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Brendan Gibbons
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May 15, 2024
Despite incentives for carbon capture, U.S. is still mining CO₂ to produce more oil
Even as the Biden Administration is providing billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to encourage industry to capture carbon dioxide and bury it underground to help protect the climate, some companies – like Kinder Morgan – are working in the opposite direction. In places like southwestern Colorado and Jackson, Mississippi, companies are pulling huge volumes of virgin CO₂ out of the ground to use it to extract more oil, which is then burned to contribute more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Ari Phillips
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May 2, 2024
Pipeline supplying new PA plastics plant charged with criminal cover up of spills
Pennsylvania's Attorney General charged Shell Pipeline with 13 criminal charges for violating Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law during construction of the 45-mile Falcon Pipeline in western Pennsylvania. The pipeline transports natural gas liquid in the form of ethane from drilling sites in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to the Shell Polymers Monaca petrochemical plant, where it is processed into plastic. An investigation revealed that Shell allegedly failed to notify state officials about multiple problems, including when drilling mud or fluid was lost underground and came to the surface where it could contaminate waterbodies.
Brendan Gibbons
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April 25, 2024
In Illinois, a massive taxpayer-funded carbon capture project fails to capture about 90 percent of plant’s emissions
The project, run by ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland and partners, received $281 million in taxpayer dollars via Department of Energy grants. It has stored more than 2.8 million metric tons of CO2 since 2011. However, EPA records show that represents a capture rate of only about 10-12 percent of the plant’s emissions each year at most, allowing the rest of the carbon dioxide to escape into the atmosphere. This small percentage raises questions about whether industrial-scale carbon capture technology can be a meaningful solution to global warming.
Tom Pelton
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April 18, 2024
With 34 petrochemical ‘plastics recycling’ plants proposed across U.S., a small PA town fights back -- and wins
Plans to build what would have been the largest petrochemical plant in the U.S. dedicated to breaking down plastic waste into chemicals were cancelled today. The decision by the Encina company came after a town council in Pennsylvania voted unanimously to “strenuously and unequivocally” oppose the company's proposed plant on the banks of the Susquehanna River. The victory by the local community in Northumberland Borough is the latest example of rising opposition to a wave of 34 petrochemical plants proposed across the U.S. that wrap themselves in misleading language about “recycling” plastics.
Ari Phillips
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April 11, 2024
Opposition mounts to aging oil & gas pipeline threatening Great Lakes drinking water
The Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline, which carries oil beneath Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, is notorious for a 2010 accident that was one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history. More than 20,000 barrels of heavy crude oil spilled into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan. This messy history weighs heavily on the future of the old pipeline, which is facing lawsuits from the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Michigan Attorney General's office.
Brendan Gibbons
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April 4, 2024
A new EPA rule is meant to prevent chemical disasters, but safety advocates say loopholes remain
The U.S. experiences a chemical disaster on average once every two days, including at least 45 so far in 2024, according to the nonprofit Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters. However, a new safety rule the Biden administration recently released is meant to avoid such catastrophes. Advocates also say EPA should have done more, such as required air monitoring at the fence lines of major facilities and adding ammonium nitrate, an explosive material used in fertilizer, to the hazardous chemical list.
Brendan Gibbons
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March 27, 2024
Thousands of abandoned wells in Louisiana threaten to leak carbon dioxide from storage projects
Louisiana is one of the hotspots in the U.S. for sequestration projects that trap carbon dioxide (CO2) underground to protect the climate. Companies are planning 58 storage wells at 24 sites across the state. However, experts say a century of oil and gas drilling has left thousands of pathways for CO2 to squeeze its way back out into the atmosphere, potentially eroding any climate benefits and creating a safety threat for nearby residents in the event of a massive rupture or leak. Two recent reports examine the threat from the more than 186,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in Louisiana.
Tom Pelton
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March 21, 2024
Texas plastics factory shows how companies take public subsidies while breaking pollution laws
The Formosa Point Comfort plastics manufacturing plant on the Texas Gulf Coast, which makes plastics and other chemicals out of oil and gas, received nearly $69 million in school district tax breaks over a decade. But despite the public support, the plant has routinely violated water and air pollution control laws – without ever losing its subsidies, as a consequence. In a new report, the Environmental Integrity Project examined 50 plastics plants built or expanded in the U.S. since 2012 and found that 64 percent of them received taxpayer subsidies worth a total of almost $9 billion over a decade.
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Project Updates
Updates for the week of May 13, 2024
Natural gas pipeline project in NY, NJ, PA cancelled
Construction resumes on Port Arthur LNG terminal fought by local environmentalists
New York-based company applies to build chemical plant in northeast Texas
Alabama oil refinery announces it will stop producing 'renewable' diesel from soybeans
Reports
When is a pipeline in the public interest?
May 14, 2024
Why does the U.S. export domestic crude oil and refine foreign oil?
May 13, 2024
Banks have given almost $7 trillion to fossil fuel firms since Paris deal, report reveals
May 13, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
March 14, 2024
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
October 25, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
April 17, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
March 23, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
January 27, 2023
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
June 9, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
May 12, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
April 22, 2022
Recent Media
When is a pipeline in the public interest?
May 14, 2024
Why does the U.S. export domestic crude oil and refine foreign oil?
May 13, 2024
Banks have given almost $7 trillion to fossil fuel firms since Paris deal, report reveals
May 13, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
March 14, 2024
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
October 25, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
April 17, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
March 23, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
January 27, 2023
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
June 9, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
May 12, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
April 22, 2022
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Brendan Gibbons
Oil & Gas Watch Reporter
Ari Phillips
Senior Writer and Editor
Tom Pelton
Director of Communications
Alexandra Shaykevich
Oil & Gas Research Manager
Lottie Mitchell
Research Analyst
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