News Briefs

Attorneys general for 16 GOP-dominated states are asking the Trump Administration to shield fossil fuel companies from lawsuits by states and environmental groups.

Federal authorities have given final authorization to Commonwealth LNG in Southwest Louisiana, while the developer of Delta LNG southeast of New Orleans withdrew its application.

Prosecutors dropped trespassing charges against four activists arrested while blocking the entrances of the New Jersey offices of a plastic company with a long record of pollution violations.

In another blow to the burgeoning U.S. hydrogen industry, BP announced it would indefinitely suspend plans to generate hydrogen at its Whiting, Indiana, refinery.

A fire that broke out at a Marathon Petroleum refinery in Texas City, Texas, was the refinery’s third since May 2023.

Environmental Protection Agency staff are being told not to enforce violations against oil and gas companies, CNN reported this week.

After reaching an all-time high in recent months, U.S. crude oil production is likely to decline through the end of next year.

The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to give Texas authority to regulate underground wells meant to permanently dispose of carbon dioxide.

An environmental group sued a school district over requirements to notify the public about its negotiations over tax breaks for one of the world’s largest oil companies.

The administration would slash the budget of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which releases public reports on fires, explosions, and other catastrophes.

The Trump Administration is planning to revoke a 2024 rule that restricted oil and gas drilling on 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in the Alaskan Arctic.

Trump on Monday nominated Laura Swett, litigation counsel at the law firm Vinson & Elkins, which represents fossil fuel companies.

Federal authorities have approved the use of underground formations below public land to store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The bill would require operators to plug oil and gas wells that have been inactive for at least 15 years.

The owner of an 82-year-old oil well that sprayed oily water into a Louisiana coastal marsh will permanently seal the structure.

Though the Trump Administration has sought to expand drilling and leasing for fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico, production is flat and the number of drillships is at a seven-year low.

After a 10-year shutdown following a 2015 spill that fouled 150 miles of coastline, a Texas company restarted offshore oil production last week.

Researchers at Colorado State University identified much higher levels of benzene and other toxins in the air near a well blowout site north of Fort Collins than initially reported.

A chemical plant in the heart of Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” has put production on hold because of poor financial results.

The Iowa Senate this week narrowly approved a bill that would make it more difficult to for companies to force landowners to accept carbon dioxide pipelines.

House Republicans are looking to slash funding for clean energy programs, including tax credits for buying electric vehicles.

President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission chair has moved to cancel restrictions on two oil company executives accused of working with foreign governments to raise oil prices.

The pipeline's developers are seeking a permit to disturb 17 acres of wetlands as part of a plan to extend the pipeline from southern Virginia to northern North Carolina.

A planned facility to produce a blend called synthesis gas, or “syngas,” from natural gas in Texas City, Texas, has been cancelled.

During a visit to Poland this week, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright predicted that shipments of liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe would continue to rise.

During a meeting with state officials in Austin Tuesday, the EPA’s regional chief signaled that the agency would hand over authority on regulating wells that store carbon dioxide.

A proposed hydrogen pipeline that could stretch over 200 miles and cross through Navajo Nation territory is drawing scrutiny from skeptics and at least one Navajo advocacy group.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is encountering opposition from Louisiana republican lawmakers, a group that is typically favorable to oil and gas industry interests.

The White House has asked Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Willie Phillips, a Democrat, to resign from the position. Phillips’ departure is “effective immediately."

Following the Trump Administration’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda and National Energy Emergency declaration, the Department of the Interior announced it will enact “emergency permitting procedures”to reduce time periods for environmental reviews.

President Donald Trump has directed the Department of Justice to stop enforcing state laws that would impose billions of fines on energy companies for destabilizing the climate.

As oil prices fall, some Texas-based oil and gas company leaders are beginning to criticize the president’s energy policies.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted a key approval to a pipeline that would supply a power plant converting from burning coal.

The blanket tariffs the Trump Administration announced Wednesday do not include imports of oil, natural gas, or refined fuels.

The administration is planning to cancel funding for hydrogen hub projects in majority-Democratic states, while maintaining funding for hubs in Republican states.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is taking comments on court-mandated analyses of two liquified natural gas terminals in South Texas.

Oil and gas company executives are complaining about the Trump Administration’s tariff policies and push for low oil prices, according to an anonymous survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is taking steps to expand oil and gas drilling on federal land in Alaska and transfer land to the state in an effort to advance a liquified natural gas (LNG) pipeline.

An agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation changed course under pressure from the Trump Administration to approve a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal off the cost of Louisiana.

The liquified natural gas (LNG) industry is capitalizing on the Trump Administration’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda.

An Alaska state agency proposed a permit for a processing facility for the controversial Willow Project in the Alaskan Arctic.

Trump’s order means Chevron will no longer be able to be able to collect on debt owed by the country’s state-owned oil company.

One of the largest pipeline companies in North America is planning two massive natural gas pipeline expansion projects across Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.

Citing President Donald Trump’s plans to boost fuel exports, a company is trying to resuscitate a liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal canceled in 2021.

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a lease sale on April 29 to open up federal lands in Montana and North Dakota for oil and gas drilling.

Major U.S. refining companies are mulling whether they can convert their refineries to process more domestic crude oil in response to tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Senate Democrats are pushing for an end to a campaign by the Trump Administration to seize funding Congress approved for efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Targa Resources is planning to expand its Grand Prix pipeline system in the Delaware Basin of West Texas, the company said in recent filings.

The approval is the first for an liquified natural gas terminal based in the U.S. since the Biden Administration issued a pause in January 2024.

On Feb. 14, the Maritime Administration issued a record of decision that allows the construction of the GulfLink Deepwater Port.

In an unprecedented order, the Trump Administration said FERC and other independent agencies must submit all regulations to review by White House officials.

Climate and environmental groups say tax credits for the carbon capture and sequestration industry are wasteful.

The CEO of a U.S. pipeline and fuel storage company says it may not move forward with plans to build the Sea Port Oil Terminal.

President Donald Trump has appointed the head of an oil and gas industry trade group to lead the Bureau of Land Management.

In response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, China immediately responded with a 15 percent tariff on U.S. liquified natural gas.

On his first day in office, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum put forth six orders meant to increase drilling on federal lands and offshore and cut regulations.

Natural gas has overtaken nuclear and coal to become Pennsylvania’s main fuel source for electric power generation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) abandoned a policy proposal on climate change that has sat in draft form for nearly three years.

The federal government has proposed standards for the first time on pipelines that transport carbon dioxide.

Analysts say the tariffs would increase the price of fuel in the U.S., particularly in the Midwest.

On the last full day of the Biden Administration, the EPA granted West Virginia the green light to permit wells used for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide, a controversial and untested method of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

On Monday, President Trump issued an executive order beginning the repeal of the Biden Administration’s regulations on tailpipe pollution from cars and light trucks, which encourage car makers to increase production of electric vehicles.

On the same day of his inauguration, President Trump on Monday issued an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations Paris Agreement, the global pact to address climate change by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

The largest oil & gas industry group in the U.S. is calling for the end of federal policies to promote electric vehicles and pause the approval of liquified natural gas export terminals.

Plaquemines LNG in Louisiana shipped its first cargo on Dec. 26, according to a company announcement.

A company plans to drill six wells to store carbon dioxide (CO2) a few miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

Mitsubishi this week announced it would abandon plans to build the largest chemical facility of its kind in Ascension Parish, Louisiana.

Citing environmental and economic costs that outweigh the benefits of “limited fossil fuel production,” the Biden Administration banned offshore drilling in several areas of U.S. waters.

In an application for tax breaks, ExxonMobil said it is considering Calhoun County, Texas, for new plant that would convert natural gas into the raw ingredients of plastics.

Oil and gas firms are anticipating more lax regulations under an incoming Trump Administration, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a company the first-ever permits in California to inject carbon dioxide underground in an oilfield near Bakersfield.

The Bureau of Land Management on Jan. 10 will hold its second and final sale of leases under the Biden Administration to explore for oil on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northern Alaska.

Propelled by tax credits for “clean” hydrogen and carbon capture, the U.S. is on the cusp of a quadrupling of ammonia production capacity.

A Department of Energy study on the economic and climate impacts of the U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) boom shows a continued rise in exports would significantly increase household energy costs.

The latest effort by outgoing West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to weaken major environmental laws is dead, though Senate Republicans said they will revive the effort next year.

On Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2021 ruling of a federal district court in Texas that ExxonMobil must pay a more than $14 million penalty, following a citizen-lawsuit against the company.

The U.S. Department of Energy will not complete its review of two liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Southwest Louisiana until the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finishes additional air quality analyses.

The governing board of Templeton, Massachusetts has blocked the construction of a chemical recycling facility for waste plastics for one year.

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on exports from Canada, energy analysts are saying the proposal would increase fuel prices for Americans.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has delayed the construction of a new liquified natural gas terminal in Southwest Louisiana until it can redo its analysis of how the project would affect local air quality.

After already receiving tens of millions in tax breaks, Indorama has again applied for incentives for its chemical production facility, which has emitted air pollution beyond its legal limits.

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced he had chosen Chris Wright, CEO of oil services company Liberty Energy, to nominate for Secretary of Energy.

The Illinois legislature is considering banning carbon dioxide sequestration near underground drinking water supplies after leaks were revealed at a carbon sequestration site in Decatur.

The U.S. Department of Energy moved forward Wednesday with an agreement to provide up to $1.2 billion in federal funding for projects in Houston that would produce hydrogen from water and from natural gas.

President-elect Donald Trump proposed the four-term former GOP congressman, who ran unsuccessfully for New York governor, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

A company has proposed another new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana, a state with multiple LNG projects already operating and under review.

Plans continue to expand for a proposed natural gas liquids pipeline stretching from near the Texas-New Mexico state line into Southwest Louisiana.

The U.S. plastics industry has expanded rapidly in recent decades, fueled by record levels of natural gas production and billions of dollars in government subsidies.

An Oct. 29 application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build new natural gas pipeline segments across parts of the South is drawing scrutiny from environmental and community groups.

The expansion of hub in Mississippi where salt caverns are used to store natural gas is one step closer to approval after a review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The number of orphaned oil and gas wells in Louisiana is growing, with the state agency in charge of addressing them unable to keep pace, according to a recent report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.

A chemical recycling plant in Tyler, Texas, shut down this summer after formerly announcing plans for a major expansion next year to make it the largest pyrolysis operation in the world.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has scheduled multiple hearings on a liquified natural gas import facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is under fire from community, religious, and environmental groups.

An American oil & gas company and two Japanese firms are studying a proposal to ship carbon dioxide (CO₂) from Japan for disposal in Alaska.

Federal authorities are lending support for a project to expand the production of fuel from agricultural products near an existing oil refinery in central Montana.

A company that has long planned a fuel production plant in West Texas – with plans that have shifted over the years – has canceled its most recent permits.

Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission approved new rules for oil and gas development that will require operators to consider cumulative impacts of past, present, and future oil and gas development.

A hydrogen sulfide leak at the Pemex refinery in Deer Park, Texas, killed two workers and injured at least 35 others on Oct. 10. The Mexican oil company now faces multiple lawsuits.

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked construction on a new pipeline meant to deliver gas to a proposed power plant in Tennessee.

The Pemex Deer Park refinery east of Houston remains the worst source of benzene air pollution among U.S. refineries, as measured by the amount of the carcinogen measured by air monitors around the perimeter of the facility.