Why Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ policies will not reduce U.S. oil and gasoline prices

Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by convincing American voters that he would unleash more oil and gas production, which would reduce fuel prices, curb inflation and cut grocery prices. But petroleum industry experts doubt this will work in a global market. Energy experts say American companies will not simply produce more petroleum and sell fuel at a lower price because competing nations like Saudi Arabia could simply reduce their own production and keep global prices high for their own financial or political reasons.

News Briefs

November 20, 2024

Trump picks fracking company CEO to run Energy Department

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced he had chosen Chris Wright, CEO of oil services company Liberty Energy, to nominate for Secretary of Energy.

Learn more

November 20, 2024

Illinois bill that would ban carbon sequestration near aquifers stalled in state senate

The Illinois legislature is considering banning carbon dioxide sequestration near underground drinking water supplies after leaks were revealed at a carbon sequestration site in Decatur.

Learn more

November 20, 2024

Energy Department signs deal for $1.2 billion Houston hydrogen hub involving ExxonMobil, Chevron

The U.S. Department of Energy moved forward Wednesday with an agreement to provide up to $1.2 billion in federal funding for projects in Houston that would produce hydrogen from water and from natural gas.

Learn more

See More Briefs

News Articles

November 7, 2024

Brendan Gibbons

After securing $135 million in tax breaks, pipeline company plans massive ethane “cracker” in Southeast Texas

In Nederland, Texas, pipeline company Energy Transfer is proposing to build a massive new facility that would turn the components of natural gas into the basic chemicals used to make single-use plastics and other petrochemicals. The facility has garnered $134.6 million in tax breaks over 10 years from the local school district, despite being capable of emitting more than 8,500 tons per year of harmful air pollutants and more greenhouse gas emissions than a coal-fired power plant.

Read Article

October 31, 2024

Alexandra Shaykevich

America’s first 'gas to liquids' plant could produce fuel in North Dakota

The the North Dakota Public Service Commission recently approved a siting permit for a Canadian company called Cerilon to build a gas-to-liquids plant in Trenton, about 10 minutes from the Montana border in a shale formation with some of the most productive oil and gas fields in the country. Gas-to-liquids technology chemically separates the components of natural gas into liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that are usually made from petroleum. The idea has been around for nearly a century – but large-scale applications in the U.S. have faced significant delays or cancellations, in part because of economics.

Read Article

October 24, 2024

Courtney Bernhardt

Chronic failures in Texas’ management of oil & gas wells raise alarms about the state’s request to run carbon capture

With billions of dollars in incentives on the line, companies across the U.S. are planning wells intended to permanently dispose of carbon dioxide, or CO₂. In most states, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting these wells. However, the EPA has handed over that authority to three states -- North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Texas now wants to join that list. Critics question whether the state's oil and gas regulator is fit for the job and competent enough to handle a major expansion of its authority into a new area of growth.

Read Article

October 17, 2024

Preet Bains

Leaks at Illinois carbon injection project cast a shadow on the future of taxpayer-subsidized carbon capture

An ethanol plant in central Illinois has stopped injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ground after a potential leak was discovered on the property for the second time this year. The problems at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) plant raise questions about the safety of about 150 other carbon capture wells proposed across the U.S., most with taxpayer funding.

Read Article

See More Articles

In Depth Reports

The Long Shadow of Oil Refinery Waste

The use of an oil refinery waste product, petroleum coke, as an ingredient in metals and other products releases large amounts of health-damaging air pollutants, often in disadvantaged communities. The…

Read Report

Flaws in EPA’s Monitoring and Verification of Carbon Capture Projects

The Environmental Integrity Project examined one central component of carbon capture and sequestration regulation in the U.S.: monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) plans required by the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting…

Read Report

‍Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex

Billions of taxpayer dollars in the U.S. are helping to pay for dangerous, and often illegal, air pollution from a rapidly-growing plastics industry that disproportionately threatens Black and Latino communities…

Read Report

Why Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ policies will not reduce U.S. oil and gasoline prices

News Briefs

News Articles

After securing $135 million in tax breaks, pipeline company plans massive ethane “cracker” in Southeast Texas

America’s first 'gas to liquids' plant could produce fuel in North Dakota

Chronic failures in Texas’ management of oil & gas wells raise alarms about the state’s request to run carbon capture

Leaks at Illinois carbon injection project cast a shadow on the future of taxpayer-subsidized carbon capture

Sign up for the Oil and Gas WatchNewsletter

Sign up for the
Oil and Gas Watch
Newsletter