‘We’re getting out’
TEXAS REACTS: President finds like minds on climate in oil patch
WASHINGTON — Those working in the oil and gas fields around Texas have watched warily as emissions regulations grew in recent years, with each new rule aimed at reducing the risk of climate change by cutting demand for the very product on which their livelihoods depended.
Many in the industry questioned the scientific models showing the earth would warm dangerously over the next decade or so and cursed the politicians who imposed greenhouse gas regulations on them.
But they were cheering President Donald Trump on Thursday after he announced he would withdraw the United States from the international pact on climate change, known as the Paris agreement. They, along with the lawmakers who represent them in Washington, hailed the decision as a victory for their way of life.
“It’s costing a hell of a lot of money to comply with all this crap. And for what?”
Larry Oldham, former oil executive in Midland
“I’m worried there’s dozens (more countries) now who might walk away.”
Luke Metzger, director, Environment Texas
“It’s costing a hell of a lot of money to comply with all this crap. And for what?” said Larry Oldham, a former oil executive in Midland. “So in the next 80 years, we might have a change in temperature of eight-tenths of one degree? That’s where I’m at.”
From rules controlling methane leaks on pipelines to new car emission standards, the oil industry faced an increasingly tough regulatory environment in the decades ahead. Combined with recent advances in wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden predicted earlier this year global demand for oil could peak within the next decade.
But such predictions suddenly seemed a little less certain after Trump’s announcement.
Luke Metzger, director of the advocacy group Environment Texas, said he worried that Paris agreement, decades in the making, would be weakened by U.S. withdrawal. “China has made some positive statements about stepping up to fill the void, and I hope they follow through,” he said. “But we’re talking about 200 countries, and I’m worried there’s dozens now who might walk away.”
‘Fair to the United States’
The Paris agreement was signed by the leaders of nearly 200 countries at the end of 2015, following increasingly dire signs and evidence that climate was accelerating, from diminishing Arctic ice to bleaching of coral reefs in Australia. The overwhelming scientific consensus blames fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, and the greenhouse gases they emit for the quickening pace of global warming.
The Paris agreement aims to keep global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, a goal scientists say would require significant reductions of fossil fuels to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Trump, a climate change skeptic, campaigned against the Paris agreement endorsed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, arguing that it was “a bad deal” for the United States and vowing to withdraw the country from the pact if elected. In following through on his campaign vow, Trump opened the door to a new climate deal, saying he was willing to reopen negotiations on Paris or perhaps, “an entirely new transaction that is fair to the United States.”
That drew applause from Texas Republicans, who, like many of their fellow party members, opposed the Paris pact and climate change regulation at-large.
“For eight years the Obama White House waged a war on American energy producers,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
“President Trump has freed America from a bad deal that would cost billions of dollars but have little significant environmental benefit,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.
Opinions within the oil and gas industry, however, were far from unanimous.
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods urged Trump in a letter last month to stay in the Paris accords to maintain, “a seat at the table,” — a point of view advocated by his predecessor, now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Other oil companies, including Shell and BP, took similar positions.
“We hope the Trump administration follows through with its intention to find a way for the U.S. to re-enter the accord — or another mechanism for addressing the global climate challenge — rather than to walk away from it entirely,” said Geoff Morrell, BP’s senior vice president of U.S. communications.
New agreement uncertain
Even those within the fossil fuel industry unhappy with the Paris accord worried what would happen in its absence. Mike Nasi, an Austin attorney representing coal companies, said many within that industry believed greenhouse gas regulation was inevitable and their future lay in developing cost-effective systems that capture carbon dioxide before it is emitted into the atmosphere. “There is a very clear strain of thought that our best opportunity for developing carbon capture is through some international construct,” Nasi said.
Whether Trump can now convince world leaders to negotiate a new climate change agreement remains to be seen. And even if world leaders returned to the table, Trump might very well find that any climate change deal he negotiated would meet with the same reception in Texas’s oil fields as the Paris agreement.
“If Trump or any new president wants to go in and negotiate a new deal, fine. But that would not be my advice,” said Bill Stevens, chief lobbyist of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. “We have needs in this country that I think are more acute than the iffiness of climate change models.”