Oil and Gas Watch

Brendan Gibbons

September 25, 2025

Data show U.S. has no energy ‘emergency,’ despite Trump order directing agencies to fast-track fossil fuels

Despite heaps of evidence to the contrary, the White House issued orders on Jan. 20 claiming that the country has “insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation” and that it is “in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy.” In reality, the U.S. does not have an energy emergency, with the country's energy production and exports reaching record highs.

Brendan Gibbons

September 18, 2025

Texas company plans massive power plants to fuel 'intelligence campus' named after Trump

In the panhandle of Texas, a company is planning to build a massive gas-fired power plant and four nuclear reactors to supply energy for a data center complex – all dubbed the “President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus.” The project joins a wave of companies proposing new gas-fired power plants in Texas and across the U.S.,

September 11, 2025

Southwestern states struggling with drought debate the recycling of fracking wastewater

Often contaminated with carcinogens like benzene and arsenic, the water that flows back up from oil and gas extraction wells is expensive to store, hard to reuse, extremely brackish, and has caused countless headaches for both industry and nearby residents. Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are pursuing ways to make industry recycle more of its wastewater in oilfields to avoid depleting freshwater sources, as well as attempting to expand the use of this wastewater for other purpose

Brendan Gibbons

September 4, 2025

Louisiana officials want to displace a majority Black community to make room for industrial 'MegaPark'

State and local officials envision Modeste, a small community in Ascension Parish, not as a tight-knit residential community but as the “RiverPlex Megapark,” a 17,000-acre industrial site home to multiple industries. If all goes according to plan, dozens of residents would leave to make room for a steel plant by Korean automaker Hyundai. State officials are offering Hyundai $2.4 billion in incentives, including a $1.2 billion in local property and sales tax breaks.

August 28, 2025

During a dark time for clean energy, carbon capture for the oil industry gets a boost

The past several years have seen a flurry of carbon capture projects, with at least 270 proposed across the U.S. -- many buoyed by billions in subsidies from the Biden Administration meant to fight climate change. But so far, only a tiny fraction of these carbon capture projects are actually operating, and only four are “permanently” burying carbon without directly subsidizing the oil and gas industry. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" recently increased incentives for using captured carbon to produce more oil and gas.

Brendan Gibbons

August 21, 2025

Trump Administration tries to slash funding for chemical disaster oversight

The White House has proposed eliminating funding by 2026 for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent agency that investigates chemical disasters, issues plain-language reports on their causes, and recommends reforms to prevent similar disasters. In addition to targeting the agency, Trump’s EPA has also signaled that it would roll back a rule finalized in 2024 meant to require better planning for chemical disasters.