natural gas

Montana’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in November. That’s a full percentage point below the national average; The Montana DNRC saw a record setting number of oil and gas lease sales on state public lands in the last four months; Lee Johnson takes over at the Department of Criminal Investigations

An oil company comes in, drills a hole and a well is born. But what if the well stops producing or the company in charge goes bankrupt, leaving behind holes that can be thousands of feet deep, spout toxic gasses and muck things up on the surface? These so-called 'orphan wells' are all over Montana.

State utility regulators have denied an eastern Montana utility’s request to temporarily charge customers more for gas. But long term gas costs will depend on a larger rate case.

Every three years Montana’s largest electric utility tells the public how it’s planning to meet energy demands, which is going on now. And it follows a major court ruling that found the state’s energy policy is contributing to climate change. MTPR’s Austin Amestoy sat down with reporter Ellis Juhlin to break down where NorthWestern’s plan fits into the new legal landscape.

Blackfeet tribal traditionalists and conservation groups appealed a federal court decision on Wednesday that reinstated a controversial oil lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area.

The ruling revokes leases sold in the Gulf of Mexico in the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. It says the Interior Department failed to consider the greenhouse gases it would produce.

Laurel residents say they're worried a future natural gas plant and supporting infrastructure could hurt the quality of life in their neighborhood.

According to the Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, “energy prices are expected to remain volatile this winter due to supply uncertainty and changing consumer demand.”

The Biden administration is planning to sell oil and gas leases on huge tracts of public land in the U.S. West, despite the Interior Department's conclusion that doing so could cost society billions of dollars in climate change impacts, according to government documents.

The legal push and pull between the Biden Administration and oil industry stakeholders continues after a district court judge ordered the administration to remove a pause on new oil and gas lease sales on public lands.