Mike is an Energywire reporter based in Dallas-Fort Worth. Since joining E&E News in 2013, he has written extensively about energy regulation and the impact of oil and gas development on communities, including hydraulic fracturing, air and water pollution, pipeline construction, traffic problems, and landowner disputes. He also covers state politics, business news and environmental issues. Before joining E&E News he was an energy reporter for Bloomberg News and wrote for several Texas newspapers including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
In September, more than two dozen people were arrested after they dangled from a bridge over the Houston Ship Channel, disrupting traffic in one of the biggest energy ports in the country.
Environmentalists and residents have sued to block a liquefied natural gas terminal scheduled to be built in Brownsville, Texas, saying it would pollute the region's air and damage the fishing and tourism industries.
Texas' natural gas flaring is not as big a problem as some critics have portrayed it, one of the state's top energy regulators said yesterday in addressing a controversy with implications for greenhouse gas emissions and his own political career.
Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Oklahoma are battling some of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. oil and gas industry in their legislatures this month, including how to cope with a drilling surge, oversee oil field wastewater disposal and regulate pipelines that are angering local communities.
BP PLC's plan to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from its oil and gas operations will put pressure on the rest of the energy industry, particularly big American companies, to make similar commitments.