oil and gas industry

November 5, 2014 - Propositions dealing with hot-button issues including the minimum wage, fracking, marijuana, income taxes, abortion, Islamic Sharia law, and political corruption were on state and local ballots across the South this year. We take a look at how they fared.

October 31, 2014 - Led by the American Petroleum Institute, energy interests are contributing to the outside spending onslaught in North Carolina elections this year. Not surprisingly, their giving overwhelmingly favors anti-regulatory Republicans and Democrats with weak environmental records.

October 16, 2014 - The North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission will consider an environmental group's petition to craft rules protecting people from toxic air emissions from fracking operations, a growing concern among public health experts.

September 29, 2014 - U.S. Department of Labor investigations have uncovered hundreds of cases in which oil and gas workers, many involved in dangerous jobs, are being cheated of earnings.

September 18, 2014 - Homeless men were bused to a public hearing on fracking in western North Carolina to boost the appearance of support for the controversial drilling technique. The men were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the name of the N.C. Energy Coalition, a front for big oil and gas interests.

September 15, 2014 - A study by researchers at five universities found contamination of drinking water in Texas and Pennsylvania from gas drilling operations. The authors say it wasn't fracking per se that caused the contamination but faulty gas well construction -- though they note that fracking could potentially affect well integrity.

August 25, 2014 - Following the $16 billion Justice Department settlement with North Carolina-based Bank of America for financial crimes, Dirt Diggers Digest looks at prosecution of corporate crime of another sort -- and finds less-than-vigorous prosecution for environmental offense.