Oil and Gas Watch News
Brendan Gibbons
/
July 10, 2025

Bills that target the public's right to monitor air pollution are popping up in state legislatures

In 2024, the Louisiana legislature passed a bill that effectively bans community groups from using their own air monitoring to warn residents about pollution or publicly advocate for cleanup action. Industry advocates are pushing similar bills to restrict air pollution monitoring around the country, with Kentucky passing a similar law this year. Legislators in Ohio and West Virginia have also considered bills that would restrict the use of data from local groups doing their own independent air monitoring.

News Briefs

July 10, 2025
Second new LNG export terminal in two weeks proposed off Texas coast

Federal authorities have received an application to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal off the coast of Matagorda, Texas.

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July 9, 2025
Trump EPA hands plastics-to-fuel industry mixed bag on chemical recycling

The EPA late last month opted to leave more protective air regulations in place but dropped a proposed contamination review for the chemical recycling industry.

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July 9, 2025
Federal regulators to speed construction of natural gas pipelines

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last month approved four measures meant to speed up the development of pipelines and other natural gas facilities.

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In Depth Reports

The Lone Star State’s Gas Plant Boom

A wave of 130 natural gas power plant projects in the Lone Star State, proposed in part to feed the artificial intelligence boom, could release as much greenhouse gas pollution as 27 million cars and trucks driving for a year, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project.

Pollution from Oil Refineries with Outdated Boilers and Heaters

The Environmental Integrity Project examined publicly available data and records for the 20 petroleum refineries in the U.S. that reported emitting the most greenhouse gases in 2023. Out of the refinery boilers and heaters with age information, 87 percent of these units (739 of 845) are outdated.

Plastic's Toxic River

The Environmental Integrity Project examined the records of 70 U.S. facilities that make plastics or the main chemical ingredients in plastics and found they discharged almost 12 million pounds in 2023 of total nitrogen and phosphorus.

News Articles

Brendan Gibbons
/
July 3, 2025

Even with Gulf drilling down, Trump Administration weighs expanding drilling to new coasts

The number of oil and gas drilling rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico today is about half of what it was a year ago, with 10 rigs working on June 27, compared to 19 a year earlier. In the face of this slump, the oil and gas industry is lobbying the Trump Administration to expand drilling rights into new coastal areas where it has been banned for years. These include the Atlantic Coast from the Carolinas to Florida, and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, off Florida and Alabama.

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Griffin Bird
/
June 25, 2025

Texas power demand fuels flood of gas plants and air pollution

Spurred by data centers and population growth, demand for electricity in Texas is expected to nearly double by 2034. That increase in demand is leading to a wave of 130 new gas-fired power plant projects, according to a recent inventory and analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. If built, they could emit greenhouse gases equivalent to those from 26.8 million cars and trucks driven for one year or 30 coal-fired power plants.

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Brendan Gibbons
/
June 12, 2025

Some U.S. oil refineries are still using WWII-era heaters and boilers, leading to excess pollution

The Environmental Integrity Project examined publicly available data and records for the 20 petroleum refineries in the U.S. that reported emitting the most greenhouse gases in 2023. Of the refineries whose boilers had age information, 87 percent of those units (739 of 845) are outdated, the group found. While experts have concluded that boilers and heaters work most efficiently when they are 15 years old or younger, the average age of the heating systems in the largest refineries is more than 40 years old. The oldest refinery boiler that EIP found dated to 1948, with the oldest heater installed in 1939.

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Ari Phillips
/
June 5, 2025

Trump Administration wants to gut protections for endangered animals to boost fossil fuel extraction

The Trump Administration has targeted the Endangered Species Act as an impediment to oil and gas drilling since its first hours in office. On Inauguration Day, Trump's "energy emergency" order paves the way for permit applicants and federal agencies to ignore the possible presence of threatened and endangered species at the sites of proposed constrution projects. The order is not limited to energy projects. It applies to any type of project permitted or funded by a federal agency. Meanwhile, the administration has also found other ways of attacking the Endangered Species Act.

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