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.
Two days before a blowout and fire on an Oklahoma oil rig killed five men, the rig superintendent received an emailed report warning him the device that drives the blowout preventer was in bad shape.
Texas oil and gas regulators are working on a proposal to streamline permitting of waste disposal wells in areas that are prone to earthquakes.
EPA officials will be meeting in Bismarck, N.D., tomorrow with people from the mining and oil and gas industries as part of the Trump administration's "Smart Sectors" initiative.
EPA has entered into an agreement with an organization that reviews the effectiveness of state oil and gas regulators, but the two organizations left it for the future to decide what they will do together.
The Trump administration is telling EPA officials to streamline an investigative practice, fulfilling a promise by former agency head Scott Pruitt to oil producers who had complained.