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Brendan Gibbons
/
September 17, 2026

U.S. quadruples production of natural gas liquids, the main ingredient in plastic

Over the past two decades, the U.S. has also seen a dramatic growth in production of lesser known “wet” varieties of natural gas. “Wet” gas is methane mixed with hydrocarbon liquids such as ethane and propane that are collectively known as natural gas liquids. Natural gas liquid production has more than quadrupled in the U.S. from 1.7 million barrels in 2005 to 7.5 million barrels per day in 2025, a 338 percent increase, according to a fact sheet on natural gas liquids compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project

News Briefs

September 17, 2026
Texas oil & gas official curses at commenter, clashes with legislators

Wayne Christian, an elected commissioner of Texas’s oil and gas regulator, cursed at a woman speaking during a public comment period the same day he avoided attending a required legislative hearing.

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September 17, 2026
Chevron CEO warns of high fuel prices after months of war with Iran

At an energy conference in Austin, Texas, on Friday, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth warned that a fuel crisis delayed by drawing down global oil reserves has finally arrived.

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September 17, 2026
Report: U.S. data centers could use more gas than Germany and Japan combined

A new report by BloombergNEF states that data centers being built to run AI could consume about 18 billion cubic feet per day, nearly double the organization’s previous prediction nine months ago.

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News Articles

Ari Phillips
/
September 10, 2026

The Trump Administration wants to give Alaska oil and gas developers a free pass

The Interior Department is preparing a new categorical exclusion that would allow certain Arctic oil and gas development activities in Alaska to proceed without the usual project-specific environmental review. This is the latest effort by the Trump Administration to expand oil and gas development across Alaska’s North Slope.

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Brendan Gibbons
/
September 3, 2026

Ironically, New England gets a larger share of its power from natural gas than Texas, America’s gas production capital

Rhode Island, Delaware, and Massachusetts are the three most natural gas-dependent states in the U.S., where the fossil fuel – a potent source of climate-warming pollution – makes up the highest percentage of their electricity generation portfolios, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The reason these states rank so high relates to the availability of cleaner solar and wind power in the Northeast, how states share electricity across state lines, and – more recently – opposition from the Trump Administration to offshore wind projects.

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Courtney Bernhardt
/
August 27, 2026

Data centers raced to beat Virginia’s new clean air law

Virginia lawmakers passed a new law in April to curb air pollution from new and expanding data centers with diesel generators, but data center developers raced to beat the deadline, with 19 applications submitted in time to take advantage of the older, dirtier, standards. “Filing an application right before a more health-protective standard takes effect shows that these data centers do not intend to be good neighbors,” said Dr. Mary Finley-Brook, a professor at the University of Richmond.

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Ari Phillips
/
August 20, 2026

Hawai’i considers tsunami of natural gas with first LNG terminal

Clean energy advocates want the state to reduce its reliance on oil and are pushing for solar and wind. But a Japanese-based energy firm, JERA Americas, is proposing to move away from climate-friendly solutions with the proposed construction of Hawaii's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal to help meet rising power demand. 

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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.

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