News Briefs

An air monitor at the edge of ExxonMobil’s refinery and chemical facility in Beaumont, Texas, showed concerningly high levels of benzene twice in 2025.

U.S. plastics markets slowed down in 2025, with a wave of plant closures, construction delays, and production cutbacks across the plastic industry, according to new research by the Environmental Integrity Project.

The company building a controversial 31-mile natural gas pipeline extension through Virginia and North Carolina started construction last week.

A committee of federal officials voted this week to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from laws meant to protect species like the vulnerable Rice’s whale from extinction.

Prices for all eight of the major types of fertilizers critical to farmers have increased over the past month following the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, according to the Progressive Farmer.

A new wave of methanol projects across the U.S. could dramatically expand production capacity, according to a new fact sheet by the Environmental Integrity Project.

Industry experts are sounding the alarm about possible insider trading after a flurry of oil trades that took place minutes before a post by President Donald Trump about the war in Iran.

Valero has begun restarting its oil refinery in Port Arthur after a massive explosion that led to shelter in place warnings.

New Fortress Energy, which began operating Puerto Rico’s power plants after a devastating 2017 hurricane, is now unable to pay its debts.

Invoking a wartime law used to speed production of medical supplies during the COVID pandemic, the Trump Administration ordered the restart of an oil pipeline in California last week.

Growing natural gas production in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico helped the U.S. set a new record last year.

The parent company for Michigan’s largest energy utility has proposed two new natural gas-fired power facilities outside of Flint and Bay City.

The Trump Administration is working to undo Biden-era rules that require petrochemical facilities and other hazardous sites to better prepare for disasters.

A state appeals court in Louisiana recently ruled that a local officials in St. James Parish violated state law by holding closed-door meetings about a proposed chemical plant.

Despite an outcry over noise and air pollution from nearby residents, regulators recently granted an air permit for Elon Musk’s xAI natural gas-fire power plant.

With strikes on multiple Middle East energy sites and tanker traffic slowed due to threats, President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday that the U.S.’s war with Iran is driving up energy prices.

With Iranian strikes shutting down natural gas terminals in the Persian Gulf, U.S. natural gas exporters like Venture Global and Cheniere are seeing their stock price jump.

The federal agency in charge of pipeline safety is accepting public comments on a request by Sable Offshore to restart an oil pipeline that caused a huge oil spill near Santa Barbara in 2015.

President Donald Trump delivered the second State of the Union address of his second administration and touted record natural gas and oil production as part of his “drill, baby, drill” agenda.

In the decade since the first cargo of liquified natural gas (LNG) shipped from a major U.S. terminal, the country has become the world’s top exporter of the fuel.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is asking a federal regulator to dismiss an application to revive a controversial natural gas pipeline.

The state sued the administration this week over a decision to withdraw funds from the state's hydrogen hub, one of several planned under former president Biden.

The administration’s rollback of bedrock EPA policy on climate change undermines the government’s ability to address greenhouse gas emissions in cars and trucks.

The Trump Administration has authorized the Texas GulfLink oil export project off the coast of Brazoria County, southeast of Houston.

Data from MethaneSAT, the Environmental Defense Fund’s methane-detecting satellite, shows that major oil and gas operations are underreporting methane emissions in official inventories.

On March 18, 2026, BLM will hold an oil and gas lease sale for about 5.5 million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

On March 11, 2026, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold an oil and gas lease sale that covers over 80 million acres of the outer continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, according to E&E News.

The Trump Administration will soon begin allowing companies to pump oil in Venezuela, according to Bloomberg News.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has authorized a 55-mile natural gas pipeline expansion through Virginia and North Carolina, despite community opposition.

The Florida legislature is weighing a bill that would prohibit local governments from adopting or implementing policies meant to draw down greenhouse gas emissions.

Mexico is importing less gasoline and diesel from the U.S. as its refineries increase their output, according to Bloomberg News.

A company operating in Alaska’s North Slope burned off state-owned natural gas for four months instead of reinjecting it into the ground, as required by law.

A bill under consideration in Indiana’s state House would require the state to pursue primary authority in permitting wells used for carbon dioxide disposal.

A gas-fired power plant south of Memphis planned by Elon Musk’s AI company could emit more greenhouse gases than nearly 1.3 million cars and trucks driven for a year.

When certain air quality monitoring sites go offline, air pollution often increases, according to an analysis by the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General.

Amid a shortage in natural gas-fired turbines to generate electricity, a Missouri-based company is making them out of repurposed jet engines.

Emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the U.S. increased last year, outpacing the growth of the country’s economy, according to a recent analysis.

Driving by rising demand for exports, power-hungry data centers, and manufacturing, analysts are anticipating the largest natural gas pipeline expansion in nearly 20 years.

Pipeline company Williams has filed an application to revive a long-embattled natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York.

Top Trump Cabinet members on Wednesday sketched out the goals to control oil sales out of Venezuela, following the abduction of the country’s president last week.

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday announced a civil penalty against a pipeline company for a massive 2023 oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico.

Pipeline company Energy Transfer announced in December that it would hold off on developing its Lake Charles LNG project.

Companies are proposing dozens of projects across the U.S. to produce ammonia, mainly from natural gas, according to a new fact sheet by the Environmental Integrity Project.

New York energy planners released a plan calling for expanding renewables and reducing dependence on fossil fuels while still falling short of the state’s 2019 climate targets

Oil and gas company executives said in a survey earlier this month that persistent low prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and rising costs continue to affect their industry.

The U.S. seized an oil tanker of the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Wednesday amid the administration’s escalation of tensions with the country's president.

A Guardian investigation revealed that founders of a company developing liquified natural gas projects in Louisiana bought shares following a meeting with Trump officials.

Oil and gas companies bid $279 million in the first lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico since 2023, according to the Associated Press.

Executives from Ford, GM and Stellantis joined President Donald Trump at a White House event Wednesday announcing plans to weaken Biden-era efficiency standards.

The EPA made official last month its plans to delay a rule meant to reduce emissions of methane and other oil and gas industry air pollution.

A Colorado state regulatory agency on Monday finalized plans to require utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental groups are suing the administration over circumventing a bedrock federal environmental law in an upcoming lease.

Energy companies are seizing a moment of opportunity to propose three competing plans to pipe more fuel to California, according to Reuters.

A company’s proposal to store carbon dioxide under timber land in southern Alabama has drawn the opposition of farmers and local lawmakers.

The Trump Administration is considering allowing new oil leasing off the California coast for the first time since the 1980s, according to the Washington Post.

New York regulators have approved a controversial natural gas pipeline after rejecting permits for the project three times in the past.

Texas is now the sixth state to get primary authority over wells meant to store carbon dioxide underground after the EPA published a final rule this week.

Even with hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed due to the ongoing shutdown, the administration has approved hundreds of drilling permits.

On Nov. 4, voters ousted two Republican incumbents on the state’s Public Service Commission, which oversees energy utilities.

State regulators will hold a public hearing on a draft air permit proposed for a massive gas-fired power plant that will power an AI data center complex in the Texas Panhandle.

Community groups and national environmental organizations are suing the administration for giving chemical plants a break from rules meant to prevent toxic and cancer-causing pollution.

A committee of state legislators will hold a public hearing on a proposed liquified natural gas export terminal near Philadelphia.

On Oct. 7, a subsidiary of Canadian energy firm Enbridge began construction on a gas pipeline expansion across north-central Tennessee.

Citing interviews with 10 anonymous sources, Politico reported last week on tension building between President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

A state judge in Louisiana ruled that a state agency erred in its analysis of environmental impacts when it issued a permit for the Commonwealth LNG facility.

The EPA has issued final permits ExxonMobil to drill and operate three carbon injection wells in Jefferson County, Texas.

Most of the requests in a letter from 100 manufacturing groups submitted to the incoming Trump administration late last year have been granted, according to reporting by The New Lede.

Artificial intelligence company OpenAI, which requires massive amounts of energy for its data centers, has hired an official from President Donald Trump’s first administration who championed natural gas.

Responding to public pressure, Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued a moratorium on new applications for wells meant to store carbon dioxide from industry.

Even with federal agencies in shutdown mode, the administration will continue issuing permits for oil drilling, while halting activity on some renewable energy projects.

Refineries in California and Texas have been hit with two major explosions and fires in the past week, according to news reports.

Citing difficult market conditions, ExxonMobil is delaying a facility that would convert a component of natural gas into chemicals used to make plastics.

Two companies owned by New York-based conglomerate Loews Corporation are planning to extend new natural gas pipelines across central Mississippi.

One Texas’s largest power producers has applied to build a new power plant fueled by natural gas in rural Hood County.

Resynergi, a startup planning a facility to chemically process waste plastics in Sonoma County, California, is moving its project to another state.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is calling for a study of oil and gas permitting and the interplay between natural gas and electric power.

Virginia regulators are planning two hearings next month on permits for a nearly 27-mile natural gas pipeline project in the state.

Flames from a ruptured natural gas pipeline in southern Wyoming illuminated the sky, creating a glow seen more than 60 miles away.

Federal regulators approved an air permit for Texas GulfLink, about 30 miles offshore from Freeport, Texas.

Federal regulators are making it easier for developers of polluting facilities to start building before they receive air quality permits.

State regulators have signed off on a proposal to drill a injection well in Southwest Louisiana to store carbon dioxide from a nearby liquified natural gas export terminal.

Cities and towns along the Gulf Coast are most at risk of health-damaging air pollution from the petrochemical industry, according to a map by Environmental Defense Fund.

The City Council of Corpus Christi earlier this month voted to cancel a contract for a seawater desalination plant meant to offset high water demand from the oil and gas industry.

A company is planning a new pipeline across Colorado’s Eastern Plains to deliver natural gas to the Colorado Springs area.

Federal regulators have reapproved a natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York that has been reinvigorated by President Donald Trump’s energy “emergency” order.

After raking in tax benefits that state officials said would lead to tens of thousands of new jobs and a regional boom, Shell’s CEO recently told analysts the company would sell its facility in Monaca.

As predicted in a December study by the Biden Administration, liquified natural gas exports are expected to drive up energy costs for U.S. consumers over the next year and a half.

A recent study found that air pollution from the U.S. oil and gas industry is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths and other poor health outcomes.

North Carolina regulators will hold two public meetings on Sept. 2 and 4 regarding a proposed 28-mile gas pipeline in the northern part of the state.

A federal judge in Texas reversed a decision to add the lesser prairie chicken, whose range includes the Permian Basin of eastern New Mexico and West Texas, to the Endangered Species List.

The government of Ascension Parish is planning a relocation and buyout for residents along the Mississippi River to make room for a steel plant and at least two ammonia facilities.

New Jersey regulators will hold a hearing Sept. 10 on an application by pipeline company Williams to build a natural gas pipeline across part of Lower New York Bay.

Chemical recycling company Alterra Energy has canceled plans to build a facility near Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Nearly a third of the energy produced domestically last year was shipped abroad, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial fishermen and residents of Cameron Parish, Louisiana, say a dredging project has buried their crab traps with mud and harmed wildlife.

A 71-mile natural gas pipeline expansion would cut through one of the largest undeveloped estuaries along the Atlantic Coast.

As of June 2025, Oil & Gas Watch has collected data on 39 proposed chemical recycling projects, as well as three plants that are currently under construction.

New rules meant to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas pollution from oil and gas will be delayed until January 2027.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has completed environmental reviews for two liquified natural gas terminals in South Texas.

A nonbinding pledge by the European Union to purchase hundreds of billions in U.S. energy does not make sense given the current market, analysts told news outlets.