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.

Wave of new oil export terminals looms over Gulf Coast

The approval off the Sea Port Oil Terminal 35 miles off the coast of Texas marks the beginning of what could be a wave of five massive new deepwater oil export terminals along the Gulf Coast that service oil tankers over 1,000 feet in length. In the eight years since Congress lifted a long-time ban on crude oil exports, the U.S. has gone from barely exporting any fossil fuels to offloading millions of barrels of oil per day.

Brendan Gibbons

Proposed LNG export terminals threaten 21,000 acres of wetlands, many in Louisiana

According to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission data, 27 LNG export terminal construction or expansion projects that are proposed or already underway threaten 21,205 acres of wetlands – or 34 square miles, which is roughly half the size of Washington, D.C. Southwest Louisiana is a hotspot for LNG construction, with 10 LNG terminals built or proposed so far.

Brendan Gibbons

February 21, 2023

Ozone drifting into small-town New Mexico from Texas oil & gas industry

A new analysis by Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) shows that when air quality monitors in Carlsbad show spikes in pollution, it’s often because the wind is blowing in from Texas. The monitors record levels of ozone, a key component of smog that’s linked to chronic conditions such as asthma and heart disease. Texas does not have any official monitors on its side of the Permian Basin, despite having a much larger population in harm’s way.

February 14, 2023

The other big fossil fuel project the Biden Administration is pushing in Alaska

A controversial and much-discussed Alaska drilling proposal known as the Willow Project isn't the only energy project in the state with potentially serious consequences. The Biden Administration is also backing a controversial 870-mile natural gas pipeline that would deliver 3.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day from Alaska’s North Slope to a southern liquefaction and export terminal. From there, the gas would be shipped primarily to Japan and elsewhere in Asia.

Sara Brodzinsky

February 7, 2023

New study: Refineries under-reported benzene emissions by as much as 28-fold

Data collected by fenceline benzene monitors suggest that some refineries may have been significantly under-estimating and underreporting their emissions for years. That means neighborhoods downwind could have been facing higher risks of cancer than long thought. New research looks specifically at three refineries – Chevron and LyondellBasell's refineries in the Houston area and a HollyFrontier refinery in Artesia, New Mexico.