In their gripes about US President Donald Trump’s Apr. 10 executive orders supporting pipeline construction, activists resorted to familiar artfulness.
One order addresses a Clean Water Act provision used by some states to block pipeline construction. The other seeks to expedite permitting of pipeline border crossings, such as that of the Keystone XL expansion.
“In deep denial of the world’s movement away from fossil fuels toward clean energy, these executive orders not only violate states’ rights and threaten citizen’s health but use precious resources attempting to lock in outdated energy sources and the greenhouse gases they produce,” complained Andrew Behar, chief executive officer of As You Sow.
And in a blog post, Joshua Axelrod of the Natural Resources Defense Council wrote: “The reality of climate change is hastening the end of our reliance on fossil fuels, and projects like Keystone XL have no place in a world trying to wean itself from an unhealthy addiction to oil.”
Wanting governments to force consumption of fossil energy to a quick end, As You So and NRDC treat their goal as a given and hope the rest of their contentious argument snaps, unquestioned, into place.
The ploy is especially useful to As You Sow, which, according to its web site, “regularly introduces shareholder resolutions that empower shareholders to drive companies toward a sustainable future.” Investors convinced of an imminent switch from hydrocarbons to “clean energy” can be persuaded to divert capital accordingly.
But most investors can interpret numbers, such as those that consistently show oil and gas will be used in large quantities for many years, even under aggressive regulation.
And the gripers assume much when they claim to speak for “the world,” as both do.
Their world apparently excludes French crowds protesting high fuel costs, Canadian voters deposing politicians who act with costly haste against “outdated energy sources,” and US Republicans hoping Democrats cling to their self-destructive Green New Deal.
The practical world isn’t following the activist roadmap. And it needs pipelines.
(From the subscription area of www.ogj.com, posted Apr. 12, 2019. To comment, join the Commentary channel at www.ogj.com/oilandgascommunity.)
