Oil and Gas Watch

Brendan Gibbons

December 18, 2025

Taxpayer-subsidized carbon capture is driving a backlash in Louisiana, Texas and other states

Driven by billions in taxpayer subsidies, companies are planning hundreds of projects across the U.S. intended to capture carbon dioxide emissions from industry and pump the pollution underground. The wave of carbon capture, transportation, and storage projects is triggering backlash in the form of lawsuits, grassroots activism, and regulatory changes. States in the Gulf Coast and Midwest have had public debates and court battles over some of these projects.

Brendan Gibbons

February 6, 2024

Biden’s LNG pause won’t slow the flow of U.S. natural gas abroad

The Biden Administration's decision to temporarily halt a review of new liquified natural gas (LNG) export permits will do little in the short term to stop the U.S.'s export boom. It will not block exports from the seven LNG terminals currently exporting from the U.S., nor the 16 projects that have already been authorized or are under construction—including 12 new terminals and four major expansions at existing plants.

January 25, 2024

Biden Administration proposes climate guidelines for billions going into hydrogen power

In an effort to nudge the growing hydrogen industry in a climate-friendly direction, the U.S. Treasury Department recently released proposed rules for clean hydrogen subsidies included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The guidelines, which cover the distribution of tens of billions of dollars of tax credits, surprised many with their commitment to hydrogen produced with clean energy, not fossil fuels. So far, only two of seven hydrogen “hubs” approved by the administration use only renewable energy, with a majority using natural gas.

Brendan Gibbons

January 18, 2024

The U.S. dominated the global oil and gas industry in 2023 despite pledges about clean energy

Overall, 2023 was a year of opposing trends in the U.S. oil and gas industry under a Biden Administration that both launched unprecedented policies to speed the transition to cleaner energy and also opened the door for record-setting fossil fuel production. Last year, the country became the world’s largest producer of oil and maintained its status as the top producer of natural gas, while also becoming the world’s largest gas exporter.

January 11, 2024

New Mexico wants to recycle fracking wastewater for clean energy. Who stands to gain?

Last month, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a “first-of-its-kind strategic water supply” program that would invest $500 million in treating produced water, an extremely salty byproduct of oil and gas extraction that can include toxic fracking chemicals, oil droplets, sand, rock fragments, and other gunk picked up along the way. Water experts and environmentalists wonder if the enterprise will do much to address the state’s water woes, or if it will primarily provide more government support for fossil fuel production that is worsening global warming.

Brendan Gibbons

January 5, 2024

LNG terminal opens in Puerto Rico without required federal approval

A New York-based company under fire from local groups in Puerto Rico after building a liquid natural gas (LNG) import facility in San Juan Bay without obtaining authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The LNG terminal also makes the territory more dependent on natural gas, even though Puerto Rico has passed legislation urging a move to 100 percent renewable power by 2050. Recent federal studies show renewables would be more cost-effective and reliable than continuing to shore up existing fossil fuel-fired power plants.