The price of everything. Markets are not self-determining – prices are created by people. Ask yourself why prices are rising and try to identify the actors who may be influencing markets. Who is winning and who is losing?

Where to find prices (and experts to show you what to look for): 

• IHS Markit/S&P Global (oil)

• Platts (all energy)

• Power market websites and their market monitors (electricity)

• EIA (all energy)

• AAA, Gasbuddy (gasoline prices)

 

Blackouts. The Texas power crisis of 2021 that left hundreds dead, millions without electricity and water during a deep freeze and bankrupted dozens of companies was not an anomaly. Grids are poised to fail across the country more often and with ever-graver consequences. As always, there are actors who profit off these events, usually at the expense of the public.

• Figure out your local grid operator and familiarize yourself with their data. Set up a background interview with their market monitor.

  • Texas: ERCOT

  • California: CAISO

  • Midwest/East Coast: PJM Interconnection

  • New York: NYISO

  • New England: ISO-NE

  • Southeast: Southeast Power Pool

• Before a blackout, wholesale electricity prices that are spiking or near the price cap could indicate something is wrong. 

• After a blackout, evaluate what went wrong. Look at which plants went down. Was it mostly one kind of resource (Wind? gas?) Was there a frequency issue?

  • ERCOT outages: https://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/generation → Unplanned Resource Outages Report - Interim

  • ERCOT Dashboard: https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

• In California, blackouts are often a result of transmission rather than generation issues. You can track transmission outages here: http://oasis.caiso.com/mrioasis/logon.do

• Sign up for market notices to get alerts when the grid is stressed. After the Texas blackouts, ERCOT market notices alerted to the companies that went bankrupt from high prices: https://www.ercot.com/mp/notices

 

Emissions. Learn to navigate state and federal emissions records and you will find a treasure trove of stories to tell. For instance: When it gets cold in Texas, pollution soars. 

• EPA Flight data. The EPA publishes annual emissions for companies all over the country, which is available in this interactive tool: https://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/main.do

  • Data is updated every October

• FERC. New gas infrastructure projects (pipelines, LNG terminals) must submit detailed emissions estimates to FERC for evaluation. You can access these in FERC’s library and do your own calculations of how polluting these projects are: https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search

  • You’re looking for Environmental Impact Statement or Environmental Assessment

• TCEQ. Texas companies must report their emissions to the state environmental agency and those reports can be collected and evaluated to determine big polluters:  https://www2.tceq.texas.gov/oce/eer/

• AQMD. In California, different agencies handle emissions. AQMD is for Southern California. You can see flaring here: https://xappprod.aqmd.gov/FENS/public And big incidents here: http://www.aqmd.gov/home/air-quality/incidents. You can also subscribe to alerts.

 

Coal:

• Big storylines: The transition away from coal. Are we making the same mistakes with natural gas and leaving the same communities behind? 

• Tips: US Dept of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) best source. You can use this to figure out where coal is being produced

 

Oil and Gas:

 

Industry data  

 

• Baker Hughes Rig Count 

http://www.bakerhughes.com/rig-count

 

• Schlumberger oilfield glossary. These guys use some very weird terms

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/

 

• FracFocus

https://fracfocus.org/

Site for mandatory and voluntary disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Has other data such as location, date of "frack job" and volume of water used

 

• Climate change:

EPA provides data on sources of methane: https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/inventoryexplorer/

 

Pipelines 

Navigating FERC 

 

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates, among other things, construction/operation of interstate natural gas pipelines 

• It has a docket site with a huge trove of information eLibrary | General search (ferc.gov)

• Every pipeline/project has its unique docket number.

• First things first: Find the docket number and subscribe to the docket. 

• You’ll get notified by email of all correspondence and other documents filed in the docket (this includes settlement agreements, state matters, etc.) 

 

How to subscribe: 

• Register as a FERC Online User to get your own ID and password. 

•  Validate the account.

• Subscribe to the dockets you want to keep tabs on. 

 

Documents you might find in the docket:

• The project’s application and other info submitted by the applicant, comments filed, docs issued by the Commission

 

Stories Kate found using FERC library:

• Complaints by local landowners that helped illustrate a bigger story about how pipeline companies were rewriting rules to make way for pipeline. Notification of stop work orders following court decisions.

• Pipeline developers file weekly reports that show what kind of work they’ve done. I checked MVP’s the other day and saw there was a report of a landslide, which, as I recall, is exactly what some people warned about.

 

PHMSA Data:

 

• The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration handles mostly the safety of existing pipelines. Unlike FERC, it also regulates oil and gas and hazardous liquids pipelines (including carbon capture and storage).

 

• Safety performance measures: https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/national-pipeline-performance-measures

Such as: Incidents per 1,000 miles of pipe

 

See how your state stacks up

https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/states.htm

Such as:

• incident trends, mileage and facilities

• Enforcement data

• Regulatory fact sheet

• State Program Performance Metrics

 

Look at enforcement actions against pipelines in your area

https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/OpSearch.html?nocache=502

 

Look up old incidents and search for trends

https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files

 

Look at annual reports for pipelines you're covering. This can tell you how many leaks they've had, whether they've replaced pipe, and much more

https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/source-data

 

Finding out where your pipelines are:

The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) Public Viewer

https://pvnpms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/

 

See spills and other mishaps in your area (oil, gas, industrial and more), set alerts:

https://alerts.skytruth.org/

Skytruth has taken National Response Center data and mapped it

 

Abandoned wells:

 

• Pennsylvania data

• http://cedatareporting.pa.gov/Reportserver/Pages/ReportViewer.aspx?/Public/DEP/OG/SSRS/Abandoned_Orphan_Web

• Colorado data

• https://cogcc.state.co.us/documents/library/Technical/Orphan/Orphaned_Well_Program_FY2020_Annual_Report_20200901.pdf

• New Mexico data

• https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/ocd/project/auto-draft/ 

• (ctl-F "abandoned")

• Wyoming data

• http://pipeline.wyo.gov/OrpanWells.cfm

• National report on abandoned wells

• https://iogcc.ok.gov/sites/g/files/gmc836/f/iogcc_idle_and_orphan_wells_2021_final_web.pdf

 

 

Safety

 

• OSHA Establishment search - https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.html

• BLS Fatality data - http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm

 

When looking up labor department data on safety, employment, salaries etc. in oil and gas drilling by NAICS, be careful. There's not one easy classification for the industry, commonly referred to as "upstream oil and gas."

 

"researchers generally define it as the three industry groups from two different subsectors in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Oil and Gas Extraction (NAICS 211), Drilling Oil and Gas Wells (213111), and Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations (213112)" https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/osar0018.htm

 

 

Other avenues to pipeline stories: 

• Quarterly earnings calls

• Subpoenas 

• Environmental assessment prepared by FERC

• Environmental impact statement from the company building pipelines

• Inspection reports and consent orders. DEP has these. 

• Comments left in proposed regulations left in the Federal Register 

• Federal pipeline data safety performance measure at the PHMSA website (see below)

• Good jumping off points here, including state trends, regulatory fact sheets, enforcement actions in your area

• Can look up annual reports for the pipelines in your area

 

State oil and gas agencies:

• Alabama: State Oil and Gas Board http://www.gsa.state.al.us/ogb/ogb.html

• Arkansas: Oil and Gas Commission http://www.aogc.state.ar.us/

• Alaska: Department of Environmental Conservation, http://dec.alaska.gov/

• California: Geologic Energy Management Division https://www.conservation.ca.gov/calgem

• Colorado: Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission http://cogcc.state.co.us

• Kansas: Kansas Corporation Commission http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/conservation/index.htm

• Louisiana: Department of Natural Resources http://dnr.louisiana.gov/

• Michigan: Office of Oil, Gas, and Minerals http://www.michigan.gov/deq/

• Mississippi: Mississippi Oil and Gas Board http://www.ogb.state.ms.us/

• Montana: Montana Board of Oil and Gas http://bogc.dnrc.mt.gov/

• Nebraska: Oil and Gas Conservation Commission http://www.nogcc.ne.gov/

• New Mexico: Oil Conservation Division http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ocd/

• New York: Department of Environmental Conservation http://www.dec.ny.gov

• North Dakota: Department of Mineral Resources https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/

• Ohio: Division of Oil and Gas Resources http://oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/

• Oklahoma: Oklahoma Corporation Commission http://www.occeweb.com/og/oghome.htm

• Pennsylvania: Department of Environmental Protection http://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Energy/OilandGasPrograms/

• Texas: Texas Railroad Commission http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/

• Utah: Division of Oil, Gas and Mining http://oilgas.ogm.utah.gov/

• West Virginia: http://www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas

• Wyoming: Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission http://wogcc.state.wy.us/

• 
   

Nuclear Power Industry

 

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

  • ADAMS Public Documents Database

    • Home to almost every public document held by the NRC

    • Select “Begin WBA Search” this stands for “Web Based ADAMS”

    • On the “Advanced Search” tab, you can search by Docket Number 

    • Each nuclear reactor has its own docket number.

    • Then do additional search based on keyword, date or title

    • Can call the help line for any questions, usually helpful and separate from the public information staff

      • 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737

  • Environmental Reports

    • There are two types of annual reports related to environmental monitoring that each plant must file - both can be found here

      • Annual Radioactive Effluent Reports

        • Lists the total radioactive materials that leave the plant each year

        • Can compare this from year to year to see any trends

        • Can be confusing to interpret, if you see something that looks like an outlier, always ask an outside expert to confirm your findings

      • Annual Radiological Environmental Operating Reports (sometimes just called Environmental Reports)

        • Looks at the radioactive influences on the surrounding environment 

        • Lists any incidents that lead to accidental or unplanned releases of radioactive material

        • Contains the “Groundwater Protection Program Report” at the end - this is what would list any sort of tritium leak or incidents where tritium contaminated groundwater 

  • Reports Associated With Events

    • Two main types of reports:

      • Event Notification Reports

        • Often are about minor events, or first notification of events that later develop into more serious incidents

        • A good way to see how something was first reported

        • Can check back in the archives going to 1999

      • Preliminary Notification Reports

        • Much less frequent than Event Notification Reports

        • Have to do with incidents that “are of significant safety or safeguards concern or have high public interest,” according to the NRC

        • Can search going back to 2003

  • Statistics on Allegations

    • Allegations are complaints received by the NRC from NRC employees, plant employees, plant contractors, or license applicants

    • Statistics show how many were received by each plant per year

    • For more information, you can FOIA for all of the allegations in your state, or for a particular plant

    • A subset of the allegations data is “Discrimination Allegations.” These are plant employees who claim they were discriminated against for raising safety concerns at a plant. There is data available from the same link on just discrimination complaints. Nuclear power employees can file whistleblower complaints through the NRC this way, and can also file with the DOL. If you FOIA the NRC for the complete case file for some of these, there are often DOL case numbers or other identifying features that will then allow you to FOIA the DOL for the corresponding case file. If the DOL case has been appealed, you can often find the whistleblower’s name in the files, which the NRC does not release.