Oil and Gas Watch

Trump rebrands struggling oil refinery project along Texas coast as ‘America First’ refinery

In mid-March, amid a spike in gas prices brought on by the war in Iran, President Trump announced that American First Refining would build a crude oil refinery outside of Brownsville, Texas. The announcement did not mention that, for almost a decade, the 240-acre Port of Brownsville site has been at the center of a struggling effort to construct a 160,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery under a different name.

Brendan Gibbons

Iran war inflates price of fossil fuel-based fertilizer and groceries

The consequences of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran have rippled far beyond oil markets. Strikes on natural gas infrastructure in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have spiked global fertilizer prices during a critical period for farmers. The price of urea, a granular nitrogen fertilizer that is vital for corn, wheat, rice, and cotton crops, has increased 45 percent since the war began.

Victoria Zurner

The Keystone XL pipeline returns as ‘Keystone Light,’ but still faces heavy opposition

The Bridger Pipeline Expansion, sometimes called the “Keystone XL Light” Pipeline, is a proposed crude oil pipeline that would travel 647 miles through eastern Montana and Wyoming, along the border with North and South Dakota. In some ways, the project is similar to its predecessor, the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was declared dead in 2021 after an intense battle over its environmental impact.

After surviving brush with death, pastor fights to save his community from industrial 'MegaPark'

Twenty-two years after being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease and given three years to live, Pastor Harry Joseph is not only still alive and strong but more inspired than ever to fight to save his community. He and his daughter are leaders in a David vs. Goliath legal battle by the small, historically Black community of Modeste, Louisiana, to stop a proposal by developers to replace their neighborhood with a massive industrial park called the RiverPlex Mega Park. “When God healed me, he healed me to put me in the position that I am now – to help other people with their struggles,” the Rev. Joseph said.

Brendan Gibbons

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.