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In recent years the Fort Worth Basin located in North Central Texas has become a major shale gas production region. In order to extract oil and gas trapped in the rock, wastewater is injected deep into the ground and works its way into dormant faults and eventually forces the rock to crack and allow fossil […]
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By Senator Edward J. Markey (D- MA) This week, a court ruling forced the Trump Administration to put its plan to massively expand offshore drilling for oil and gas on hold. The Trump Interior Department’s record is one of blatant disregard for the ocean’s living marine resources and the people and coastal economies that depend […]
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In his first interview since being confirmed as Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that the Administration’s ocean drilling plans have been delayed for now because it will take a long time to appeal a ruling by a Judge in Alaska that the Interior Department could not lease offshore areas that President Obama had permanently removed from leasing. Berhardt, according to The Journal, would not speculate on how long the offshore drilling would be delayed but remarked that the appeals process is “going to take a while” and added that, “I’m not at a point now where it’s an imminent thing.” We reported earlier this month on the Alaska ruling, in which Judge Sharon Gleason, an Obama appointee, held that the law was explicit in giving the President authority to “withdraw” lands but silent about “revocation” of a withdrawal, and thus the President Trump’s action was illegal.
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This week the tragic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral was juxtaposed with the House Resources Committee field hearing on the damage oil and gas drilling is doing to our own priceless American cultural heritage in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. At Notre Dame, the stories of the heroism shown by Father Jean-Marc Fournier who guided […]
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A surge in oil and gas drilling in the Permian Basin of New Mexico is causing a dramatic increase in methane emissions according to a new study by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The Associated Press reports that the EDF analysis showed that in 2018 statewide methane gas emissions from oil and natural gas production is five times higher than what the petroleum companies are reporting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and more than twice what EDF estimated these emissions to be two years ago.
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Late last week, the Trump Administration announced its decision to open up for oil and gas drilling nine millions of acres of critical habitat for the Sage Grouse, a bird whose endangered status hinged on whether the habitat would be saved.
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