Oil and Gas Watch

Brendan Gibbons

Trump officials mislead on fertilizer price relief in effort to ram through Louisiana ammonia plant

With farmers suffering from high global fertilizer prices due to the war in Iran, Trump Administration officials held a press conference May 19 unveiling their plan to speed up permitting for a Louisiana facility they said would help provide economic relief for the American agricultural community. The only problem? The majority of the ammonia manufactured from natural gas at the proposed Blue Point Complex near Donaldsonville will not be used to make fertilizer, but rather to ship to overseas customers and as a fuel for a power plant and a steel factory, according to corporate disclosures and announcements.

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.

December 19, 2023

Report shows oil and gas companies are rushing to establish taxpayer-subsidized carbon storage projects with little monitoring

A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project shows that federal authorities fail to independently verify that “captured” carbon actually stays underground after companies receive their taxpayer subsidies. The analysis of 21 carbon capture monitoring, reporting, and verification plans approved so far by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that the agency allows fossil fuel companies to write their own rules and plans, does not require specific monitoring strategies or technologies, and requires no third-party verification of data self-reported by companies.

Brendan Gibbons

December 7, 2023

Biden Administration proposes to allow disposal of carbon waste beneath national forests

The Biden Administration’s U.S. Forest Service recently proposed a regulatory change related to carbon capture and sequestration, a technology meant to remove or keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Critics of the proposal say that the Forest Service would be granting fossil fuel and carbon disposal companies access to public property for decades, possibly forever, in support of a technology that has not been proven on a large scale and which some call a false solution.

Brendan Gibbons

December 1, 2023

Houston smog worst in 12 years, hitting Latino, Black and lower-income neighborhoods hardest

Air monitoring data show that Houston’s air quality violated health-based standards on 55 days in 2023, more than any other year since 2011. Scorching temperatures combined with emissions, in part from vehicles, oil refineries, chemical plants, and other sources, triggered a rise in ozone across the region. Although smoggy air affects almost everyone, Houston air monitoring data show that Latino and Black neighborhoods and low-income communities were hit the hardest.

Brendan Gibbons

November 21, 2023

Report calls chemical recycling a ‘dangerous deception’ meant to shield the plastics industry

A new report by the environmental group Beyond Plastics takes aim at chemical plastics recycling. It's a rapidly-spreading industry with 11 facilities operating across the U.S. that turn plastic waste into fuel or raw ingredients for new plastics. At least 31 more of these facilities are now planned. Chemical recycling leads to energy waste and toxic air and water pollution, often in minority neighborhoods and low-income areas already struggling with a heavy industrial presence, the report states.