A Petroleum PR Blitz in New Mexico
Oil and gas money papers the state with industry messages.
Jerry Redfern
September 23, 2022
Oil and gas money papers the state with industry messages.
SB 106 could put the right to an abortion up to voters. It may also limit the power of the governor to fight GOP attacks on his environmental orders.
Former officials push strategies on behalf of fossil fuel clients, threatening climate and communities, say critics.
‘Mark my words,’ says environment secretary, this will lead to increased air pollution.
A handful of legislators could decide measures for tougher statewide emissions goals.
Labor opposition could diminish Gov. Newsom’s climate package.
With Newsom’s environmental legacy in the balance, legislators are intensely pushing bills that advance the governor’s priorities.
The state risks health and highway funding if it doesn’t pass regulations on oil and gas pollution.
The South Coast air district is investigating dozens of complaints about toxic emissions seen in the ‘shocking’ footage.
Oilman Simon Kukes has more risky idle wells under a state waiver than anyone else.
Oil group eyes strategy to promote in-state drilling as climate-friendly.
The industry-backed bill proposes to freeze the bond amounts that fossil fuel companies are required to put up.
Resignations follow stories from Capital & Main and Type Investigations on faulty permitting system and under-monitoring.
A patchwork of regulations is out of sync with the urgency of the climate crisis, experts say.
Residents challenge regulators’ claims that they can’t account for toxic oil and gas emissions in the San Joaquin Valley.
Economists caution the billion-dollar tax windfall is the boom portion of a boom-bust resource cycle.
A new report from the Forest Service blames climate change for record-setting fires, but fails to mention the fossil fuel industry.
Sen. Lena Gonzalez says the state Legislature can sometimes stymie the democratic process.
The legislation would increase fines for violations at long last, but is getting heavy pushback.
The proposed legislation would direct the state’s public pension funds to cease investment in oil, gas and coal companies.
The state asked for federal help to find oil field emissions; the EPA found dozens — but in three years it has issued only two fines.
A move by the Valencia County Commission surprises the public and helps a major donor.
23 California legislators who failed to support clean energy bills have taken a combined $1.58 million from the oil and gas industry.
New well count rises as governor appoints oil lobbyist to top role.
Oil production and rhetoric are up — but jobs and investments? Not so much.
Fossil fuel companies are pushing for investment in emission-reducing technologies critics say are unproven or even harmful.
Critics maintain that short legislative sessions hinder lawmakers’ ability to address significant policy issues.
Over the past four years, fossil fuel companies paid almost $77.5 million to lobby lawmakers in Sacramento.
Three bills may fall victim to a new push for more oil drilling.
Hoping to land federal infrastructure funds, New Mexico is partnering with other Western states on the proposal.
The state is in danger of missing its 2030 emission goal, but the oil and gas industry is lobbying against changes.
Lawsuit in Bay Area represents a looming issue for thousands of idled oil and gas wells.
The state’s booming budget lacks cash for monitoring of oil and gas wells.
Lax reporting laws leave politicians and the public in the dark about legislation backers.
The state’s record $8.47 billion budget bill lacks adequate funding to monitor oil and gas operations and combat climate change.
Report shows that hiring nine new oil and gas regulators would generate a half-billion dollars in remediation work.
In committee hearings, Republicans echo industry concerns and muddle the intent of legislation.
Emails show how the industry weakened emissions legislation and pushed back on cap-and-trade reforms.
A look beneath the hood of the Hydrogen Hub Development Act reveals the natural gas industry’s machinations.
While the state is flush with record fossil fuel revenues, key legislators oppose full funding of state agencies that police the industry.
While most producers dramatically increased their reporting, the state’s largest natural gas producer’s numbers haven’t budged.
Hydrogen production would dramatically increase natural gas development in a state that already struggles to police natural gas operators.
Will Democrats stop appointing legislators with fossil fuel investments to key committees in 2022?
The unpopular proposal promotes a fuel that may cause more harm to the environment than it’s worth to produce.
Two years after it began, state regulators have yet to issue any penalties for the spill, which ranks among the largest in state history.
The state’s governor needs to sell environmentalists, the fossil fuel sector and the public on the green-ish energy source.
As the EPA moves to implement new restrictions on oil and gas operators, New Mexico provides a model and illuminates challenges.
Sen. Bob Hertzberg declined to vote on bills that would have enshrined new regulations in the law.
Ensuring good clean energy jobs for oil and gas workers may be the key to bringing trade unions and climate activists together.
Climate goals can suffer when job quality is pitted against protecting the planet and vulnerable communities.
The company’s owners have a history of maximizing profit at the public’s expense.
The new ruling, a key environmental protection, will impact 30% of oil wells in the state.
In two years, the company secured millions in bonds, three pipelines, five lawsuits and a lien.
Even Texas and Wyoming do a better job protecting communities from oil and gas drilling.
The renewed agreement with Amplify Energy could keep the pipeline responsible for the spill in operation through 2040.
Wastewater injection wells are believed to be behind the significant increase in seismic activity.
The move will impact over a thousand active wells.
Amid drought and wildfire crises, the state’s powerful industries have stymied 12 bills meant to address climate change and industry accountability.
The college program is after state grants to rebuild and expand natural gas production in the San Juan Basin.
The drastic increase in permits comes at a time when climate science shows that new drilling and production should be winding down.
PFAS chemicals persist indefinitely in the environment and are linked to severe illnesses.
While New Mexico sizzles and the West burns, methane emissions from the state’s biggest oilfield keep rising.
The move could make it harder for landowners to sue companies that pollute water tables.
The state has hit record oil and gas production, but the industry jobs outlook remains bleak.
Despite Democrats’ supermajority and an environmental emergency, climate bills are hitting a wall in the California Senate.
Biden’s ban on new drilling operations on public lands has been blocked for now, but the political battle rages on.
More than a year after a shuttered drilling site in the middle of a South L.A. neighborhood was deemed unsafe, it remains a risk for residents.
Plans to dredge a fragile Gulf Coast estuary and Superfund site are being ‘fast-tracked’ in a rush to export Permian oil to Europe
In the first three months of 2021, the petroleum industry spent over $4.3 million lobbying Sacramento.
State officials want the petroleum industry to cut ozone-causing pollutants, but say understaffing will make enforcement tricky.
News that focuses only on energy production numbers and not the effects of petroleum gushing from wells is typical of oil and gas reporting.
The oil company behind a spill in Inglewood is headed by a powerful lobbying official who’s fighting tougher regulations.
With warming environments, landscapes are shifting. But life is still abundant.
Proponents of a regulatory exemption claim it would protect small operators. But large oil companies would see the most benefit.
The impact of underground injection wells on aquifers is not well understood, but the state continues to allow their proliferation.
Richmond Mayor Tom Butt was publicly optimistic about a Chevron oil refinery spill. In private he offered a much more critical assessment.
Two wells, two accidents — but no answers.
Co-produced with USA Today
In the Los Angeles area alone, 11 new tank projects are underway, mainly in communities of color.
But will fence-line communities really get the jobs?
Tribal governments say they haven’t been adequately consulted on the plan, which could bring thousands of new oil and gas wells to the area.
One of the state’s most polluted counties is poised to rubber stamp new oil and gas wells for decades to come—putting its most vulnerable residents at risk.
Two rural communities prepare to wrest more control over protecting their air from pollution.
Santa Fe’s easy familiarity with energy industry representatives illustrates how one of the most powerful lobbies is treated within state government.
What the state can learn from coal’s decline — before the oil and gas industry goes off a cliff.
But not everyone in the state is rankled by Joe Biden’s executive order.
The California governor has so far approved more than 8,000 fossil fuel permits on private and state lands.
Oilfield dangers aren’t confined to the drilling pad — many Permian Basin homes have pipes carrying gas, oil and contaminated water running right through their yards.
A collection of holiday themed “fractoids” recently promoted New Mexico’s oil and gas industry. Many suffered from a lack of facts.
The county’s efforts to enact environmental safety measures are being met with fierce resistance.
Even in the face of catastrophic changes to the environment, fossil fuel interests continue to advance their agenda in the Golden State.
New Mexico is facing a drier than normal winter — its reservoirs are nearly tapped out. And things are going to get worse.
More than 40% of New Mexico’s income relies on oil and gas, leaving the state vulnerable to the industry’s boom and bust cycle.
Co-published by the Santa Fe Reporter
In the state’s oil patches, inspections lag as production—and pollution—rebound.
The increasing volatility of the oil and gas market could loosen the industry’s grip on state politics.
The Newsom administration has established a pattern of approving permits during busy news cycles.
If California’s new governor had looked too good to be true in his first months in office, environmentalists would soon learn the truth.
Northwestern New Mexico’s fossil-fueled economy is cratering. Will departing drillers clean up after themselves?
Environmentalists estimate 95 percent of the state’s wells will be exempt from new emission regulations.
Considering climate change’s existential threat, the dearth of regional reporting on the corporate forces driving global warming is striking.
New Mexico
Editor — Laura Paskus
Investigative Reporter — Jerry Redfern
California
Editor — Marcus Baram
Investigative Reporter – Aaron Cantú