News Articles
Billions in Venezuelan oil revenue draw Congressional scrutiny as Iran war reshapes U.S. energy strategy
Three months after U.S. special forces extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas in a nighttime raid, the Trump Administration’s handling of billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil revenue has become the subject of Congressional scrutiny. Questions are being raised as the administration scrambles to unlock Venezuelan crude to offset a fuel crisis driven by the U.S. attack on Iran. The administration last month lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s oil put in place in January 2019, during Trump’s first term.
Trump invokes emergency defense act to restart California oil pipeline that burst a decade ago
On March 13, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright invoked the rarely used Defense Production Act and directed Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. to restart a pipeline that caused a massive oil spill near Santa Barbara in 2015. The move to restart the pipeline represents a major development in a years-long battle over the Santa Ynez project, which includes three offshore oil platforms and the pipeline connecting them to processing facilities on land.
New York denies ‘zombie’ pipeline again as Trump Admin threatens to revoke authority to block polluting projects
In late January, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation filed its opposition to the Constitution Pipeline, which would run 124 miles from the Marcellus shale gas fields in Pennsylvania to Albany, New York, where the gas would be distributed mainly to power generators across New England. Williams resuscitated the long-contested Constitution Pipeline in late 2025 a decade after New York regulators first denied the pipeline the water quality permit.
The U.S. has never produced more oil, so why is war with Iran still spiking gasoline prices?
The Trump Administration’s war in Iran has proven that Americans are still vulnerable to shocks to Middle Eastern oil supplies, even though U.S. production is at a record high and the country has become one of the world’s largest oil exporters. Average U.S. gasoline prices rose from $2.94 on Feb. 23 to $3.72 as of March 16, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Average diesel prices shot up even more—rising more than $1 per gallon from $3.81 to $5.07 during that time.
Virginia, a magnet for data centers, is hit with environmental lawsuit after approving large new gas power plant
In a state experiencing a rise in electricity demand because of a boom in data centers, Virginia’s Dominion Energy is planning to build a 944-megawatt gas-fired power plant at the site of a former coal plant in Chesterfield, just south of Richmond. Environmental groups are pushing back in court, arguing that the project violates 2020 state laws requiring renewable energy and environmental justice.
Power grab for Musk AI data center in Memphis sparks environmental justice fight
Over the past two years, billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has turned South Memphis into ground zero for one of the most contentious energy and environmental battles in the country. The fight involves gas turbines for a data center operated without a permit, threats to the region's drinking water supply, and a scandal over the company's Grok chatbot generating sexualized images of women and minors.
Growing use of secrecy agreements between developers and local governments troubles advocates of open government
Developers and local governments across the U.S. that want to avoid public debates with local residents about controversial projects – from data centers to solar farms and chemical plants – in recent years have increasingly employed nondisclosure agreements as a tactic to keep things quiet and out of the press until deals are complete. For example, when local elected officials in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, began negotiating to remove an historically Black community beside the Mississippi River for a 17,000-acre industrial complex, the officials signed what amount to gag orders promising to “protect the secrecy” of the project.
Massive gas-powered data center in Permian Basin is latest in string of Texas AI computing hubs
Texas’s environmental agency recently approved the latest in a string of large gas-fired power plants to support the state’s burgeoning data center industrial complex. The GW Ranch Project, set to be constructed in Pecos County, West Texas, in the Permian Basin, could generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity, making it the largest power project in the U.S. One gigawatt of electricity can power about 750,000 homes, so this single data center complex could power over five million homes, or a large American city.
Trump Administration sues California to block new law protecting schools and homes from nearby drilling
The Trump Administration's Department of Justice recently sued California to try to block a new state law designed to prevent oil wells from being drilled dangerously close to schools, homes, hospitals, and other sensitive locations where people live, work, and gather. The federal lawsuit comes after the failure of an expensive effort by the oil and gas industry to try to revoke the California law by voter referendum, which was rejected in a wave of community pushback and public outcry.
Trump Administration gives pipeline companies a new way to sidestep safety rules
As companies plan a massive expansion of fossil fuel pipelines across the U.S., the Trump Administration is making it easier for operators to avoid following pipeline safety regulations. Under a new policy directive, the nation’s pipeline safety agency stated it would not take up enforcement actions against companies that receive waivers to avoid safety rules. Concerns of spills and explosions grow among environmental groups.
After economic ‘rupture’ with U.S., Canada looks to Asia for oil exports
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a sweeping agreement with the government of Alberta, home to the country’s vast tar sands oil reserves, laying the groundwork for a new oil pipeline to transport oil to British Columbia’s northern coast for export. With Canada engaged in an increasingly tense trade war with the United States, Carney is seeking to send more of Canada’s oil to Asia and to develop stronger energy sector relations with Pacific Rim countries.
In Trump’s first year, fuel prices and energy jobs fall far short of campaign promises
Since Trump took office in January 2025, gasoline prices have declined about 6 percent to an average of $3.02 at the end of December, far short of Trump's campaign promises to cut fuel prices in half and bring the price at the pump down to $2 per gallon. Low fuel prices are a result of persistently low oil prices, which is causing pain for oil and gas workers as companies cut thousands of jobs.
U.S. oil refinery investors, not consumers, will benefit from seizure of Venezuelan oil
The U.S. military’s seizure of Venezuela’s oil exports is unlikely to lower gasoline prices for consumers – as President Donald Trump has claimed – but could funnel billions of dollars to American oil companies that donated to Trump’s election, according to industry analysts. Among the oil refinery owners who could benefit is billionaire Trump donor Paul Singer, founder of an investment management company that is buying Citgo Petroleum, a refining firm owned by Venezuela’s state oil company. Also positioned to potentially cash in are ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Chevron, which also gave millions to Trump’s political campaign.
The top Oil & Gas Watch News stories of 2025, according to readers
In 2025, Oil & Gas Watch News chronicled the first year of President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill,” agenda, and many of our most popular articles examined the reality behind the rhetoric of his energy promises. Other top stories of 2025 covered massive but little-known energy projects in Alaska and Louisiana, as well as on federal public lands across the West.
Taxpayer-subsidized carbon capture is driving a backlash in Louisiana, Texas and other states
Driven by billions in taxpayer subsidies, companies are planning hundreds of projects across the U.S. intended to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industry and pump the pollution underground. The wave of carbon capture, transportation, and storage projects is triggering backlash in the form of lawsuits, grassroots activism, and regulatory changes. States in the Gulf Coast and Midwest have had public debates and court battles over some of these projects.
