oil and gas

Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster off the Gulf Coast, the effects of the largest oil spill in U.S. history are still being felt.

A leak – significant, yet small by Louisiana standards – has highlighted concerns about the state’s response to such leaks under the Trump administration and Gov. Jeff Landry.

In a legal setback for fossil fuel advocates, a federal court has invalidated a large offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling Thursday in favor of environmental groups that sued to block the lease after it was scheduled for auction in 2023.

The rule, finalized last year, would also protect taxpayers from shouldering the cost. The states suing, however,, say it will crush independent oil companies.

Despite President Donald Trump’s calls to “drill, baby, drill,” many oil companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico will likely do what they’ve done for years: sit on hundreds of untapped oil leases across millions of acres.

President Joe Biden is moving to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, an effort to block possible action by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling.

“The main takeaway is that a business-as-usual approach is neither sustainable nor advisable,” said U.S. Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm during a press call on Tuesday.

A separate review finds issues with an industry-funded insurance group.

Generous federal tax credits are driving the onrush of carbon capture and storage projects being proposed in the U.S. But like a game of whack-a-mole, there’s a chance the planet-warming emissions could seep back up into the atmosphere after they are injected underground.

A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine looks at BSEE’s progress over the last decade, as well as critical gaps that still exist in holding industry accountable. Sea Change managing producer, Carlyle Calhoun, spoke with the director of BSEE, Kevin Sligh, about the improvements in making offshore drilling safer, and whether enough has been done to ensure the safety of workers and our environment.