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Dante Mack
/
July 25, 2024
Cancer-causing benzene emissions are rising at the Dow Chemical Orange plant in East Texas. Why?
Dow Chemical's facility in Orange County, Texas, has the highest levels of carcinogenic benzene air pollution measured at its perimeter among U.S. petrochemical facilities reporting to the EPA, according to the most recent available data. Benzene is a colorless, flammable gas with a sweet odor that is among the most potent cancer-causing byproducts of oil and gas operations. The EPA requires monitoring for benzene along the fencelines of all U.S. oil refineries and a smaller subset of chemical plants. While concentrations at many refineries have gone down, benzene levels at the Dow Orange plant remain stubbornly high and even reached concentrations more than three times higher than short-term safety thresholds and 33 times higher than a standard for chronic exposure.
Preet Bains
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July 18, 2024
Data shows Denbury’s carbon pipelines leak more than any other CO₂ pipeline company’s
Denbury is one of the largest companies producing oil though enhanced oil recovery, which uses CO₂ to dislodge oil remnants from nearly depleted stores. The company owns an extensive network of CO₂ pipelines to supply its oil fields. However, data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) shows Denbury is responsible for more CO₂ leakage than any other CO₂ pipeline company. Since 2010, there have been 76 incidents involving CO₂ pipelines reported to PHMSA, collectively releasing nearly 67,000 barrels of CO₂ into the air. Denbury was responsible for 12, releasing nearly 54,000 barrels, or 81 percent of that amount.
Griffin Bird
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July 11, 2024
Most hydrogen plants proposed near disadvantaged communities
At a time when the federal government is offering billions in subsidies to encourage hydrogen as an alternative fuel, U.S. companies have proposed at least 24 projects to build new plants to manufacture hydrogen out of natural gas. Public records show that about 90 percent of these projects are in or near low-income neighborhoods. The construction of these hydrogen plants in disadvantaged communities poses an environmental justice problem because they release not only greenhouse gases, but also air pollutants like particulate matter that threaten the health of local people.
Brendan Gibbons
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June 27, 2024
Dominion LNG storage site sparks fierce opposition in rural North Carolina
Dominion Energy, a Virginia-based company that owns a natural gas utility in North Carolina, has been clearing away trees, leveling land, and blasting rock as it prepares to build a facility that will store liquified natural gas (LNG) in two massive tanks. The proposed Moriah Energy Center is one of several new natural gas storage projects planned across the U.S. Nationwide, the number of LNG storage facilities has increased about 42 percent since 2010, from 122 to 173, according to federal data. North Carolina regulators recently scheduled a public hearing on the facility's draft air permit for Aug. 1.
Louisa Markow
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June 20, 2024
Corpus Christi, Texas, is ground zero for CO₂ storage buildout in oil & gas region
In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $16.4 million to the Port of Corpus Christi to explore carbon capture, use, and storage within the region and facilitate connections between CO₂ emitters and companies that use or store CO₂. The Port’s project is one of 33 across the U.S. that will get funding under the federal Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise Initiative, or CarbonSAFE. The 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also includes a combined $3.5 billion to accelerate the deployment of several regional direct air capture hubs that can suck CO₂ directly out of the atmosphere.
Ari Phillips
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June 13, 2024
Report: Jet-powered biofuel is weighed down by pollution and loopholes
The biofuel industry markets itself as an environmentally-friendly alternative to petroleum-based fuels. But a recent examination of the emissions reports of 226 biofuel plants across the U.S. found that plant-based fuel manufacturers release almost as much hazardous air pollution as oil refineries – and significantly more of some dangerous pollutants, including formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.The industry is growing rapidly, with 32 new or expanded biofuels plants under construction or proposed, about two-thirds of which could make jet fuel from wood or plants.
Brendan Gibbons
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June 6, 2024
Company’s plans for 690-mile natural gas pipeline would affect thousands of landowners in Texas, Louisiana
With plans for the pipeline to begin operating in 2028, Houston-based Moss Lake Partners is already surveying a 300-foot-wide corridor along the pipeline’s route from west of Odessa, Texas, in the oil-and gas-producing region of the Permian Basin, to Lake Charles, Louisiana. The current route would cross 3,473 tracts of land, according to company filings. The DeLa Express is the latest in a wave of new pipelines transporting gas out of West Texas. The pipeline is one of 35 pending pipeline projects nationwide that are intended to supply gas to liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals for export.
Paul MacGillis-Falcon
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May 30, 2024
As LNG industry booms, salt caverns converted into massive underground gas storage facilities
Companies are proposing to build or expand three large underground natural gas storage facilities in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast to supply a rapidly-growing LNG industry. The increased storage space is also needed, developers argue, for gas generators being used to back up the expanded use of wind and solar power. One side effect of storing gas underground in salt caverns is the leakage of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. These storage projects are also occasionally the sites of explosions and other accidents.
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Oil & Gas Updates
Updates for the week of July 22, 2024
Reports
June 25, 2024
A second Trump term could slow the shift from fossil fuels as climate threat grows
June 25, 2024
A big boost for a climate solution: electricity made from the heat of the Earth
June 25, 2024
Company's bid to build carbon dioxide pipeline wins Iowa approval
March 14, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
October 25, 2023
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
April 17, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
March 23, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
January 27, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
June 9, 2022
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
May 12, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
April 22, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
Recent Media
June 25, 2024
A second Trump term could slow the shift from fossil fuels as climate threat grows
June 25, 2024
A big boost for a climate solution: electricity made from the heat of the Earth
June 25, 2024
Company's bid to build carbon dioxide pipeline wins Iowa approval
March 14, 2024
Feeding the Plastics Industrial Complex
October 25, 2023
Carbon capture and storage in Texas
April 17, 2023
The Fertilizer Boom: America's Rapidly Growing Nitrogen and Fertilizer Industry and its Impact on the Environment and Public Safety
March 23, 2023
The Polluter's Playbook: How Loopholes and Lax Enforcement Harm Air Quality in Texas
January 27, 2023
Oil's Unchecked Outfalls
June 9, 2022
Playing with Fire: The Climate Impact of the Rapid Growth of LNG
May 12, 2022
Benzene Pollution at Oil Refinery Fencelines
April 22, 2022
The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings
Authors
Brendan Gibbons
Oil & Gas Watch Reporter
Ari Phillips
Senior Writer and Editor
Tom Pelton
Director of Communications
Alexandra Shaykevich
Oil & Gas Research Manager
Paul MacGillis-Falcon
Research Assistant
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