News Articles
America's Largest Gas Plant Grows Out of Artificial Intelligence's Hunger for Power
After the smokestacks and cooling towers that served Pennsylvania’s largest coal plant were torn down last month, an enormous gas-fired power plant was announced at the site about an hour east of Pittsburgh. If completed, it will become America’s largest methane-powered electric generation facility – and a continuing source of greenhouse gas emissions. More than 200 proposed natural gas power plants have been announced recently across the U.S. to help power the AI data center market.
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Industry lobbyists seek two-year break from limits on cancer-causing pollution from 218 facilities nationwide
Organizations representing heavily polluting industries are taking advantage of the Trump Administration’s offer to exempt them from hazardous air pollution control rules for two years. The rules apply to 218 facilities that make up some of the largest petrochemical complexes in the U.S. Exempting companies from these rules could expose the public to more than 12 million pounds per year of hazardous air pollutants – chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other serious health problems, based on an EPA estimate in April 2024.
Hundreds of landowners in the path of gas pipeline projects planned across Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia
In Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, the Houston-based Kinder Morgan is in the early stages of seeking authorization for a 279-mile pipeline called the South System Expansion 4 project, which would mostly run parallel to existing, decades-old pipelines owned by Southern Natural Gas, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary. In Mississippi and Alabama, Kinder Morgan has submitted initial plans for a new 206-mile long pipeline that would cross through some of the poorest counties in the state. The Mississippi Crossing project would stretch from Choctaw County in Alabama to Washington County in Mississippi, cutting east-to-west and including the construction of three compressor stations.
New York State ignites protests by clearing way for its first major fossil fuel project in nearly a decade
On Feb. 7, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Department of Environmental Conservation issued permits to expand the capacity of two compressor stations that force methane through the 33-year-old Iroquois Pipeline, which carries fuel from the Canadian border through upstate New York, Connecticut, and Long Island to New York City. The announcement drew immediate ire from the state’s environmental community, which has been advocating to move the Democratic-majority state away from fossil fuels as a strategy to combat climate change.
Congress repeals oil and gas methane pollution fee, costing taxpayers $7.2 billion
On Feb. 27, Congress passed legislation killing a charge on waste methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. At a time when the Trump Administration is firing thousands of federal workers, allegedly to save taxpayer money, eliminating the pollution control fee will cost taxpayers $7.2 billion in uncollected revenue from the oil & gas industry over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Trump’s move to shortcut bedrock environmental law will lead to more delays, experts say
Over the past few weeks, the Trump Administration has taken aim at the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. Trump and Republicans have said they want to cut bureaucratic red tape and speed up permitting for big projects, such as pipelines, fuel export terminals, and electricity transmission lines. But legal experts say the move will likely only sow confusion and slow the process down.
Greenland’s mineral and oil riches and their draw on President Trump
President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested the U.S. should buy or seize Greenland – the largest island in the world, and part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO ally. The island contains vast reserves of oil, uranium, and rare earth minerals, used in electric cars, cell phones, batteries, and computers. A recent poll found that 85 percent of Greenlanders do not want to become part of the U.S., with only 6 percent indicating they were in favor of joining America, and 45 percent viewing Trump’s words as a threat.
Wetlands and waterways at risk in Trump Administration’s ‘energy emergency’ permit reviews
Wetlands are critical for filtering drinking water, protecting people from flooding and storm surges, and serving as a breeding ground for valuable fish, shrimp, and crabs. President Trump undermined protections for wetlands earlier this month when – as part of his “energy emergency” executive order – his administration directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform fast-track “emergency” reviews of 688 applications for permits to destroy wetlands or impact waterways across the country. Some of the projects have nothing to do with energy.
Trump’s proposal to expand offshore drilling is unpopular in key Republican states
President Donald Trump is pushing for an expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling across the U.S., a proposal with a history of opposition even among leaders of the Republican party. Among the 42 executive orders Trump signed on his first day was an attempt to repeal Biden’s Jan. 6 order to protect most U.S. offshore waters from leasing for oil and gas. Biden’s order applied to federal waters in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Alaska and the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico, though Biden allowed oil and gas production to continue in the western and central Gulf.
Trump’s order to boost drilling called ‘a massive corporate grab of Alaskan resources'
In an executive order released on Day 1 of his presidency, Donald Trump pledged to re-open even more Alaskan lands to oil and gas extraction than during his first term. Alaska has long been a battleground between conservation and resource development, and Trump’s executive action to open the Alaska wilderness to more drilling and industrial development makes clear that those fighting to preserve Alaska’s unique landscape, wildlife, and heritage face a monumental task over the next four years.
In rural Texas, residents speak out against pollution from Chevron Phillips’ plastic plant expansion
During a recent public hearing on the operating permit for an expanding petrochemical complex near this tiny town southwest of Houston, local residents exhorted state officials not to approve the permit for Chevron Phillips Chemical. Neighbors are concerned about the plant’s expansion because of its poor environmental track record. The State of Texas issued 93 environmental violations to the plant over the last six years, according to state records. A proposed permit would allow the company to continue operating while it replaces a furnace and produces more ethylene—a raw ingredient in plastics and other chemicals—increasing several types of air pollution, including sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.
Trump order to fast-track LNG exports called 'political theater'
In a flurry of Inauguration Day actions to promote his “drill, baby, drill” agenda, President Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency.” He also directed the Department of Energy to restart reviews of permits for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) “as expeditiously as possible.” But experts say there is no factual basis for Trump’s “national energy emergency,” with the amount of oil and gas produced in the U.S. soaring to record-breaking volumes during the Biden Administration. And Presidential orders do not direct the actions of FERC, an independent federal agency that reviews LNG terminals.
Thousands of permits to drill on federal lands are not being used. So why 'expedite' more?
After campaigning on “Drill, Baby, Drill!” one of the first things that President-elect Trump and Republicans are expected to do when they take office next week is to accelerate the approval of permits to drill for oil and gas on federal land. But more drilling permits don’t appear to be needed. That’s because there are more than 6,000 approved permits for oil and gas companies to drill on federal lands that are available but sitting idle and not being used. Millions of acres of federal lands leased to oil and gas companies for drilling are also not being used.
Manufacturers of ammonia plan a boom in the U.S. Will it bust under Trump?
The United States is on the cusp of quadrupling its ammonia production capacity in the next five years—a move that could come with serious risks to human health and the environment. Ammonia, a chemical that is usually manufactured from natural gas, is used for synthetic fertilizers and explosives. Proponents now want to use it as a shipping fuel and to make hydrogen for clean energy. As of December 2024, 38 proposed ammonia projects across the U.S. could increase annual ammonia production capacity by over 60 million metric tons per year by 2030. That would result in a near quadrupling of the amount of ammonia production capacity in the U.S. today, from 21 million metric tons to 81 million metric tons.
The top Oil & Gas Watch News stories of 2024, according to readers
Oil & Gas Watch News has covered a huge variety of stories over the past year, with stories taking us from Puerto Rico to North Carolina and detailing topics as diverse as carbon capture and storage, fertilizer made from natural gas, and the EPA’s efforts to crack down on climate-polluting laughing gas. However, of all the topics covered in our 44 articles published this year, a few rose to the top as fan favorites – according to you, our readers. Here we have ranked the stories that drew the most readers to the site.
