American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017 - 34

PHMSA says the petition asked it to
reconsider the IFR "insofar as it modified
the nonmandatory nature of many of the
recommendations in the RPs. The petitioners also contended the implementation
periods were impracticable."
In its June notice, PHMSA says it
"intends to address the issues raised by

the petitioners in a final rule, which it
expects to issue by January 2018. In the
interim and for one year after publication
of a final rule, PHMSA will not (enforce)
any provisions that are nonmandatory in
RP 1170 and 1171."
However, the notice adds, "PHMSA
does intend to retain and enforce the

other compliance deadlines in the IFR,
including the requirement that operators
of existing underground gas storage facilities develop by Jan. 18, 2018, policies
and procedures to implement those sections of the RPs that are identified as
mandatory in the actual RPs."
r

Paris Pullout Firestorm Unwarranted
By Jessica Sena

HELENA, MT.-It has become difficult
to decipher between reality and alarmism
these days. To add insult to injury, President
Trump can't seem to take two steps without
being ridiculed from every direction.
The latest point of contention has been
his decision to disengage from the Paris
Climate Accord. But is all the noise justified? Perhaps not, and here's why.
First, the agreement is called an "accord" in the United States, rather than a
treaty. This is significant because a treaty
must be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Fearing
rejection in Congress, former Secretary
of State John Kerry argued against binding
targets to reduce emissions such as those
in the Kyoto Protocol. An accord allowed
President Obama to bypass Congress and
commit $1 billion in taxpayer dollars toward the $100 billion goal promised by
signers of the climate agreement to assist
developing nations reach their respective
climate goals. That is $1 billion that could
have been used on research and development of innovative and emerging energy
technologies on American soil.
Some would have you believe that by
withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States is taking a stand
against meaningful environmental progress,
or worse, that the global climate is doomed.
Neither could be further from the truth.
In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol, a global
climate treaty requiring a 5.2 percent reduction on 1990 carbon dioxide levels,
was adopted. The details on implementation
of the protocol were ratified by 191 United
Nations countries that year. The first commitment period for the treaty began four
years after the protocol became interna-

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34 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

tional law in 2004, and ended in 2012.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton and
Vice President Al Gore supported the
Kyoto Protocol, but the Republican-held
Senate did not, which doomed its chances
for U.S. ratification.

Output Up, Emissions Down
The globe's top three greenhouse gas
emitters are China, the United States and
India, none of which ratified the Kyoto
Protocol. Of the three, the United States
has been the only country to consistently
reduce emissions. Between 1992 and
2004, the U.S. reduced emissions by 13.3
percent. During the same period, China
increased emissions a whopping 189.6
percent, and India's emissions rose 73.3
percent. Fast forward to 2012, and you
will see that the United States continued
to reduce emissions.
Although it did not ratify the Kyoto
treaty, the United States led the charge
as the first major industrialized nation to
meet the protocol's requirements. U.S.
Energy Information Administration statistics show that in 2012, the same year
the treaty ended, carbon dioxide emissions
from U.S. energy consumption were lower
than they had been since 1994. Remarkably, this took place at the same time
U.S. crude oil production pushed record
levels; the highest for any year, in fact,
since 1997, the year the Kyoto Protocol
was established.
Flourishing energy development has
been a boon to the national economy.
However, if the United States committed
to the Paris Climate Accord, the economy
would suffer greatly. A study by National
Economic Research Associates estimates
it would kill nearly 3 million U.S. jobs
by 2025. By 2040, the study predicts, a
host of industries would be wiped out altogether, eliminating jobs, production
and tax revenue from vital sectors of the
American workforce.
Arguably the worst part of the Paris
Climate Accord is its negligible projected
effect on global temperatures. A peer-reviewed paper by Bjorn Lomborg published
in Global Policy determines that even if
every country achieves its emissions goal

by 2030, the global temperature in 2100
will be only 0.086 degrees F (0.0048 degrees C)cooler. Extending the climate
commitments another 70 years, Lomborg's
research concludes, still offers little discernable benefit to the global temperature.
President Trump's decision to withdraw
from the Paris Climate Accord should be
acknowledged for what it truly is: a stand
not against addressing global climate
change, but against global government
by fiat.
The United States continues to make
strides in energy and environmental
progress. GHG emissions have declined
steadily since 2008. Through the first
half of 2016, EIA reports, U.S. emissions
were lower than they had been in 25
years. Better yet, increased oil and natural
gas production has led to lower energy
prices, and has provided family wage
jobs to people from all walks of life.
Climate agreement or not, as history
has proven, the United States will continue
to lead the world in energy innovation
and environmental stewardship.
r

JESSICA
SENA

Jessica Sena is an independent
communications consultant specializing in natural resource development
advocacy who has been under contract with the Montana Petroleum Association since 2012. She is a regular
media contributor and public speaker
on issues related to energy policy. In
addition to her work for a number of
trade associations and private companies, Sena is the guest host of Montana's only statewide radio talk show,
"Voices of Montana."

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017

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