Today, the Environmental Protection Agency released critical new draft rules to curb methane emissions and other pollution from the oil and gas industry. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Methane emissions are also emitted alongside other harmful pollution that puts communities at risk of serious negative health effects.
Today, Governor Newsom announced that the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) has issued new draft health and safety rules requiring that newly constructed oil and gas extraction sites must be at least 3,200 feet from California homes, schools, and public parks. This first of its kind draft rule is one of the longest setback distances in the nation, and will help guard Californian communities from toxic pollution from oil and gas wells.
A pesar de la oposición de camaroneros, pescadores y otros grupos comunitarios locales, la Comisión de Calidad Ambiental de Texas aprobó el 6 de octubre un permiso de contaminación del aire que permitiría la construcción de la refinería Jupiter en el puerto de Brownsville, Texas. Sin embargo, la comisión impuso dos requisitos importantes de control de la contaminación, los cuales mitigarían la polución de aire causado por la instalación— si es que se construye.
Despite opposition from local shrimpers and fisherman and community groups, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Oct. 6 approved an air pollution permit that would allow construction of the Jupiter refinery in the Port of Brownsville, Texas. The commission, however, imposed two important pollution control requirements that will mitigate the dangerous air pollution from the facility if it is eventually built.
Today, the Marathon Galveston Bay Refinery had a massive oil spill from one of its storage tanks. The spill spurred prolonged road closures and will require extensive clean-up in the surrounding marshlands that have been polluted with oil and associated chemicals. The oil spill occurred just a few blocks from Texas City’s local high school and near the sensitive waters of Galveston Bay.
A major oil spill off the Orange County coast has reportedly spilled at least 126,000 gallons of oil into coastal waters and local wetlands.
Washington, D.C. — The EPA has announced the withdrawal of guidance from the Trump Administration that allowed states to create loopholes that permit industrial facilities, such as coal plants and oil refineries, to release unlimited amounts of dangerous air pollution during startup, showdown, and malfunction (SSM) events without facing legal consequences under the Clean Air Act. The announcement reinstates EPA’s 2015 policy prohibiting those loopholes and requiring 36 states to correct those illegal provisions.
Today, Canadian oil company Enbridge announced that tar sands oil will start flowing through the Line 3 pipeline this Friday.
Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in support of a measure to begin the process of phasing out oil drilling on unincorporated Los Angeles County land
Today, national and Pennsylvania-based environmental groups sent petitions urging the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to adopt full-cost bonding for conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells.
The Culver City Council voted 4-1 last night in support of an ordinance that will phase out oil production and require the cleanup of well sites in the portion of the Inglewood Oil Field within Culver City’s borders within five years.
Monroe, LA— Yesterday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration's pause on new oil and gas leasing on public lands and offshore. The court’s preliminary injunction, which applies to Department of the Interior leasing nationwide, harms efforts to rapidly transition the nation away from fossil fuels and stave off the worst effects of climate change, including catastrophic droughts, floods and wildfires.