Oil and Gas Watch

October 1, 2026

Controversial West Virginia chemical plastics ‘recycling’ plant gets permit over local objections

In response to lobbying by the industry, 24 states, including West Virginia, have passed legislation reclassifying chemical plastics "recycling" not as waste incineration but as a kind of manufacturing, which requires less strict environmental standards. The Trump Administration is working to exempt these plants from being subjected to Clean Air Act limits for cancer-causing air pollution.

Brendan Gibbons

September 24, 2026

In the wake of a petrochemical boom, companies now plan layoffs for thousands of workers

Chemical companies that are major U.S. plastics manufacturers – including Dow, Westlake, and Eastman – have said they are trimming their workforces by thousands of employees this year. All three of these petrochemical companies are laying off workers even as profits are up. Executies and stockholders are doing well while they terminate their workers, in part because technology allows companies to produce more chemicals with fewer employees.

Brendan Gibbons

September 17, 2026

U.S. quadruples production of natural gas liquids, the main ingredient in plastic

Over the past two decades, the U.S. has also seen a dramatic growth in production of lesser known “wet” varieties of natural gas. “Wet” gas is methane mixed with hydrocarbon liquids such as ethane and propane that are collectively known as natural gas liquids. Natural gas liquid production has more than quadrupled in the U.S. from 1.7 million barrels in 2005 to 7.5 million barrels per day in 2025, a 338 percent increase, according to a fact sheet on natural gas liquids compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project

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.