Oil and Gas Watch

February 19, 2026

Massive gas-powered data center in Permian Basin is latest in string of Texas AI computing hubs

Texas’s environmental agency recently approved the latest in a string of large gas-fired power plants to support the state’s burgeoning data center industrial complex. The GW Ranch Project, set to be constructed in Pecos County, West Texas, in the Permian Basin, could generate up to 7.65 gigawatts of electricity, making it the largest power project in the U.S. One gigawatt of electricity can power about 750,000 homes, so this single data center complex could power over five million homes, or a large American city.

Brendan Gibbons

October 12, 2023

Oil & gas companies and investors placing big bets on federally-subsidized carbon capture projects

The world’s largest energy financiers – including oil and gas majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron – are investing billions of dollars in technology intended to capture carbon dioxide. Many supporters of carbon capture and storage see the technology as a path to lessen the climate impact of major industries and to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from major companies whose shareholders are pushing them towards carbon neutrality. But it remains unclear how many of these projects will become a reality or work.

Brendan Gibbons

October 4, 2023

Startup of Texas plastics plant by ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia followed by wave of air and water pollution violations

Nearly two years after one of the largest plastics plants ever built in the U.S. began operations north of Corpus Christi, Texas, some residents here say they have seen none of the promised benefits from the plant, which is jointly owned by ExxonMobil and the Saudi Arabian government. However, neighbors have seen the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures plant consume vast amounts of water in a drought-stricken region, suck up a half billion dollars in local tax breaks, and commit 63 air and water pollution violations, according to state records.

September 27, 2023

Chinese ammonia plant in Louisiana could receive U.S. taxpayer subsidies

Louisiana's Ascension Parish, located along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is becoming a focal point of the fast-growing, federally-subsidized carbon capture industry. One proposed plant that would manufacture ammonia from natural gas and inject its waste underground is being developed by a partnership majority owned by the Chinese government.

Brendan Gibbons

September 21, 2023

Biden Administration offers drillers 67 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico – but industry sues over protections for whales

On Wednesday, the Biden Administration plans to offer leases for sale to oil and gas companies allowing drilling on 67 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. But the oil and gas industry is suing because the Biden Administration plans to block drilling on a small portion of the underwater acres to protect a threatened species of whale: the Rice's whale.

Vincent Bregman

September 6, 2023

First-ever EPA data show gas processing plants emit thousands of pounds of carcinogens per year

Before natural gas can be routed through the pipelines that fuel power plants, homes, and businesses, it must be processed at a gas processing plant to remove contaminants or to separate raw materials used to make chemicals or plastics. According to data available for the first time this year, 258 gas processing plants reported releasing a combined total of 3.2 million pounds of toxic air pollutants in 2022, including benzene and formaldehyde, both carcinogens.