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As Climate Fight Shifts to Oil, Biden Faces a Formidable Foe
President Joe Biden’s bid to tackle climate change is running straight through the heart of the U.S. oil and gas industry.
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Thousands Allowed to Bypass Environmental Rules in Pandemic
Thousands of oil and gas operations and other sites have won permission to stop monitoring for hazardous emissions or otherwise break government rules because of the coronavirus outbreak
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US Approves Oil, Gas Leasing Plan for Alaska Wildlife Refuge
The Department of the Interior has approved an oil and gas leasing program within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
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Trump Admin. to Roll Back Rules for Methane, a Major Heat-Trapping Gas
The Trump administration moved Thursday to revoke Obama-era regulations on climate-changing methane leaks from oil facilities, a proposal that environmental advocates said would renounce key federal legal authority to regulate the gas’s outsize damage to the climate. The proposed rule follows President Donald Trump’s directions to remove “unnecessary and duplicative regulatory burdens from the oil and gas industry,” Environmental Protection...
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EPA Chief Jets to Morocco to Help Promote Fossil Fuel Use
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency flew to Morocco this week to help encourage the North African kingdom to import liquefied natural gas from the United States, prompting Democrats and advocacy groups to question whether the trip was in keeping with the agency’s mission of ensuring clean air and water. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was accompanied by at least...
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Joe Barton to Go Mum Over Disclosed Photo, Citing Probe
Suggesting he’s a victim of revenge porn from a jilted lover, Republican Rep. Joe Barton of Texas says he plans to go silent about the release of a nude photo of him online because police are investigating the disclosure as a possible crime against him. Authorities have not confirmed an investigation....
The 68-year-old Barton, who joined the House in 1985, has... -
Zinke: One-Third of Interior Employees Not Loyal to Trump
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, “I got 30...
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Records Show EPA's Pruitt Used Private Email, Despite Denial
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt occasionally used private email to communicate with staff while serving as Oklahoma’s attorney general, despite telling Congress that he had always used a state email account for government business. A review of Pruitt emails obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request showed a 2014 exchange where the Republican emailed a member...
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Tillerson Parts Ways With Exxon, $180M Retirement Package
Rex Tillerson, President-elect Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, is severing ties with Irving-based Exxon Mobil.
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Oil, Gas Industry Ensnarled in Spate of Oklahoma Earthquakes
Earthquakes are rippling through Oklahoma more quickly than ever, and strong too: forty-six since the beginning of the month, as powerful as magnitude 5.0, NBC News reported. Scientists say that wastewater from fracking is very likely triggering the tremors at unprecedented rates, but the rise in the oil-tapping process has been a boon for the state’s economy — roughly one...
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Texas Lawmakers Move to Stop Local Fracking Bans
Just as new scientific reports are reinforcing links between fracking and earthquakes, Texas legislators are moving to limit cities’ control over oil and gas drilling in their communities. The proposed law is worrying not only environmentalists but also some officials who say local control is the best way to protect people from earthquakes, polluted water and other possible effects of...
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EPA: No Widespread Harm to Drinking Water from Fracking, If Safeguards Are Maintained
If proper safeguards are maintained, hydraulic fracturing to drill for oil and natural gas has not caused widespread harm to drinking water in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.