Oil and Gas Watch News
Courtney Bernhardt
/
September 5, 2024

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.

News Briefs

September 4, 2024
Developer seeks to push construction deadline for Golden Pass LNG in Texas to November 2029

Construction is resuming on a partially completed liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Southeast Texas, though developers are seeking more time to finish the project.

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September 4, 2024
Public meeting scheduled Sept. 25 on natural gas salt cavern storage in Southwest Louisiana

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting and is seeking comments this month on a proposal to use underground salt caverns for natural gas storage in Southwest Louisiana.

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September 4, 2024
Companies apply for test wells for carbon storage in St. Charles, St. Mary parishes, Louisiana

The rush to develop sequestration projects in Louisiana continues with two more test wells for projects intended to store carbon dioxide produced from nearby heavy industry.

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News Articles

August 29, 2024
Brendan Gibbons

New research revealing high levels of mercury in Texas bay raises alarms about dredging for oil tankers

Lavaca Bay is contaminated by decades of mercury pollution by Alcoa, which owns a former aluminum refinery on the bay’s northeastern side. In response, EPA mandated cleanup work in the bay under the agency’s Superfund program in the 2000s, but even after the cleanup efforts, the heavy metal remains in the sediment. Local fishermen and environmental advocates are worried that a dredging project planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local port authority will stir up mercury and allow it to be released into the bay, threatening wildlife and humans who eat fish and shellfish from the bay. The dredging project would allow larger and more heavily laden oil tankers to access the Seahawk oil terminal, whose owner is planning a major expansion.

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August 15, 2024
Brendan Gibbons

Texas program that subsidizes fossil-fuel electricity turbo-charges 72 power plant applications

The state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) received the applications for loans under the Texas Energy Fund Program, the agency announced in late July. Following widespread power outages during a winter storm in 2021, Texas voters in November 2023 approved the low-interest loan program proposed by the Texas Legislature in an effort to increase generation capacity and avoid blackouts. However, many environmentalists question whether new gas generators are the right answer because they contribute to climate change, and some consumer advocates and energy analysts say it will not address the need to modernize the Texas grid to prevent more outages.

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August 8, 2024
Ari Phillips

Oil refinery waste is a major source of air and water pollution

Two hours north of Oklahoma City outside a small town named Kremlin, billionaire William “Bill” Koch owns a plant that processes oil refinery waste. The 60-year-old Oxbow petroleum coke plant occupies enough land to cover 250 football fields. But it has an even larger environmental footprint. The plant’s sulfur dioxide emissions create haze and reduce visibility in several downwind states. A national report reveals that the “petcoke” industry releases large amounts of pollution at sites like this across the country, but that EPA has neglected to require it to install modern air and water pollution control systems, as are required for many other industries.

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August 1, 2024
Brendan Gibbons

Environmental Integrity Project launches updated Oil & Gas Watch database and news site

The Oil & Gas Watch database and news site are being re-launched today (Aug. 1) with new features to make it easier for users to track oil and gas developments in local areas and gather national data on the growing industry. The database features a new “alerts” function to highlight new projects, updates, and public hearings. It also has new search tools; the projected greenhouse gas and related health impacts of projects; new maps; and sharable summary pages for industries. We also redesigned the Oil & Gas Watch News site and email newsletter. We are hosting a free virtual webinar at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 21 to explain how to use the new database.

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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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