The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "oil and gas industry" ...
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Buying the Election
“Never Mind the Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election” investigates previously unreported ways that businesses have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which overturned a century of campaign finance law and allowed corporations to spend directly on behalf of candidates. The piece debunks a common misperception that businesses have taken advantage of their new political spending powers primarily through so-called Super PACs. In fact, most Super PAC donations have come from extremely wealthy individuals, not corporations. The investigation shows how corporations have instead used a variety of 501(c) nonprofits, primarily 501(c)(6) “trade associations,” to direct substantial corporate money on federal elections. As one prominent advisor to GOP candidates as well as corporations points out, "many corporations will not risk running ads on their own," for fear of the reputational damage, but the trade groups make these ad buys nearly anonymous. In 2010, 501(c)(6) trade associations and 501(c)(4) issue-advocacy groups outspent Super PACs $141 million to $65 million. The investigation shows that the growth of trade association political spending has had a number of significant ramifications, such as increased leverage during beltway lobbying campaigns. Most troublingly, legal loopholes allow foreign interests to use trade associations to directly influence American elections. One of the most significant revelations in the piece was that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industry, had funneled corporate cash to groups that had run hard-hitting campaign ads while being led in part by a lobbyist for the Saudi Arabian government, Tofiq Al-Gabsani. As an API board member, Al-Gabsani was part of the team that directed these efforts, which helped defeat candidates who supported legislation that would move American energy policy away from its focus on fossil fuels. Federal law prevents Al-Gabsani, as a foreign national, from leading a political action committee, or PAC. But nothing in the law stopped him from leading a trade group that made campaign expenditures just as a PAC would.
Tags: Elections; campaign finance; corporations; Super PACs
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Frac sand mining booms in Wisconsin
An ongoing series looking at the recent growth in Wisconsin’s sand mining industry to meet the increased demand from oil and gas drillers. The frac sand industry has created jobs and economic development in Western Wisconsin, but many residents worry that the industry is not properly regulated. Concerns remain about the impact of the mining on human and environmental health, transportation, and land use.
Tags: Sand mining; oil; gas; human health; environment; transportation; land use
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Secret Spills?
The investigation exposed a disturbing secret about the oil and gas industry: spills, leaks, fires, explosions and emissions that are putting lives at risk, polluting the air, contaminating drinking water, destroying land, causing injuries and even death are happening all the time, nearly everyday in the U.S., and no one is keeping track.
Tags: gas industry; oil; explosion; spills
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A Quiet Hell
This story didn't focus on one specific chemical plant; instead it focuses on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). After analyzing data for individual pollutants that were emitted during non-routine operations, a number of details were revealed. Some of these details are that "more than 20 million pounds of pollutants were emitted", TCEQ infrequently enforced the laws, some penalties were never finalized, and "the plants with the most violations paid the least percentage of their fines".
Tags: pollution; chemical plants; emissions; Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ); Houston Ship Channel; pollutants; oil industry; gas industry; air; politics; atmosphere
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The Tyranny of Oil
"The hardest-hitting expose of the oil industry in decades answers today's most pressing energy questions: How much oil is left? How far will Big Oil go to get it? And at what cost to the economy, environment, human rights, worker safety, public health, democracy, and America's place in the world?"
Tags: oil; america; human rights; environment; health; gas; petroleum; Standard Oil; SEC tax filings; oil futures
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Royalty-In-Kind Invesgation
The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has been investigating federal royalty collections since 1995. Oil and gas royalty collections make up the second largest source or government revenue, but throughout POGO's investigations, there have been many concerns as to whether the federal government is collecting all of the money that oil and gas companies owe to taxpayers for drilling on federal lands. Based upon talking to insiders with the Department of the Interior (DOI), POGO conducted the first study to link the management problems that plague the agency with the structural design of the Royalty-in-Kind (RIK) program, as advocated by the oil and gas industry. This series of stories investigated royalty collection at DOI, with a sharp focus on the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and their management of Royalty-In-Kind program. The series found that not only did MMS have an overly close relationship with the industry that they were supposed to be overseeing, but that industry influence had been pervasive and could be traced from the program's inception through its expansion into the full-blown program that exists today. Additionally, the series of stories found that there are extensive inappropriate auditing of royalty payments between MMS employees and the oil and gas industry, insufficient auditing of royalty payments, serious mismanagement of the RIK program, and a debilitating lack of transparency in the program. These findings call the legitimacy of the RIK program into question, and particularly raise questions as to whether this program can effectively pursue royalty collection on behalf of taxpayers.
Tags: Department of the Interior; Minerals Management Service; corruption; royalty-in-kind program; government oversight; federal royalty payments
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Death in the Energy Fields
This story investigates the underreported fatalies and accidents in the oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry is "it's own subculture, out of the mainstream; it operates in high rural areas; it's a hugely profitable industry that directly or indirectly controls communities and states, so questions are not raised and concerns are buried. And the victims - the workers and their next of kin - are not well equipped to stand up for worker safety."
Tags: worker safety; oil and gas industry; fatalities; unions; drilling; work accidents; worker-safety agencies
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Hot Fuel
While fuel expands when it gets hot, retail pumps are not making a price adjustment to compensate for the energy lost by using hotter fuel. A century ago, the oil industry set a standard of 60 degrees for fuel temperature, and the Star found that gas in the United States is on average five degrees higher than this. At every level of distribution, a price adjustment is made to compensate for the expanding fuel, but not at the consumer pump itself. "The cost to consumers, by not equipping retail pumps to adjust for temperature, is $2.3 billion per year while state and federal governments lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually in fuel taxes."
Tags: Fuel; hot fuel; gas prices; taxes; price adjustments; 60-degree fuel standard
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The Big Squeeze By Big Oil and Coffeyville Plant Brews Oil, Profits
For years, many have suspected that the oil industry has been shutting down refineries for the sake of putting a squeeze on the market. Shutting down refineries and reducing available supplies and materials has helped to drive up gas prices and demolish available jobs. This investigation goes deeper to discover the truth behind rising gas prices.
Tags: oil; refineries; gas prices; refinery capacity; supplies; American Petroleum Institute; Total oil refinery; Coffeyville Plant
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Networks of Influence
This investigation revealed the communication industry has spent $1.1 billion since 1998 to obtain political influence--more than twice a much as the oil and gas industry spent. Money spent on supporting candidates, lobbying, junkets and the practice of government officials leaving their jobs to work for the industries they used to regulate were all scrutinized. While broadcasters usually spent and equal amount of money supporting republicans and democrats, Sinclair Broadcasting Group spent more than 95% on republicans only. Detailed graphs included make the story easy to understand.
Tags: On-line; FCC; Federal Communications Commission; telecommunications; broadcast; political influence; lobby; television; radio; junket; Telecommunications Act of 1996; General Electric; Sinclair; Time Warner