News

The oil and natural gas industry can be its own worst enemy, but media outlets and the public would be more receptive if the industry would pro-actively disclose incidents and offer more education about operations, a panel told executives and employees this week.

With the Democratic National Convention underway, the party is solidifying its platform heading into the 2020 election that is creating a divide between anti-energy activists and state officials who recognize the importance of oil and gas to state economies.   This divide is particularly apparent in the West where state governors can see firsthand the impacts of fracking bans and federal leasing restrictions. 

Energy Department Secretary Dan Brouillette said there’s no need for duplicative federal permitting for critical infrastructure projects and remains optimistic about American energy production despite a global pandemic and galvanized anti-fossil fuel activism domestically.

By picking U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D, Cal.) as his vice-presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden is setting up a fight over fracking and the Green New Deal with western lawmakers.

In a ceremony held at the White House on Tuesday, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), enacting one of the largest investments in public lands in American history.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s quest to deliver environmental justice and look forward to a second Trump term includes directing a more efficient and responsive collaboration with local officials, the agency head said earlier this week.  “EPA turns 50 years old this year, and we have a very rich history,” Wheeler said. Looking at the next 50 years, he added, “we need to tear down the silos within the agency. We have our air office, we have our water office, we have our waste office and chemical office. We need to be taking more of a cross-medium approach,” he continued. 

Delivering environmental justice to communities of color and accelerated clean-ups to brownfield and Superfund sites in the West, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler made a stop in Pueblo, Colorado, Tuesday to view the ongoing removal of lead and arsenic from a century-old smelting plant near residential areas. Wheeler toured the Colorado Smelter Superfund Site that was active from 1883 to 1908 producing lead and silver, and had been dormant for more than a century before being added to the agency’s priority clean-up list.