The Trump administration is making it easier for oil and gas companies to pollute on national public lands and not clean up after themselves.
The White House recently announced plans to roll back a Biden-era rule that increased bonding requirements—money set aside by oil and gas companies for cleanup after drilling is finished. The 2024 rule was the first increase to bonding rates since 1960. Adjusted for inflation, these rates should be at least 10 times higher today.
Despite this, the Trump administration is trying to return to the 1960 bonding rate, making it easier for oil and gas companies to skirt cleanup obligations and leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.
The administration is also planning to weaken restrictions on methane emissions, which will loosen constraints on stripper wells—oil and gas wells that produce very little energy but release vast amounts of methane. This move will benefit oil billionaire Jeffery Hildebrand, a major Trump donor and owner of Hilcorp, a company known for buying up stripper wells. Hildebrand gave millions to the Trump campaign after Biden issued aggressive restrictions on methane pollution in 2024.
Quick hits
Trump plans to protect methane-leaking stripper wells. This billionaire donor will benefit
Report: Oil and gas drilling on federal lands costs Colorado
Trump’s vanity projects are a growing mess
Was hydrogen peroxide dumped into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool?
‘No bigfoot here :/’ Oregon parks visitors blast Trump’s history order
Lawmakers warn Burgum could be liable for arch
Up against the wall: Ocelots are at risk in border wall construction
Opinion: Where the rubber meets the wildlands
Quote of the day
Keep your filthy paws off our beautiful, informative public parks and lands (Secretary of the Interior Doug) Burgum.”
—Anonymous national park visitor, Eugene Register-Guard
Picture This
I live in grasslands and like to eat sagebrush and other shrubby plants.
Some might mistakenly say I have antlers, but they’re actually horns.
I have big eyes (and lashes for days!) that give me a large field of vision.
I can run over 50 mph (80 kmh) – the fastest of any land mammal in North America!
I’m often mistaken for an antelope, but I’m actually more closely related to giraffes and okapis.
Got your best guess? Hold the dots under the photo and scroll —> to reveal the answer!
(Featured image: Oil pump jack in southeastern New Mexico. Beatnik Photos, Flickr)