Heather covers offshore energy — oil, natural gas and wind — and drilling on public lands for E&E. She previously covered energy and the environment for The Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming.
When a Republican-led Congress passed the tax overhaul just before Christmas in 2017, lawmakers refashioned the federal government's approach to oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) rejected $4.4 million worth of oil and gas industry bids to potentially drill in the Gulf of Mexico from a recent auction that otherwise netted $155 million.
With its coal sector crumbling, Wyoming is leaning heavily on its oil industry to make up the difference. But experts are warning that the boom times are truly over for Wyoming's fossil fuel-dependent economy.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a leading advocate for climate action, has been critical of a proposed 85-turbine project that would reduce emissions in Massachusetts. Whitehouse, a Democrat, says his state of Rhode Island has set a better example for how to build offshore wind facilities.
Most of the oil and gas leases offered at auction by the Trump administration have been in water-stressed areas of the country, according to a new report by the Center for American Progress.