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New tracker monitors Trump administration permitting activity

DENVER—As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, a new analysis by the Center for Western Priorities finds the Trump administration is issuing new oil and gas drilling permits just as fast as before the shutdown.

In the first three weeks of the government shutdown, the Bureau of Land Management has approved 308 applications for permits to drill (APDs) on national public lands. The majority of those permits (245) are in New Mexico, with another 38 in Wyoming. The rest of the permits were issued in Utah, Texas, North Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma.

The Center for Western Priorities’ new Oil & Gas Government Shutdown Tracker monitors the approval of federal onshore oil and gas drilling permits during the ongoing 2025 government shutdown. The tracker will be regularly updated and expanded to include federal oil and gas leases, if and when leases are issued during the shutdown.

CWP’s analysis found that BLM has issued an average of 15.4 permits per day during the shutdown, which is consistent with the rate of permitting since June 2025:

The Center for Western Priorities has also added a table to our Trump Drilling Dashboard to track the amount of future royalty revenue lost due to changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA):

The OBBBA reduced the royalty rate companies pay on oil and gas extracted from federal land by 25 percent—from 16.67 to 12.5 percent—allowing operators to deliver significantly less revenue to taxpayers over the lifetime of a well. While both Congress and the Trump administration have misleadingly touted this change as making oil and gas development on public lands more economically attractive to industry, the federal royalty rate has little bearing on companies’ interest in acquiring leases in the places they’ve always wanted to develop. Rather, OBBBA’s reduction of the onshore royalty rate by 25 percent will do significant harm to oil and gas producing states by reducing important revenue that is used to fund schools and public infrastructure projects.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger:

“Deeming oil and gas leasing and permitting as ‘essential’ during this shutdown sends a clear message that the Trump administration cares more about appeasing the oil and gas industry than it does about reopening the government and restoring the critical services federal agencies provide to American families. Oil companies will continue to get their leases and permits while trash cans and pit toilets fill up and overflow across our public lands.”

“Reducing the federal royalty rate hurts Western states and communities, while essentially giving the oil and gas industry a giant tax break. Oil CEOs have made it clear in public statements that they have no intention of passing these savings on to Americans at the pump. Instead, they plan to pocket the billions in lost federal revenue for themselves and their shareholders. This is one of the most egregious examples of the Trump administration and Congress selling out taxpayers to the fossil fuel industry.”

The post Interior department issuing hundreds of oil and gas drilling permits during government shutdown appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Do you live or recreate in the following central Utah counties: Wayne, Juab, Millard, Sevier, Sanpete, and Piute? Right now, the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation is developing a long-term recreation plan and they’re seeking input! This is a chance to speak up for Utah’s wild places and help shape how federal, state, and local governments manage recreation across this vast and important landscape.

The area covered by this plan includes tens of thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-managed wilderness study areas and other wilderness-quality lands included in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, as well as parts of Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (see map).

According to the Utah Central Region Recreation Master Plan website, this plan will provide “a vision for the future of recreation in the region and will direct state investment in outdoor recreation.” These investments could include recreation projects and developments on public lands managed by the BLM and National Park Service.

There are two ways to participate:

1. Complete this survey by October 31—it only takes about 10 minutes. The survey is also available in Spanish.
   
2. Use this interactive map to place pins and provide information on your favorite places—including areas you’d like to see protected, where recreation improvements may be needed, and where new facilities and/or trails may be appropriate. The interactive map is also available in Spanish.

However you participate, we encourage you to call for science-based recreation management. This means prioritizing the protection of wilderness values and sensitive resources in remote or less-used backcountry areas, while focusing recreation improvements and access in previously impacted frontcountry areas. According to our Recreation Report, “concentrating visitor use in previously impacted or hardened sites and trails will likely be a successful management strategy, while dispersal strategies may result in a proliferation of recreation disturbance.”

Be sure to complete the survey by Friday, October 31. Thank you!

The post Take Action to Shape Recreation Management in Central Utah! appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Here is the 3rd episode of the 4th season of La Vía Campesina's Global Newswrap podcast! Here we report on the activities and struggles of our member organizations around the world.

The post Podcast: La Vía Campesina News Wrap | Season IV – Episode No. 3 appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

How will data centers impact water resources, energy bills, and budgets for firefighting and public safety? How has the Greeley Stakeholders Group collaboration with Montana Resources used public engagement to create change? In this panel discussion recorded on October 16, panelists discussed changing state and federal energy policy and NorthWestern Energy proposals that could raise …

The post Recording – Beyond the Boom: Butte Community Conversation about Data Centers appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

Documentary film exposes the role of colonisers and agribusiness in causing massive forest fires

Source

Forced by a federal judge to partially reveal plans for firing federal employees, the Trump administration on Monday said it plans to “imminently” terminate more than 2,000 employees at the Interior department. The reduction in force, or RIF, is partially blocked by a temporary restraining order in a case brought by unions that represent government employees.

The Monday filing outlines where 2,050 positions would be eliminated; the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the main Interior office would be especially hard hit. Regional offices with the National Park Service are also targeted for significant cuts.

“Even more alarming is that [Interior Secretary] Doug Burgum still won’t tell the American people how much more he plans to cut,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director at the Center for Western Priorities. “Today’s filing is only a portion of the pain he’s trying to inflict on our parks and public lands. We don’t know how many non-union offices and positions are also on the chopping block.”

The RIF plan would eviscerate USGS regional science centers, terminating more than half of the workforce at the Great Lakes Science Center in Michigan, the Columbia Environmental Research Center in Missouri, and the Fort Collins Science Center in Colorado. Interior also plans major layoffs at NPS and BLM offices in Denver, as well as state BLM offices across the West.

Corner crossing war ends with a victory for public access

The years-long legal fight over “corner crossing” across the checkerboard of public lands in the West came to an end on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a Wyoming rancher who tried to block hunters from accessing public land adjacent to his ranch. The hunters were acquitted of criminal trespass in 2022, and won a civil suit brought by rancher Fred Eshelman. Eshelman took his appeals all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case without comment.

The decision means that corner crossing is now legal on federal land in states covered by Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

Quick hits Interior aims to RIF at least 2,050 employees

Federal News Network | The Hill | E&E News | CPR News | Axios | GovExec | NOTUS | Barrons | Roll Call | High Country News | Outside | National Parks Traveler

U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear corner crossing case

Wyoming Public Media | WyoFile | Cowboy State Daily | Montana Free Press | Public Domain

National park gateway communities lose millions each day during shutdown

USA Today | CNN

Colorado plans for return of wild bison under new law

9News

On the Arizona Trail, a community steps in as fires blacken forests and force detours

Arizona Republic

Furloughed federal workers struggle, hang on, help one another

WyoFile

Study: Forest regeneration provides climate benefits, but won’t offset fossil fuels

Phys.org

The dragonfly mating game has been upended, bringing repercussions up and down the food chain

CPR News

Quote of the day

There’s going to be bad actors who have their own intentions, who want to treat these public resources — like our public lands — as a private kingdom. But every time they do that, they are cutting against American tradition and history, and they’re going to lose and there’s going to be a way to beat them.”

—Ryan Semerad, attorney for four corner-crossing hunters, WyoFile

Picture This

@tombstone_statepark

When it’s spooky season but you have a job.

Featured image: USGS water and fire technicians in New Mexico. Photo: USGS

The post Inside Trump’s plan to eviscerate USGS and beyond appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Today is the The International Day of Action on Big Biomass: “Cut Subsidies, Not Forests.” #BigBadBiomass LEARN MORE and take action via the Biomass Action Network: https://environmentalpaper.org/2025/08/idoa-25/

Wild landlocked salmon return to Finland Channel News brendan 21st October 2025 Teaser Media

In a perfect, ghastly metaphor for the state of our "democracy," J.D. and Drunken Pete just oversaw an "artillery fiasco" at a Marine Corps celebration where a live shell detonated over a highway and hit their motorcade - Lesson #1: "Morons Are Governing America" - and Trump abruptly began a demolition of the East Wing of The People's House for "his fucking ballroom," though he claimed construction "wouldn't interfere" with it. Lesson #2: They "lie like they breathe," bulldoze history and wreak havoc as they go.

On the same day as No Kings but definitely not to distract anyone even though the actual date they're marking isn't until November 10, repulsive bros J.D. Vance and manly "We Are The War Department" Pete Hegseth went to California for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton to watch a training exercise that included firing live 155mm M777 shells out of howitzers from the ocean over Interstate I-5, an action Gavin Newsom decried as "an absurd show of force" that threatened public safety. Just in case, being a grown-up, Newsom shut down 17 miles of the highway. Vance, in turn, ridiculed his move as "consistent with a track record of failure," sneering the governor "wants people to think this exercise is dangerous" when of course it's "an established safe practice" and anyway he's a big boy who knows stuff.

So. What happens "when the commander-in-chief is an idiot and the head of the Pentagon is a blackout drunk?" In Chap. 874 of Adventures of the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight But Still Hit Enough, after Marines began firing live rounds over the highway, one shell prematurely exploded - some "saw the artillery round fail to clear the highway and explode near the southbound lane" - raining burning shrapnel onto a Highway Patrol car and motorcycle in Vance's security detail in what officials called "an unusual and concerning situation" that surely nobody could have predicted. Except maybe Gavin Newsom, who I-told-you-so raged, "Next time, the Vice President and the White House shouldn’t be so reckless (with) their vanity projects (and) put lives at risk to put on a show. If you want to honor our troops, open the government and pay them."

Vance, who's evidently hated wherever he goes - his family's summer vacation in the English countryside was met by residents holding a "Dance Against Vance Not Welcome" party complete with Go Away banner, insults, memes, and a staff mutiny at a pub where he wanted to eat - told reporters he had "a great visit" with the Marines. His team declined to comment on his "artillery fiasco," but others had thoughts. They suggested he'd probably say "it was just kid pieces of shrapnel doing normal kid pieces of shrapnel stuff," or locker room shrapnel, or antifa, thus representing the most destruction seen on No Kings Day. Also, "Nothing says 'Warrior Ethos' like firing live ammunition across a busy Southern California freeway on a Saturday afternoon," "MAGA stands for Morons Are Governing America," and, "This is a whole new level of dipshitery."

Then, on Monday, came Trump's backhoes and destruction crews suddenly, methodically ripping through the historic, stately, 1902 East Wing of the White House to build a garish $250 million, "beautiful, beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago" - "the remodel no one asked for" - despite his earlier adamant claim the project "wouldn’t interfere” with the former structure: "It’ll be near it but not touching it (and) pay total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of...It’s my favorite place. I love it." Shockingly, he evidently lied. Announcing the boondoggle in July, he also said it would be 90,000 square feet and seat up to 650 people - now grown to 999 people - making it the largest room in the White House. And it will ostensibly be funded by "many generous patriots" who also happen to be billionaires seeking deregulation and access to his gilded power.

Trump claims America's masses have long been yearning for a glitzy ballroom - it took so long because "there’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms" - and he is "honored to finally get this much-needed project underway," especially now during a government shutdown, when wealth and income inequality is at a record highs, SNAP benefits are being slashed, millions of people are struggling to buy groceries, health care and Medicaid are threatened, special ed and veterans' services are in jeopardy, farmers and small businesses are suffering, federal workers are either losing their jobs or not getting paid, he is sending billions to Argentina for no discernible reason and he is giddily spending millions on golf and new jets and fake gold slathered feckin' everywhere while demanding his let-them-eat-cake cult members keep tightening their gullible belts.

Architects have noted the fortuitous timing: The White House is a public property run by the National Park Service, but this carnage is purportedly exempt from review by multiple planning and preservation bodies Trump has dismissed, rendered toothless or effectively disappeared in the shutdown. "This is by design," said one. “The object of power is power." Whose very public abuse, in this instance, prompted cries of WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? Many Americans watched in horror as an iconic White House built by slaves - where Nancy Reagan's new china, Jimmy Carter's solar panels, Obama's dog once quaintly sparked outrage - was blithely razed and pillaged. Joe Walsh called it "an utter desecration of the Peoples’ House," adding he'd gladly invite patriots, some weekend, "to bring their own sledgehammers & crowbars to help tear that abomination down."

The Bulwark's Mona Charen has called Trump "a walking wrecking ball of law, tradition, civility, manners, and morals." His tacky paved Rose Garden, fake-gold-drenched Oval Office, many crimes against good taste and now ballroom reflect "a low and shameful time" of transforming the graceful into the sordid (that) "will be both awful and fitting." Now, the metaphorical has become literal in a defacement one historian calls "like slashing a Rembrandt painting.” "This is Trump's America," said one patriot of the dusty devastation. "And that was our history." Many felt sickened by the grisly manifestation "of the entire Trump administration": "It is not his fucking house," "Holy mother of God, this is horrifying," "Jesus fucking Christ, somebody stop him," "That was our democracy." "Breaking News: Antifa destroys the White House," said one. "Correction: It was Trump."

Update: Aceco, the company doing the demolition, is being savaged on Yelp with a flood of one-star reviews for "taking one of the most sacrilegious dem jobs in American history." "We all make choices in this life," read one, "and this was a bad one." Others: "How dare you destroy part of OUR house for that pedo dictator?", "Oops. Bad move tearing down the People's House. And you probably won't get paid," and, "May karma prevail."

Updated update for a surreal timeline: Wednesday night, the mad king said, Ok, fuck it, we'll just take down the whole thing: "We determined that, after really a tremendous amount of (non-existent) study with some of the best (imaginary) architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section — you know, the East Wing, was not much.”

DENVER—In a court filing this morning, the Interior department told a federal judge it intends to fire more than 2,000 government employees through a reduction in force, or RIF. The RIF is partially blocked by a temporary restraining order in a case brought by several unions that represent government employees.

Judge Susan Illston ordered the Interior department and other federal agencies to reveal the scope of its planned RIF as it pertained to unionized employees. Today’s filing outlines where the 2,050 positions would be eliminated; the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, and the main Interior office would be especially hard hit. Regional offices with the National Park Service are also targeted for significant cuts.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:

“This plan would eviscerate the core science that every American depends on. USGS research underpins everything from American energy to insurance to transportation. The cuts that Secretary Burgum envisions would devastate scientific research across the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Great Lakes. These layoffs, if they come to fruition, would also devastate the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management, getting rid of the planning, construction, and regional offices that make our parks and public lands the envy of the world.

“Even more alarming is that Doug Burgum still won’t tell the American people how much more he plans to cut. Today’s filing is only a portion of the pain he’s trying to inflict on our parks and public lands. We don’t know how many non-union offices and positions are also on the chopping block. It’s incumbent on the courts and Congress to put a stop to this devastation and protect the park rangers, scientists, and land managers who study and care for America’s public lands.”

The office hardest hit by this plan based on percentages of current total workforce is the USGS Midcontinent Region office, which stands to lose 108 out of 137 employees, or 79 percent of its workforce. (This region includes the Great Lakes Science Center, focusing on the Great Lakes ecosystem and resources.) The USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in Missouri would be the second hardest hit. It stands to lose 80 out of 102 employees, or 78 percent of its workforce. The USGS Fort Collins Science Center is slated to lose 39 of 69 employees, or 56 percent.

The office that handles internal and external communications for the Interior department, including responding to journalists, could lose 129 of 443 employees, or 29 percent of its workforce. The BLM’s Colorado workforce could shrink by 16 percent, or 120 employees, with the BLM National Operation Center in Denver set to lose 87 employees and the BLM Colorado state office set to lose 33 employees.

Other offices targeted by the DOI RIF plan include:

BLM National Operations Center: 87 of 177 positions (46%)

NPS regional offices:

• Southeast: 69 of 222 positions (31%)
• Pacific West: 57 of 198 positions (29%)
• Northeast: 63 of 224 positions (28%)
• Regional Support: 18 of 86 positions (20%)
• Denver Service Center: 40 of 224 positions (18%)

BLM state offices:

• Utah: 93 of 783 (12%)
• California: 76 of 838 (9%)
• Arizona: 41 of 482 (9%)
• Oregon/Washington: 95 of 1,493 (6%)
• Idaho: 48 of 840 (6%)
• Colorado: 33 of 595 (6%)

The main Interior office would also be hard hit by the RIF, cutting hundreds of positions across operations, Tribal support, grantmaking, energy, accounting, and customer service.

Featured image: USGS Fort Collins

The post Statement on Interior department plan to eviscerate USGS, more public land agencies appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

[Français ci-dessous] Dear friends and allies, The Global Forest Coalition (GFC) invites you to a webinar on 29 October featuring speakers from our member groups whose stories of resistance to extractivism are included in the latest issue of Forest Cover: Exploited Lands, Exploited Lives.  – Click here to register now! Don’t miss this opportunity! –  Forest Cover 69 Exploited Lands, […]

Joint Press Release by Global Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project [Panama City, October 20, 2025] – Global policymakers must urgently rethink their reliance on so-called “nature-based solutions” — including biodiversity offsets and other market-driven approaches to biodiversity loss and climate change — and instead support community-led, rights-based strategies that genuinely protect ecosystems and people. That was […]

By Jonathon Ambarian, KTVH The new guidance will be closely watched by groups like the Montana Environmental Information Center. MEIC has sued DEQ, claiming its current greenhouse gas assessments aren’t sufficient to comply with Held. Executive director Anne Hedges said MEIC saw the draft document as an improvement over the current analysis – but only …

The post Montana DEQ taking public comment on proposed guidance for greenhouse gas assessments appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

As a ceasefire announced earlier is presented as part of what is being called the “Trump plan,” we offer a very cautious and conditional welcome. Our welcome is humanitarian and temporary: any pause in the killing is welcomed for the lives it may save.

The post Gaza: A cautious welcome to the ceasefire decision, says La Vía Campesina appeared first on La Via Campesina - EN.

Less than a month before COP30 in Belém, the Brazilian government, host of the UN climate negotiations, has just granted a license for exploratory oil drilling in the Amazon basin (block FZA-M-59, in Foz do Amazonas). The decision ignores scientific warnings, international commitments, and, above all, the voices of the peoples and communities who have lived in and protected the Amazon for centuries.

Authorising oil drilling in the Amazon not only threatens critical ecosystems but also repeats the same logic that has brought us to the brink of climate collapse.

“Authorising new oil licences in the Amazon is not just a historic mistake — it’s doubling down on a model that has already failed. The history of oil in Brazil shows this clearly: huge profits for a few, and inequality, destruction, and violence for local populations. Brazil must take real climate leadership and break the cycle of extraction that has led us to the current climate crisis. We urgently need a just energy transition plan, based on renewables, that respects Indigenous, quilombola, and riverside peoples and guarantees them a leading role in decisions about climate and energy - including at COP30,” says Ilan Zugman, Latin America and Caribbean Director at 350.org.

350.org calls on people, social movements, scientists, political leaders, and all sectors committed to climate justice to unite in reversing this decision and pressuring the Brazilian government - and governments worldwide. We must demand not only the cancellation of this and future oil exploration projects in the Amazon, but also the collective construction of an energy transition plan that:

• Respects Indigenous, quilombola, and riverside territories;
• Ensures these communities play a leading role in energy and climate decision-making;
• Prioritises clean, decentralised energy built for people’s well-being, not for the profit of a few.

Brazil has the chance to choose a different path: a future of clean energy, decided with the people of the Amazon, not imposed upon them. The time to act is now. We must draw a clear line: for the planet, for the people, for the future. Brazil must choose life and climate justice - not profit and destruction.

The media climate is in trouble, too Stephanie Noren Mon, 10/20/2025 - 10:40 am

Health care price woes remain a top concern for Americans as the federal government shutdown enters its fourth week. New polling from Groundwork Collaborative and Data for Progress finds nearly three-quarters of voters are concerned about health insurance premiums rising this year. For the third week in a row, a majority say Democrats in Congress should continue negotiations on government funding until rising health care costs are addressed.

This heightened concern comes as millions of Americans are opening their mailboxes to find a warning: health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act plans will double — and for some spike nearly 600%— if Republicans in Congress fail to extend critical Affordable Care Act tax credits by November 1.

Working class families are sounding the alarm as they are hit with the brutal reality of paying hundreds more each month for health care, on top of rising prices for groceries and other essentials. WATCH Lori Hunt, a breast cancer survivor living in Iowa City, explain how her insurance will cost more than her mortgage if the health care subsidies expire.

This story was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

For centuries, farmers in Melendugno, a town located at the tip of southern Italy’s boot heel, built stone walls to mark the boundaries of their fields, shield their crops from the winds blowing out of North Africa, and divide farmland from pasture.  

Today, those same ancient stones stand watch over a changed landscape of parched olive groves, tall metal fences, and barbed wire. Beyond the fences, framed by a few remaining ancient olive trees, sits the Melendugno Reception Terminal — the western endpoint of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP). 

TAP is a natural gas pipeline, 878 kilometres (545 miles) long, that forms the final segment of the Southern Gas Corridor, a pipeline bringing natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, and a key part of the European Union’s effort to lessen its dependence on natural gas from Russia.

TAP connects with the Southern Gas Corridor at Kipoi, Greece, on the Turkish-Greek border. From there, it crosses northern Greece to Albania, then Albania to the floor of the Adriatic Sea, and comes ashore at Melendugno, where it links to Italy’s gas network.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline carries liquid natural gas westward from Kipoi on the Turkey-Greece border to Melendugno in southeastern Italy. An additional section is under construction to extend it across the country to northern Italy. Credit: Sabrina Bedford

The pipeline has a transport capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year, with plans to double this to 20 billion by 2027, even though Europe’s decarbonization strategy includes a gradual reduction in gas use from 2030 onwards.

Despite assurances from its backers that TAP is committed to minimizing leaks, data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite has revealed a worrying trend: Since the pipeline opened in 2020, concentrations of planet-heating methane — the main component of natural gas — have been increasing near key infrastructure points along its route. 

Massimo Morigi, a veteran satellite data analyst and member of the Italian environmental association Cova Contro, used Sentinel-5P readings to analyse methane levels at three sites before and after TAP became operational in 2020: two compressor stations in Greece and Albania, and the pipeline reception terminal in Melendugno.  

Morigi compared methane levels at the compressor stations in May 2018 and 2019 to levels in June 2023 and 2024; and levels at Melendugno in May 2018 and 2019 to the same months in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Morigi found that since the gas began to flow, there have been significant increases in methane concentrations in proximity to all three locations, jumping from 1,800-1,900 parts per billion (ppb) before 2020, to often exceeding 2,000 ppb since.

The Sentinel-5P averages methane levels across 5–7 kilometers (about 3-4.5 miles), so it cannot show the exact origin of the emissions.

That’s why Cova Contro co-founder Giorgio Santoriello made his way to the Melendugno terminal in late August, building on visits in the spring and summer of 2024, equipped with a FLIR Gx320 thermal imaging camera. The optical sensors in this advanced monitoring device analyse how light interacts with gases — enabling it to spot methane plumes with pinpoint accuracy.

This is far from an academic exercise. Slashing methane pollution — a powerful driver of the climate crisis — is a key target of the European Union’s Green Deal climate policy. The EU introduced new rules last year that strengthened existing methane regulations in Italy and other member states by requiring fossil fuel companies to be more transparent about their emissions — and take rapid action to plug leaks in their pipes.  

While Melendugno’s operators say they are complying with the new rules, Cova Contro and other environmental groups say they have detected significant emissions from various vents at Melendugno, which raises questions over how much more methane may be leaking from TAP.

“This technology allows us to capture a range of environmental impacts that traditional monitoring often misses,” Santoriello said.

Why Methane Matters

While much of the discussion around the climate crisis has focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) — the main driver of fast-rising average global temperatures — alarm bells are also ringing over surging concentrations of atmospheric methane. 

While methane breaks down rapidly — taking 20 years to dissipate, compared to hundreds to thousands of years for CO2 — it traps approximately 80 times more heat. Methane emissions have been responsible for about a third of the rise in average global temperatures since pre-industrial times.   

Methane emissions are also a public health risk, said atmospheric chemist Sandro Fuzzi, research director at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate-National Research Council in Bologna. That’s because they can trigger the formation of ground-level ozone, “a toxic gas responsible for roughly half a million deaths worldwide each year.”

Methane levels around the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, then under construction, in Salento, Italy between 2018 and 2019. Dataset: Sentinel-5P VCH4, analysis by Massimo Morigi Methane levels around the Trans Adriatic Pipeline in Salento, Italy in 20204, four years after the Trans Adriatic Pipeline became operational. Dataset: Sentinel-5P VCH4, analysis by Massimo Morigi

Methane pollution can also contain benzene and other toxic substances, as well as particles of soot so tiny they can lodge in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, contributing to illnesses like asthma, heart disease, strokes, and cancer.

In 2016, the Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro i Tumori (Italian League for the Fight Against Cancer) warned that TAP would put nearby communities at higher risk of health problems, including an increased rate of cancer.

Under the stricter disclosure requirements in the EU’s new methane rules, gas importers are required to report on the methane emissions associated with their supply chains from 2025 onwards. By 2027, they will be required to contract only with suppliers that comply with EU methane standards. 

The law also mandates an end to routine venting or flaring of methane, a common practice across the industry. Operators are supposed to limit methane releases to emergencies, such as sudden, dangerous increases in pipeline pressure that could lead to explosions. 

Notably, the regulation targets unintended methane leaks, termed “fugitive emissions.” Operators are supposed to implement regular “leak detection and repair” programs, and leaks must be repaired within five to 15 working days — the bigger the leak, the faster it must be stopped.

Leaks Detected 

The Melendugno Reception Terminal is fenced off and well-equipped with surveillance cameras, making close-up readings hard to get. During his first visit in spring 2024, from a position on a nearby street, Santoriello detected three worrisome methane flares at the site, but was too far away to collect much data about them.

Santoriello returned to the terminal for a closer inspection two months later, on a sweltering 40-degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) summer day. Finding shade beneath some dried-out trees near the terminal, he carefully selected a vantage point that would get him as close as possible to the facility and aimed the FLIR Gx320.

The thermal camera revealed small but constant methane leaking from two TAP vents, and a much bigger leak at a vent operated by Italy-based Snam, Europe’s largest pipeline company. Snam is one of several companies in a multinational consortium backing TAP’s Italian infrastructure. (Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, a publicly controlled joint-stock company, owns a 31 percent stake in Snam).

Snam data for the same day showed normal gas flows, with no anomalies, maintenance activities, or emergencies that would have necessitated deliberate venting of gas — suggesting Santoriello had identified leaks in the venting system.

Their locations aligned with readings taken at the same spot in 2021 by the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), an international nongovernmental organisation that monitors methane emissions around the world. 

The leaks “are consistent and contribute significantly to methane concentrations in the area,” said James Turitto, CATF’s global campaign director.

Natural gas operations in Italy have a notably high frequency of methane leaks, according to an analysis conducted by CATF. Some regions show leaks at more than 90 percent of surveyed facilities, findings further supported by a 2022–2024 monitoring campaign conducted by CATF and Legambiente, an Italian environmental nonprofit.

Although TAP is relatively new infrastructure, Santoriello said that the data collected by Cova Contro and CATF suggests the pipeline may be suffering from the kind of persistent leaks found in older facilities.

“This calls into question the commitments made by Italy under the Green Deal and European agreements,” Santoriello said’

‘Worn Component’

Snam has sought to position itself as a climate leader by pledging to achieve carbon neutrality in terms of the emissions associated with its own operations, as well as the power generated to keep them running, by 2040 — ahead of EU targets. The company is also part of the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, a methane monitoring and mitigation program coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Nevertheless, doubts remain over how far Snam’s net-zero plan is aligned with the temperature targets that nations agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The company’s continued investment in gas network and storage facilities, and the huge quantities of emissions created when the gas it provides is burned, are undermining its climate goals, according to a January report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. 

In response to questions about the leaks detected by Santoriello and CATF, Snam stated that it was aware of the emissions, and acknowledged that they did “not represent intentional gas discharges from the ‘vent’ in question, of an operational or emergency nature.” 

According to Snam, the leak was caused by “the imperfect internal seal of a worn component,” which it would replace “in the coming months.” The company said it shares relevant methane data “with the Competent Authorities,” referring to the Region of Puglia.  

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) in Bari, Puglia, said that under the TAP Interconnection environmental monitoring plan (PMA), Snam has not been required to submit atmospheric monitoring data since the end of construction.

TAP AG, a Swiss-based joint venture owned in equal parts by Snam, British oil giant BP, SOCAR, Fluxys, and Enagas that operates TAP, said that it regularly monitors and takes steps to stop non-emergency gas releases. 

“The fugitive emissions you referred to from the related vents were quickly detected and adequately quantified by TAP by international protocols for calculating methane emissions, and the results were analysed through a specialized third-party contractor and are reported annually to the Competent Authorities,” the company said.

TAP AG said it was taking steps to repair the leaks, and that they had been included in the company’s most recent Greenhouse Gases (GHG), an annual report on CO2, methane, and other carbon emissions from TAP AG’s operations across Greece, Albania, Italy, and Switzerland (where the company is headquartered), “which are covered by the Kyoto Protocol for the preparation of emissions inventories.”

More broadly, Veysalov Vugar, TAP AG’s head of external affairs, has sought to downplay the climate damage caused by methane emissions, describing natural gas as “comparatively the cleanest of fossil fuels.”

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“At TAP, we are focused on ensuring that the energy transition happens in the most sustainable way possible, particularly in Southeast Europe,” Vugar said in a video interview in 2023. “It’s just a pipeline, buried at least a meter underground,” he added, “quietly transporting gas.”

In Italy, TAP AG is required under the TAP Interconnection PMA to submit detailed yearly reports to the Region of Puglia on methane emissions, as well as semi-annual reports on other potentially harmful atmospheric pollutants.

However, it is not clear whether those reports have been made. In its response to the Freedom of Information request, ARPA stated that it has not received TAP reports from the Region since 2022, when TAP submitted a report containing 2021 data. ARPA provides scientific support on pipeline monitoring and analysis to the Region of Puglia, but has no authority to enforce the PMA.

ARPA also stated that it has not corresponded with the Region of Puglia about the missing reports.

The Region of Puglia did not respond to questions.

TAP’s Greenhouse Gas Report (GHG) 2024 shows a reduction of methane emissions across its operations, with data broken down by country and installation type. But the report doesn’t provide a more granular picture of exactly where methane is being emitted, and in what quantities — meaning there is no estimate of the actual methane emissions from the TAP Interconnection vent at Melendugno.

Local Opposition 

Italian law gives citizens the right to access environmental data about their municipalities — a principle also enshrined in the EU’s 1998 Aarhus Convention, which Italy ratified in 2001. 

However, activists and Melendugno residents contend that TAP has been plagued with transparency problems since its planning and construction phases, which began more than a decade ago.

Some residents say they were unaware the pipeline was coming until they were notified that portions of their land would be expropriated for the project. Some say they never received a notice, and others that they found out when workers from the transnational company behind the project showed up on their property. 

Antonio Dell’Anna, a local resident and landowner, said he was aware at the time that TAP employees were in the area. “But we didn’t know they were interested in this particular plot of land” — a section of the property he co-owns with his father — until they saw a stranger walking on it one day. The man identified himself as an archaeologist working for the pipeline.

Dell’Anna said he and his father were forced to give up the property, and that they had to negotiate three offers from TAP over 10 years to receive a fair price in compensation.

“It was something imposed on us,” said Dell’Anna, “without any room for dialogue, not even minimal.”

According to Marco Poti, the mayor of Melendugno from 2012 to 2021, TAP’s influence in Rome allowed the company to bypass questions or opposition to the project from him, the city council, and local residents. 

Meanwhile, pro-TAP advertising spanned radio, television, and regional and national newspapers, said Poti. “Their goal was to portray this project as an opportunity, not as something harmful and dangerous.”  

At a public hearing in October 2017, Poti said that “no project details have been received or published, apart from an indicative layout plan” for the TAP Interconnection — the infrastructure linking the pipeline to Italy’s gas network, where the leaks were detected. 

Twenty-five people who participated in protests against the project in 2017 were subsequently charged, said lawyer Francesco Calabro, who represented some of the protestors. The charges included taking part in an unauthorised protest, obstruction of public roads, and insulting a public official.

In 2018, the municipality of Melendugno and the No TAP Movement, a local campaign group, filed a lawsuit against TAP AG alleging that the company had failed to conduct proper environmental risk assessments, among other violations. However, a local court dismissed the case in May this year, citing a lack of evidence.  

The verdict was a blow to campaigners, who say TAP AG should be more transparent.

“TAP was plundering our resources,” said Serena Fiorentino, an activist with a group of mothers supporting the No TAP Movement. “Here, power is power.”

‘Independent Monitoring’

In August, Santoriello found only barely-detectable traces of very small leaks from one of the two TAP terminals — raising the question of whether the leaks he’d found the previous year had been fixed, or whether there might be some other reason for the lower readings. Still, for Cova Contro activists, the task of building a more precise picture of the methane leaking from the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline has only just begun.

The group plans to organise public meetings, inform local media, and — if it can gather sufficient evidence — petition public prosecutors to investigate any possible breaches of the regulations. 

Santoriello carries his thermal imaging camera and equipment through an olive grove near the Melendugno natural gas reception terminal. Credit: Teresa Di Mauro

Santoriello said Cova Contro wanted to work with regulators to stage unannounced site visits to check for methane leaks, but the relevant authorities declined to engage, or even respond to requests for a meeting. That has left the public dependent on methane data gathered by the gas companies themselves, he said, when the state should be taking the lead in monitoring.

“The data shows that current controls are insufficient,” Santoriello said. “The only certainty we have is that private [companies] possess technologies that are more advanced than those used by public regulators, and that alone should be enough to alarm any reasonable person.”

Critics say that there is an even more fundamental question hanging over TAP: At this critical point in the climate crisis, with gas demand declining and the EU committed to decarbonization, why continue investing in a natural gas pipeline?

Alessandro Manuelli, an engineer who coordinated a municipal commission established by Melendugno to evaluate the TAP project, said he could not understand why TAP was pushing to reach its annual capacity of 20 billion cubic meters of gas imports, when the EU’s methane law envisages phasing out natural gas altogether.

“If we truly intended to respect the Paris Agreement,” he said, “we should never have built TAP in the first place.”

This story was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

The post The Methane Hunters of Melendugno appeared first on DeSmog.

'Animals matter as we plan our world' Channel Comment brendan 20th October 2025 Teaser Media

Just like smarmy tiny MAGA Mike warned, up to eight million Marxists, terrorists, Hamas fighters and other patriots - along with hordes of radical inflatable frogs, chickens, unicorns, bananas - stormed America's streets to march, sing, dance, feel "joyful and connected," not get arrested, and flaunt brutal hilarious signs slamming the evil idiots now unimaginably in power; in response, their idiot leader posted a grotesque AI video of himself in a crown and fighter jet dropping shit on his own citizens. What a day.

Despite a suddenly silent GOP after their incendiary drivel about a "hate America" rally - which organizers said saw RSVPs more than double - the mood of No Kings' over 2,700 rallies was jubilant. Many said it felt like a giant block party, and it was giant: Protests in small towns and big cities in all 50 states - yes Alaska! - drew two million more people than the first No Kings, and 14 times more than both Trump's inauguration crowds combined. (What a loser.) Among Dem pols was Chicago Mayor Johnson: "We will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower." Global rallies included London, Berlin, Vancouver, Mexico, a sole patriot in Estonia: "One person, one pebble is all it takes to start a landslide. Sir, thank you for your service." The message, organizers said, was clear: "America will not be ruled by fear, force, or one man’s power grab."

In New York City, over 300,000 people packed Times Square. In D.C., over 200,000 streamed through the National Mall, with one contingent carrying a massive Constitution. Chicago saw "an astonishingly large crowd," San Francisco formed a giant human banner, crowds overflowed the Boston Common, the other Portland was flooded with protesters - aptly, with many frogs visible after organizers began giving out free costumes. Many Dem members of Congress turned up. Startlingly, among over seven million terrorists gathering in thousands of locations, there were reportedly “zero protest-related arrests." There were also zero sightings of ICE, because they only appear where they can grab people with zero oversight or opposition. One observer: "They know. We know. It's all illegal. Fourth Amendment. They are cowards is what they are."

The signs, as always, were fabulous: History Has Its Eyes On Us. Trump Is the Enemy Within. This Sucks. Fuck Nazis. Nice Oligarchy You Got There: Would Be A Shame If Anything Happened To It. Fascists Are Losers. Impeach Trump Again. Stop Pretending Your Racism Is Patriotism. Know Your Parasites: Dog Tick, Deer Tick, Lunatick. Uncle Scam: Dissent Is Patriotic. So Many Things, So Little Sign. We Thought This Was Going To Be Bad But Holy Shit. Unicorns Against Fascism. Fight Truth Decay. Elect A Rapist, Expect To Be Fucked. This Is My Resisting Bitch Face. Not A Terrorist, Just A Former Republican. Attention, Clean Up On Aisle USA: Orange Stain. I Pray Big Beautiful Bill Will Be the Name of Trump's Cellmate. (Stephen Miller with horns): Fuck You Pee Wee German. Trump We All Hate You. The Frog Abides.

Republicans, of course, graciously acknowledged their fear-mongering was unjustified bullshit. Just kidding. Hysterical, face-palm-shameless Fox News chyron: "CHAOS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. No Kings Protests Brought Mayhem to Many Cities." Nancy Mace: "Democrats hit the streets today protesting law and order. Nothing says 'We care about democracy' like showing up to a rally sponsored by Communists." (Jesus, what planet/timeline do these cretins come from?) Trump, ever-astute: "I hear very few people (are) going to be there." No Kings participants, in contrast, were notably, succinctly eloquent on why they were there. History teacher Ariel Fernandez: "What I tell my students all the time is democracy is a verb. You do it. So I’m here to do it." An unnamed Black guy in Oakland: "This is the point of America right here."

Still, the mindless atrocities go on. Customs and Border officials just implemented a new rule requiring airlines to reject "X" sex markers on passports, available since 2022, and impose an "M" or "F" just to make the lives of trans or non-binary people more difficult and/or prevent them from flying internationally; said one, "The more they can keep us confused and freaked out, the more they can do whatever they want." Unions are filing dozens of lawsuits - with some success - to fight efforts to cut hundreds of thousands of government jobs, strip collective bargaining rights and gut federal agencies. Each suit demonstrates the same thing, said one attorney: "A government willing to break the law just to see if anyone will stop it. It’s governance by impulse..like handing the keys to the country to a group of 12-year-olds. They’ll keep testing the limits until an adult stops them.”

Alas, the adult is definitively, lamentably not their evil idiot leader, who somehow keeps plunging to "a new low, until the next new low." On Sunday, he said Colombia's president Gustavo Petro was an "illegal drug dealer,” also "a low-rated and very unpopular leader (pot/kettle) with a fresh mouth toward America" after Petro rightly charged Trump with murder in his latest extra-judicial killing - "It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE" - of a Colombian fisherman Petro said "had no ties to the drug trade," the 29th U.S. execution of likely innocent poor brown people. Trump brazenly threatened to cut U.S. funds to Colombia and close their "killing fields" or he would, not "nicely.” (With a horse's head in his bed?) Petro: "I respect (the) culture and people of the USA...The problem is with Trump, not the USA." Join the large, sorrowful crowd.

On No Kings Day, Trump hid at Mar-A-Lago, where he hosted a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser in his gold-drenched ballroom for MAGA super Pac billionaires during a government shutdown. Then he went online and shared several AI videos, each more puerile and bizarre. In one, he and J.D. wear crowns as Dem leaders wear sombreros (again). Then he has a crown and sword as Dems bow down to him. Finally, piloting a "King Trump" fighter jet, he drops a massive load of shit on protesters below. Ha! Good one! Talk about presidential leadership! Let the American people and Billy Bragg -- who were all bigly not amused - eat shit! CNN host Manu Raju: "I don't really know what to say (except) this is the President of the United States." Maybe say this: "History will be kind to the first Republicans who meaningfully say 'enough.'" Or this: "Fuck you, you fucking fuck." Or this: "Every day is No Kings Day."

"Every single rally (including in the small towns) was bigger than the surrounding police force available. That (is) VERY IMPORTANT if (you’re) demonstrating social coherence AGAINST a fascist government and its makeshift gestapo.” - historian Lisa Corrigan

— (@)