Oil and Gas Watch

Brendan Gibbons

Billions in Venezuelan oil revenue draw Congressional scrutiny as Iran war reshapes U.S. energy strategy

Three months after U.S. special forces extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas in a nighttime raid, the Trump Administration’s handling of billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil revenue has become the subject of Congressional scrutiny. Questions are being raised as the administration scrambles to unlock Venezuelan crude to offset a fuel crisis driven by the U.S. attack on Iran. The administration last month lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s oil put in place in January 2019, during Trump’s first term.

Brendan Gibbons

December 4, 2025

In refinery town near Chicago, cancer concerns lead to calls for better air monitoring

A group of residents of Lemont, Illinois, and surrounding communities are concerned about cancer and other illnesses, with state public health data showing a a growth cancer cases. After finding data that show occasional spikes of carcinogenic benzene emissions from a nearby Citgo refinery, they are asking for real-time air monitoring and an alert system.

November 20, 2025

Trump wants to revoke a drilling ban around a cherished World Heritage Site

The Trump Administration recently announced that it plans to abolish a Biden-era federal ban on oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northern New Mexico, home to a large concentration of Indigenous ruins. The announcement is part of the Trump Administration’s broader “drill, baby, drill” agenda of rolling back drilling and mining restrictions on the federal government’s vast land holdings as it aims to boost fossil fuel production.

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.