oil drilling

Just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the Trump administration is trying to lock-in oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with a hastily scheduled and controversial lease sale. But despite the high stakes, uncertainty looms over how much oil is actually trapped under the million acres of tundra up for leasing, and how much industry interest there is to go find it.

The Jan. 6 auction was set before the end of the comment and nominations period. If leases are finalized before Joe Biden takes office, they could be difficult to revoke.

Officials hope to auction off leases before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. He has pledged to protect the pristine landscape that's home to polar bears and migrating caribou.

The EPA does not require companies to notify federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with pollution monitoring or reporting. That leaves states alone on the front lines of pollution control.

Ten years after an oil rig explosion killed 11 workers and unleashed an environmental nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico, companies are drilling in deeper and deeper waters, where payoffs can be huge but risks are greater than ever.

Joe Balash, a top U.S. Interior Department appointee who pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil leasing, is taking a job with an oil company seeking to develop a major project in Alaska.

The Interior secretary touted the revised rules as eliminating "unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining safety." But environmental groups said the move demonstrates oil industry influence.

Fishing groups in California and Oregon joined the legal fray by filing suit against 30 companies, mainly oil producers. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the plaintiff, contends that the fossil fuel industry is at fault for recent warming-related damages to the West Coast's prized Dungeness crab fishery.

Tribal leaders and members from Washington state crossed the Salish Sea to oppose a pipeline that could bring more oil tankers to waters on both sides of U.S.-Canada border. The Canadian government wants to expand the Trans Mountain Pipeline and triple the flow of oil from Alberta to the Pacific coast.

Analysts say a perfect storm is making Wyoming, the country's largest coal state, more favorable for oil and gas. Higher oil prices are certainly one factor, says Carl Larry, who advises oil and gas companies with the financial consulting firm Refinitiv in Houston.