's self-interested priorities.
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Oil industry announces record-breaking profits
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Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Drilling equipment on public lands, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the US, reported a record $56 billion in profits in 2022, blowing past its previous record ([link removed]) of $45 billion in profits in 2008. The news follows Chevron's announcement ([link removed]) last week of nearly $36 billion in profits, also a record. And now Shell is the subject of a complaint ([link removed]) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that accuses the company of "greenwashing" by categorizing its investments in natural gas as "Renewables and Energy Solutions" in its own reports to the SEC.
After a year that saw sharp increases in gas prices consumers paid at the pump, Republican lawmakers are attempting to use gas prices as an excuse to open and lease more public lands for oil and gas drilling. The Strategic Production Response Act, for example, which passed the House last week but has little chance of passing the Senate, would require the Secretary of Energy to make a plan to increase oil leasing as a condition of future releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry is enjoying record profits and shows no interest in increasing production. As of September 2022, the Bureau of Land Management reported oil and gas companies have 8,663 approved but unused permits to drill ([link removed]) on public land. In its November 2021 report outlining deficiencies in the oil and gas leasing program, the Interior department reported that companies held over 37,000 oil and gas leases covering 26.6 million acres ([link removed]) . Of that land, 13.9 million acres, or 53 percent, were not producing oil and gas.
"CEOs have made it clear their shareholders expect them to keep production down and gas prices high so they can maximize profits over people," Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby said in a statement ([link removed]) following last week's passage in the House of the Strategic Production Response Act. The past week's oil industry profit announcements provide evidence of the industry's self-interested priorities.
** General Motors invests $650 million to help develop controversial lithium mine
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GM announced that it is investing $650 million in Lithium Americas Corp. to jointly develop the Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada. The mine, which would extract lithium from what is currently the largest known deposit in the country, could produce enough lithium to enable production of up to one million electric vehicles per year. The controversial project is the subject of an ongoing legal challenge ([link removed]) ; opponents of the mine argue that the environmental analysis the Trump administration relied on when it allowed the project to move forward was flawed. The area is also significant to several Tribes ([link removed]) . The first part of GM's two-part investment is contingent ([link removed]) on Lithium
Americas prevailing in the case, with a decision expected in the next few months.
Quick hits
** Biden administration expected to approve limited drilling for Alaska Willow project
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New York Times ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed])
** New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado among top states in wasted natural gas on public lands, study finds
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Colorado Times Recorder ([link removed])
** A weird week for oil off California coast
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Santa Barbara Independent ([link removed])
** California releases its own plan for Colorado River cuts
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | CNN ([link removed])
** Arizona can't keep growing without finding more water
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Bloomberg ([link removed])
** 'A living spirit': Native people push for changes to protect the Colorado River
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
** What does the nation's commitment to Tribal co-stewardship mean for public lands?
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High Country News ([link removed])
** Why conserving 30x30 is more than a numbers game
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Center for American Progress ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” [The Colorado River] is a living spirit as far as the tribe is concerned. It gives life. It really needs to be treated differently.”
—Nora McDowell, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
Picture this
** @usfws ([link removed])
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Looking sharp! This Colorado River fish is the endangered razorback sucker. Maybe its "razor" serves as a keel. Or perhaps its design deters its natural predator, the Colorado Pikeminnow, from an easy meal. Whatever its purpose, we're a sucker for this big, long-lived, wetland-loving fish with vermicelli-like larvae.
Catch the latest episode of "Fish of the Week!" about razorback suckers (yes, we have a #podcast ([link removed]) !). Tildon Jones joins from our Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in Utah.
A Razorback Sucker photographed at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery. 📷 Sam Stukel/USFWS
#AllTheFish ([link removed]) #Fish ([link removed]) #ESA50 ([link removed]) #FishOfInstagram ([link removed])
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