ExxonKnews: The year in review
This year, ExxonKnews reported on Big Oil targeting its critics, pushing false solutions, and encouraging political allies to help the industry escape accountability.
Hey there, Emily here. Folks, you already know it’s been an extremely shitty year for anyone who cares about the future of our planet, let alone basic rights and dignity for all of the people who live on it. But as I wrote at the end of last year: “People are still showing up to protest and make their voices heard. Communities are still taking goliath corporations to court. Investigators and reporters are still exposing the truth and those who try to bury it.” Even in these dark times.
So, truly: thank you for taking the time to read the stories I bring you here. If we’re ever going to see accountability from the companies and politicians profiting from harm to our communities and climate, we need to document everything. And if we’re ever going to build a better future, we need readers like you to stay informed and help share stories that can lead to change.
With that, here are just a few of the topics and trends ExxonKnews reported on over the last year:
Oil and gas companies and their allies in the U.S. government escalated efforts to block accountability and silence their critics.
Oil companies started lobbying Congress for a liability shield from climate lawsuits. I wanted to know what happened after the gun industry got something similar.
Exxon kept taking California to court to try to ward off accountability efforts. After the state filed a lawsuit alleging Exxon lied about plastics recycling, Exxon sued the state back, claiming it was being defamed. Then Exxon sued the state again over its climate disclosure laws, which would force the company to account for its emissions, claiming the laws would violate the company’s free speech rights.
Speaking of suppressing free speech, pipeline giant Energy Transfer won a massive jury verdict against Greenpeace over the organization’s role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests — a worrisome end result of a years-long legal saga seemingly intended to silence and erase Indigenous-led resistance. That story is still ongoing.
State and local governments’ climate deception lawsuits faced new hurdles in court and from the Trump administration, but still, a major new case was filed in the U.S. this year. Oil companies once again asked the Supreme Court to get involved — we should learn their decision soon.
It should not come as a surprise that most of the law firms that caved to President Trump’s threats this year also work to defend oil giants accused of harming the public.
Oil and gas interests pushed state legislatures to pass bills that define gas as “clean energy.”
With The Lever, I reported on the legislative trend to redefine gas as “clean” or “green” energy — including what that means for states’ renewable energy portfolios — and exposed new details about the gas industry interests behind the push.
For The Lens, environmental reporter Delaney Dryfoos and I were the first to report that Louisiana was considering one of these bills, which ultimately passed.
The fossil fuel industry got more tax credits to use carbon capture to drill for more oil — and Trump killed efforts to make the process of transporting CO2 safer.
In collaboration with The Lever, climate journalist Dana Drugmand and I covered the Trump administration’s withdrawal of safety rules for carbon dioxide pipelines, and I dove into how states are approaching serious safety issues as the oil industry pushes for new pipelines.
Environmental reporter Delaney Nolan at The Lens (yes, two Delaneys at The Lens!) and I dug deep into how Exxon got such a pipeline approved in close proximity to communities in St. James Parish, Louisiana — by skirting public feedback and downplaying safety concerns.
Exxon billed carbon capture as a climate solution, where emissions would be permanently stored underground — but it’s using the tech to drill for even more oil. After the Trump administration and Congress rewarded the process with additional tax credits, I reported on one such Exxon project that made the switch.
With HEATED, I took a look at Exxon’s promise to use carbon capture for “low carbon data centers” — its latest greenwashed plan to sell more gas.
A couple of other favorites:
This story about the people and organizations tracking the oil industry’s methane pollution after the government proposed a major greenhouse gas reporting rollback.
And this investigation with Joseph Winters at Grist into an unusual (at least at the time) partnership between a government agency and the country’s largest plastics industry lobbying group.
Help us do more of this work next year!
I’m so grateful to the outlets and reporting partners who worked with me over the last year to make these stories the best they could be and to get them out to new audiences, locally and nationally, for a bigger impact. If you’re a reporter, researcher, or editor who wants to partner with us, reach out at emily@exxonknews.org.
If you have tips and want to reach out securely, message me via Signal @emilysanders.84.
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We’ll have some exciting updates about this project for you in 2026. See you then!