Trump’s Department of Energy: policy to aid the oil industry (links to articles)

From the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota to the Mariner East complex in Pennsylvania to the Keystone XL coming down from Canada, Sharon Kelly’s been tracking developments in pipeline progress amid the pandemic that you might have missed. Catch up here.

In early March, Julie Dermansky met a family in New Mexico who have long worried about the health impacts of living so close to the fracking industry. Their fears intensified this year after an industry wastewater pipe exploded, spraying them and their livestock just before COVID-19 precautions ordered them to stay at home.

Undeterred by Congress, Trump’s Department of Energy has gone ahead with a policy to aid the oil industry, in a move that’s raising questions of both its legality and long-term chances of changing the industry’s poor financial outlook.