Fieldnotes

This past January, U.S. oil billionaire Harold Hamm announced that his company would stop drilling new wells in North Dakota’s Bakken oilfield. It would be the first time this century that Hamm would not have an active rig in the state where he had made his fortune as a fracking pioneer. “There’s no need to drill it when margins are basically gone,” the Continental Resources founder said, as domestic oil prices approached their lowest point since the pandemic.

An obscure nonprofit founded by then-former, now-current Trump officials, funded by wealthy conservative culture warriors, and backed by oil & gas lawyers is playing an outsized role in Donald Trump’s attack on federal climate regulation, a Fieldnotes investigation has found.

Energy Transfer, the pipeline company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, has deployed a decade-old astroturf group it secretly funds in a bid to stop Greenpeace from suing it in Europe for intimidation, a Fieldnotes investigation in partnership with Drilled has found.

MAGA influencers hired by a firm that promotes “anti-woke” movies. The obscure research group Lee Zeldin was working for when he was picked to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A “pink-slime” media outlet backed by right-wing billionaires Leonard Leo and Charles Koch.

Industry communications and other documents detail a multipronged effort by oil & gas companies to pressure Ohio state lawmakers to clear the way for the corporations to profit from carbon capture and storage (CCS). The effort is being led by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA), which together represent some of the largest oil & gas companies in the United States, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Energy Transfer.

A Fieldnotes investigation reveals that a network of extreme right-wing groups is waging a multi-state financial deregulatory campaign centered on claims of discriminatory banking practices. The dark money-fueled effort, which alleges that banks are "debanking" fossil fuel companies, the cryptocurrency industry, firearms manufacturers, and right-wing political groups, represents an evolution of the network’s years-long opposition to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.

Kate MacGregor, President Trump's nominee for the No. 2 post at the Interior Department, participated in systematically concealing public records of her meetings during her previous tenure at the agency, according to documents obtained by Fieldnotes.

Fieldnotes is growing its team of researchers and analysts. Our investigations expose the organizations and individuals who are undermining climate policy and threatening the wellbeing of communities. The oil & gas industry is primed to use the chaos of this political moment to enact a decades-long deregulatory agenda. We need creative and motivated researchers to help us reveal the industry’s most egregious influence campaigns.

Internal industry documents reveal a multiyear campaign by some of the largest petrochemical and plastic corporations in the world to mislead consumers about the recyclability of disposable water bottles and other single-use containers. The ongoing effort is led by NAPCOR, a trade group representing nearly 70 companies that deal in polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, the plastic used to make soda bottles and takeout clamshell containers.

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) is a quasi-governmental body the oil & gas industry has co-opted to lobby for deregulation. Created nearly a century ago, the commission today exists in a legal gray area that affords it the benefits of being a government agency without the restrictions.