While Congress does nothing, Western state lawmakers pass a flurry of consequential and/or crazy — bills.
Oil
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Oil industry profits don’t pay for cleanup
A failure of regulation has allowed industry to avoid the true cost of cleaning up its unplugged wells.
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New Mexico pushes back on Big Oil
New bills in the legislature could curb industry excesses.
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Climate litigation to watch in 2024
These court cases could move the needle on the climate crisis.
Posted inDecember 1, 2023: December 2023
Take a toxic tour of the Great Salt Lake
Utah grapples with its future of industry around its dying inland sea.
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Outrage, disinformation and threats rise up in Wyoming around a BLM land plan
Is there a new Sagebrush Rebellion flaring in the Cowboy State?
Posted inSeptember 1, 2023: Food Justice
The long tail of toxic emissions on the Navajo Nation
Communities contend with ongoing air quality issues tied to gas and oil wells.
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Federal court derails proposed Utah oil railroad
Failures to assess risks to Colorado River and ‘numerous NEPA violations’ in project’s impact analysis highlighted.
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Private equity gets into oil and gas
A new report warns of bankruptcies and abandoned wells on Western public land.
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New public-land drilling rules would overhaul the Western oil industry
The potential new rules would hike the amount companies must pay in order to drill, in addition to other changes.
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California will need $21.5 billion to clean up its oil sites. Who’s going to pay for it?
As industry transitions away from fossil fuels, its profits will fall behind remediation costs.
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What hazardous cargo moves on Colorado railroads? It’s a ‘black box’, even to state regulators
In many Western states, 19th-century laws and deregulation allow chemical- laden trains to roll in obscurity — leaving hazmat teams guessing.
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Utah’s proposed crude oil railway could see an accident every year
Coloradans fight the oil train project, fearing a repeat of East Palestine’s toxic derailment — but in the Colorado River.
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The Biden administration just approved a huge oil project in Alaska
The Willow project threatens local lifeways and wildlife in Nuiqsut, Alaska.
Posted inMarch 1, 2023: Moving Parts
‘Gold in the hills, but not for us’
Scenes from California’s backyard petroculture.
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Colorado regulators come down hard on troubled oil company
K.P. Kauffman said that penalties could result in a large bankruptcy, leaving well cleanup to the state.
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The state of the land: Biden’s mixed conservation record
The president has riled up just about everyone with his public-land policies. Maybe that’s a good thing.
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5 new state bills that could shape the future of energy in Alaska
The state’s legislative session has just begun. Here are the bills climate activists are watching.
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New Mexico’s new pollution rules leave oil and gas operators to police themselves
Lack of enforcement allows industry to keep emitting greenhouse gases, evidence shows.
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Colorado works on an oil and gas well cleanup guarantee, but doubts loom
The state’s financial assurance process called ‘the strongest in the nation.’