Oil and Gas Watch

September 10, 2026

The Trump Administration wants to give Alaska oil and gas developers a free pass

The Interior Department is preparing a new categorical exclusion that would allow certain Arctic oil and gas development activities in Alaska to proceed without the usual project-specific environmental review. This is the latest effort by the Trump Administration to expand oil and gas development across Alaska’s North Slope.

Brendan Gibbons

September 3, 2026

Ironically, New England gets a larger share of its power from natural gas than Texas, America’s gas production capital

Rhode Island, Delaware, and Massachusetts are the three most natural gas-dependent states in the U.S., where the fossil fuel – a potent source of climate-warming pollution – makes up the highest percentage of their electricity generation portfolios, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The reason these states rank so high relates to the availability of cleaner solar and wind power in the Northeast, how states share electricity across state lines, and – more recently – opposition from the Trump Administration to offshore wind projects.

Courtney Bernhardt

August 27, 2026

Data centers raced to beat Virginia’s new clean air law

Virginia lawmakers passed a new law in April to curb air pollution from new and expanding data centers with diesel generators, but data center developers raced to beat the deadline, with 19 applications submitted in time to take advantage of the older, dirtier, standards. “Filing an application right before a more health-protective standard takes effect shows that these data centers do not intend to be good neighbors,” said Dr. Mary Finley-Brook, a professor at the University of Richmond.

August 20, 2026

Hawai’i considers tsunami of natural gas with first LNG terminal

Clean energy advocates want the state to reduce its reliance on oil and are pushing for solar and wind. But a Japanese-based energy firm, JERA Americas, is proposing to move away from climate-friendly solutions with the proposed construction of Hawaii's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal to help meet rising power demand.

Brendan Gibbons

August 13, 2026

Conservation groups raise concerns about 520-mile gas pipeline from West Texas to Phoenix area

A natural gas pipeline planned from West Texas to the Phoenix area would cross sensitive conservation land in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona on its way to provide power for data centers and other large users in central Arizona. The pipeline is one of more than a dozen planned to relieve the industry’s natural gas bottleneck in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, where drilling for oil often also produces gas as a byproduct that must be burned or released.

Canadian governments propose 2,000-mile oil pipeline from Alberta to eastern refineries

In early July, the premiers of the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Ontario proposed a massive new West-East oil pipeline that would transport up to 500,000 barrels per day of oil across the country for refineries to process into gasoline and other fuels. The pipeline, known as the Northern Shield Energy Corridor, would end in Sarnio, Ontario, just across the border from Michigan, north of Detroit, and help reduce Canada’s reliance on foreign markets during a time of increased hostility from the Trump Administration.