Mike writes enterprise and investigative stories, primarily on oil and gas drilling. Before coming to Energywire, he covered congressional leadership for The Hill newspaper and served as a Washington correspondent for The Denver Post. He has received awards from the National Press Club, the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a Kiplinger Fellow in 2014 and participated in NICAR Bootcamp in 2013. He is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors and a committee chairman and former board member at the National Press Club.
The administration of President Trump, who campaigned on "draining the swamp," hasn't blocked acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler from getting involved with 14 companies that Wheeler represented as a lobbyist with Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
Houston-based American Ethane Co. touts itself as a "U.S.-based energy company." But a newly revised lobbying disclosure shows three Russian businessmen own nearly 90 percent of the company.
Federal worker safety officials announced yesterday they're seeking $74,000 in fines from Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. in connection with a January explosion and rig fire in Oklahoma that killed five men.
Three environmental groups are questioning whether EPA gave lenient treatment to oil and gas producers from Scott Pruitt's home state of Oklahoma before he left the agency.
Federal and tribal officials later this month plan to start testing 48 oil and gas wells on Navajo Nation lands in the Four Corners region that appear to have been leaking for years.