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

November 13, 2025

Trump forces expensive fossil fuel plants to keep running, making consumers pay more

So far this year, the administration has ordered a coal-fired power plant in Michigan to delay retirement, as well as a plant that burns natural gas and oil in Pennsylvania, and a mainly oil-fired power plant in Maryland. For the Michigan and Pennsylvania plants, the administration broke with precedent by acting without any request by electric grid operators to keep the plants running or any warnings that the closures would cause reliability problems.

Brendan Gibbons

October 30, 2025

All U.S. LNG terminals active in 2024 violated air pollution limits over last 5 years

All seven of the LNG export terminals that were fully operational at the end of 2024 violated the Clean Air Act at least once over the last five years, according to “Terminal Trouble,” a new report released this week by the Environmental Integrity Project. Five terminals have exceeded their water pollution control permits at least once over the last five years

Brendan Gibbons

October 23, 2025

U.S. data center boom driving wave of new gas-fired power plants

The U.S. is facing a boom in data centers, with the number of these facilities projected to more than double or even triple by 2030, which is triggering a surge in the proposed construction of gas-fired power plants. This growth is being driven by the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, as well as the ever-increasing demand for cloud-based storage. The wave of new data centers and related gas plants are raising concerns about the potential greenhouse gas impact of the boom.

October 16, 2025

Trump cancels billions in clean energy grants while increasing subsidies for oil and gas

On Oct. 2, the Trump Department of Energy announced it was cancelling over $7.5 billion in federal funding for 223 clean energy projects that the administration argues would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. The projects are mostly in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. But President Trump’s own landmark legislation signed in July, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” grants an additional $4 billion a year in new taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

Brendan Gibbons

October 9, 2025

The oil and gas industry keeps laying off workers as Trump pushes 'drill, baby, drill!'

The record-high oil and gas production that President Donald Trump inherited when he took office has not translated to more jobs in the industry. Major oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP, are all laying off workers amid a decade-long trend of declining industry employment. Industry leaders and analysts attribute the job losses to a combination of persistently low oil and gas prices; higher supply costs, in part due to Trump’s tariffs; and consolidation in the industry, with company mergers leading to eliminating redundant positions.