Oil and Gas Watch News
Ari Phillips
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October 3, 2024

Despite history of pollution violations, fertilizer plant receives taxpayer subsidies to expand

In late August, the U.S Department of Agriculture awarded AdvanSix Resins and Chemicals, a massive fertilizer and chemical manufacturing plant in Hopewell, Virginia, a nearly $12 million grant to increase its production of the fertilizer ingredient ammonium sulfate. The plant has a long history of environmental violations. Its expansion is part of a national boom in U.S. fertilizer production over the last decade and a half, fueled in part by hydraulic fracturing’s downward pressure on the price of natural gas, which is a primary ingredient in nitrogen fertilizer.

News Briefs

October 8, 2024
Pemex refinery east of Houston worst in U.S. for carcinogenic benzene air pollution

The Pemex Deer Park refinery east of Houston remains the worst source of benzene air pollution among U.S. refineries, as measured by the amount of the carcinogen measured by air monitors around the perimeter of the facility.

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October 8, 2024
Corpus Christi, Texas, officials may double capacity of desalination plant that would provide water for industry

The city manager of Corpus Christi, Texas, told a local news outlet that the city is considering scaling up the capacity of a seawater desalination plant that would provide water for residents, oil refineries, and other heavy industry in the area.

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October 8, 2024
Virtual meetings planned Oct. 29 on new 20-mile gas pipeline in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold two virtual meetings on Oct. 29 on the Tioga Pathway Project, which would transport natural gas to pipelines that extend into New York state and beyond.

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News Articles

September 26, 2024
Brendan Gibbons

A debate over $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies could set the fate of the U.S. hydrogen industry

When hydrogen is burned, it releases only water vapor and no greenhouse gases, making it a potentially climate-friendly fuel for uses like steel production and cement manufacturing depending on how the hydrogen is made. But hydrogen is expensive to produce, which is why the Biden Administration and Congress provided up to $100 billion in taxpayer subsidies for hydrogen production in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Those proposed rules have ignited a debate over how strict those rules should be, with some energy companies lobbying for subsidies for hydrogen made from natural gas.

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September 19, 2024
Ari Phillips

Latest version of energy permitting fast-tracking bill has environmental movement balking

In late July, senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso, who represent two of the U.S.'s biggest fossil-fuel producing states (West Virginia and Wyoming) announced the latest iteration of their long-sought bill that would accelerate the permitting process for energy projects—including LNG plants, electricity transmission lines, clean energy and fossil fuel power plants. Called the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, the senators said the legislation would, “strengthen American energy security by accelerating the permitting process for critical energy and mineral projects of all types.” But environmental groups criticize the bill for giving away too much to polluting industries and fast-tracking a review process meant to protect public health and the environment.

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September 12, 2024
Brendan Gibbons

The outlook for the oil and gas industry under President Harris vs. President Trump

Under a Democratic administration led by Vice President Kamala Harris, federal climate policy would likely continue down the Biden Administration’s path – which has meant both billions of dollars invested in clean energy while also allowing for record-breaking oil and gas production. By contrast, former President Donald Trump and his allies have vowed to repeal Biden’s clean energy policies, abandon the country’s climate goals, slash regulations, and speed up oil and gas permitting and leasing. In short, “drill, baby, drill!” as Trump frequently proclaims on the campaign trail.

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September 5, 2024
Courtney Bernhardt

EPA’s failure to regulate laughing gas is deadly serious for the climate

Nitrous oxide is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. When released into the air, it is 273 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. On July 23, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new voluntary actions by industry to reduce emissions of climate-warming “super-pollutants,” including nitrous oxide. But the announcement included no regulations for nitrous oxide and no requirements for industry to control this super-pollutant. This isn’t the first time that EPA has passed on the opportunity to curb nitrous oxide emissions from industry.

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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…

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…

‍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…

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