Latest news with #AmericanPetroleumInstitute
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Want to boost Oklahoma's health outcomes? Energy waste laws are place to start
The oil and gas industry is a major economic engine in Oklahoma, contributing significantly to jobs and tax revenue. But, we are paying for this lucrative driver of our economy with environmental degradation and harm to community health. And unfortunately our state and federal leaders have continued to have little interest in passing regulations governing the industry that would protect public health despite first being alerted to risks over four decades ago. Leaders first became aware of the threat to public health in 1982 when the American Petroleum Institute's Committee for Environmental Biology and Community Health issued a report that highlighted the fact that materials of interest to the oil and gas industry 'contain measurable quantities of radionuclides' in equipment, product streams or waste. Every stage of production can produce what is known as 'technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material,' or TENORM. During oil and gas drilling, radioactive elements are carried to the surface. And radioactive elements are often present in the massive volumes of wastewater produced by a working oil or gas well. Currently, there are no dedicated federal regulations to ensure comprehensive and safe management of radioactive oil and gas materials. The industry was granted a federal exemption in 1980 that legally defined its waste as nonhazardous, despite containing toxic chemicals, carcinogens, heavy metals, and radioactivity. This leaves Oklahomans reliant on state regulations and oversight, which unfortunately, are spotty at best. Oklahoma has no general radiation provisions and therefore does not regulate TENORM waste. This lack of regulation means there are no specific rules in place to control the disposal or handling of this waste, potentially leading to exposure risks for workers and residents. If this TENORM is not adequately managed and disposed of, it poses significant health threats to oil and gas workers, their families and nearby residents. That health risk includes the increased risk of cancer. Through mismanagement, waste can leak out of storage pits, tanks, and landfills or spill during transportation. It is sometimes purposely spread over land and mixed with the soil in an industrial waste management practice known as 'land farming.' Wastewater may be used for dust suppression or deicing roads. A 2021 paper published in the journal 'Energy Economics' examined two decades of data from 76 Oklahoma counties. The authors found that an increase in the number of fracked wells led to a statistically significant reduction in life expectancy. They also noted increases in those county's mortality and rates of cancer, cardiac diseases, and respiratory diseases. More: One legislator blocks bill to prevent dumping sewage on farmland | Opinion The industry is trying to pivot now toward the treatment of oilfield waste, but the problem is that if you remove the radioactive heavy metals that are already at elevated levels, you just concentrate them. There are also very limited ways to dispose of the wastewater, and the chief method is injection wells, which account for 96% of disposal. Oklahoma has over 10,600 such wells. Unfortunately, injection wells pose their own set of problems. The U.S. Geological Survey has linked them to earthquakes. In Oklahoma, earthquakes have increased 900-fold since 2008, when fracking became more prevalent. Some of these wells are also now leaking their waste back to the surface across America. If deep formations fail to contain the toxic waste injected into them, that waste can migrate and end up in shallow freshwater aquifers. Despite the potential environmental and health threats few municipalities have strong ordinances to protect residents from these sites and an injection site may be permitted with little to no community knowledge or involvement. Is it any wonder that Oklahoma has such poor health outcomes, including the fourth-highest cancer death rate in the country? If lawmakers really want to improve Oklahoma's lagging health outcomes, perhaps new laws governing the oil and gas industry's disposal processes would be a place to start. Mike Altshuler is a retired educator and environmental activist who lives in Edmond. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New oil, gas industry waste laws could boost health outcomes | Opinion
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma oil and gas drillers face few regulations amid lingering concerns about health impact
A working oil pump in Oklahoma is pictured. (Photo by) The oil and gas industry is a major economic engine in Oklahoma, contributing significantly to jobs and tax revenue. But, we are paying for this lucrative driver of our economy with environmental degradation and harm to community health. And unfortunately our state and federal leaders have continued to have little interest in passing regulations governing the industry that would protect public health despite first being alerted to risks over four decades ago. Leaders first became aware of the threat to public health in 1982 when the American Petroleum Institute's Committee for Environmental Biology and Community Health issued a report that highlighted the fact that materials of interest to the oil and gas industry 'contain measurable quantities of radionuclides' in equipment, product streams or waste. Every stage of production can produce what is known as 'technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material,' or TENORM. During oil and gas drilling, radioactive elements are carried to the surface. And radioactive elements are often present in the massive volumes of wastewater produced by a working oil or gas well. Currently, there are no dedicated federal regulations to ensure comprehensive and safe management of radioactive oil and gas materials. The industry was granted a federal exemption in 1980 that legally defined its waste as nonhazardous, despite containing toxic chemicals, carcinogens, heavy metals, and radioactivity. This leaves Oklahomans reliant on state regulations and oversight, which unfortunately, are spotty at best. Oklahoma has no general radiation provisions and therefore does not regulate TENORM waste. This lack of regulation means there are no specific rules in place to control the disposal or handling of this waste, potentially leading to exposure risks for workers and residents. If this TENORM is not adequately managed and disposed of, it poses significant health threats to oil and gas workers, their families and nearby residents. That health risk includes the increased risk of cancer. Through mismanagement, waste can leak out of storage pits, tanks, and landfills or spill during transportation. It is sometimes purposely spread over land and mixed with the soil in an industrial waste management practice known as 'land farming.' Wastewater may be used for dust suppression or deicing roads. A 2021 paper published in the journal 'Energy Economics' examined two decades of data from 76 Oklahoma counties. The authors found that an increase in the number of fracked wells led to a statistically significant reduction in life expectancy. They also noted increases in those county's mortality and rates of cancer, cardiac diseases, and respiratory diseases. The industry is trying to pivot now toward the treatment of oilfield waste, but the problem is that if you remove the radioactive heavy metals that are already at elevated levels, you just concentrate them. There are also very limited ways to dispose of the wastewater, and the chief method is injection wells, which account for 96% of disposal. Oklahoma has over 10,600 such wells. Unfortunately, injection wells pose their own set of problems. The U.S. Geological Survey has linked them to earthquakes. In Oklahoma, earthquakes have increased 900-fold since 2008, when fracking became more prevalent. Some of these wells are also now leaking their waste back to the surface across America. If deep formations fail to contain the toxic waste injected into them, that waste can migrate and end up in shallow freshwater aquifers. Despite the potential environmental and health threats few municipalities have strong ordinances to protect residents from these sites and an injection site may be permitted with little to no community knowledge or involvement. Is it any wonder that Oklahoma has such poor health outcomes, including the fourth highest cancer death rate in the country? If lawmakers really want to improve Oklahoma's lagging health outcomes, perhaps new laws governing the oil and gas industry's disposal processes would be a place to start. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Politico
a day ago
- Health
- Politico
Oil groups target heat rule as workers bake
For oil and gas workers, heat exposure can turn deadly. The industry is trying to tank a federal rule intended to help. The industry hopes its push will find favor with the Trump administration, which has pledged to eliminate barriers to fossil fuel production and dismantle policies to tackle climate change, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The rule — which the Biden administration proposed in July — would require employers to offer outdoor workers paid water and rest breaks when combined heat and humidity reach 80 degrees. Companies would also have to train managers and workers to identify heat illness symptoms and know when to get medical attention. The fossil fuel industry ranks third in the nation for heat-related hospitalizations and is among the top five for deaths. A reported 149 oil and gas workers have been hospitalized for heat exposure since 2017, compared with nine workers in the wind and solar industries. 'There are a lot of places where workers can't say, 'Oh, it's getting hot out here, I need to drink some water,' and this would help protect them before they are so ill they need to go to the hospital or die,' Jordan Barab, an Obama-era Occupational Safety and Health Administration official, told Ariel. Strenuous labor can worsen the dangers of high temperatures, leading to kidney damage, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke, which can kill in a matter of minutes. But industry groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, are urging the Trump administration to abandon the rule. They say it would apply 'a one-size-fits all' standard instead of letting employers set break schedules 'based on their specific workforce operations.' Such 'unbridled access to breaks' is unworkable, the group wrote to OSHA in January. Debate over the measure could bubble over next month when administration officials are scheduled to hold a hearing for public comment. By that time, summer will be heating up, and it could be a scorcher if history is any guide. The U.S. has suffered a string of record-breaking temperatures as climate change driven by burning fossil fuels turbocharges heat waves around the world. Temperatures in Texas have already broken 100 degree s — a record for May — and the rest of the country is on track to see hotter-than-normal days in the months ahead. It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down the forced power outages in New Orleans this weekend, which left 100,000 people in the dark, and how that could help the Trump administration's efforts to keep fossil fuel plants running. Power Centers Bitcoin miner moves on up A former bitcoin miner whose company had a track record of permit violations and conflicts with neighbors is now operating at the highest ranks of the Energy Department, writes Brian Dabbs. Greg Beard, a career energy investor who ran the bitcoin firm Stronghold Digital Mining until March, joined the DOE's Loan Programs Office in recent weeks as a top-ranking political appointee — and staffers say he's already making big moves at the department. Musk is out, but DOGE remainsElon Musk is stepping back from the federal government but his Department of Government Efficiency isn't going anywhere, write Robin Bravender, Danny Nguyen and Sophia Cai. Just this week at the Interior Department, a 30-year veteran of the agency who told employees to ignore DOGE directives was escorted out of the building. Elsewhere, some DOGE employees have been hired on as permanent government staffers and given high-ranking positions inside agencies. And Cabinet heads like Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought have been quietly prepping plans for lasting changes that stand to be even more consequential than the initial rounds of cuts from Musk's team. From the sidelines: Musk and Tesla blast the GOPTesla criticized the Republican megabill for gutting clean energy tax credits, a message amplified by Musk hours after he announced he was leaving the Trump administration, writes James Bikales. 'Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America's energy independence and the reliability of our grid,' Tesla Energy, the company's solar and battery division, wrote on X. In Other News Glacier collapse: Nearly all of a Swiss Alpine village was buried when an unstable glacier in Switzerland collapsed this week. Green fee: Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to charge tourists a fee in an effort to fund climate policies. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that federal agencies conducting environmental reviews can take a more limited view of the impacts of transportation and energy infrastructure projects they are permitting. April saw $4.5 billion in cancellations and delays of clean energy projects in the U.S., highlighting pressure on the clean power and low-carbon sectors as Congress weighs cutting billions of dollars in tax credits. By the end of the decade, the cost of buying and operating electric trucks could equal to — or even beat — the price of comparable diesel vehicles. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
Scientific American
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scientific American
Oil Industry Opposes a Planned Rule to Limit Heat Deaths among Workers
CLIMATEWIRE | The oil and gas industry is pushing the Trump administration to kill a proposed rule that would protect workers from extreme heat, arguing that it jeopardizes the president's vision of achieving 'energy dominance.' The opposition comes as people who work in U.S. oil and gas fields face increasingly dangerous conditions as global temperatures swell with rising levels of climate pollution. The industry is among the nation's leading workplaces for heat-related deaths and injuries. The American Petroleum Institute is one of several industry groups that has called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to abandon the regulation, which was proposed under former President Joe Biden and requires employers to offer water and rest breaks when temperatures rise above 80 degrees. The federal protections were drafted for the first time last year as global temperatures reached their highest levels ever recorded by humans. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'API Ask: Do not proceed on the currently proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Standard,' the group wrote to the Department of Labor in December, in a memo that has not previously been made public. It lists the proposed heat rule as one of four priorities in a 'vision for American energy leadership.' 'The oil and gas industry is poised to fully realize its potential under a new era of energy dominance,' the group wrote, adding that its priorities are 'essential to achieving this energy potential.' Heat has killed 137 workers nationwide since 2017 and hospitalized thousands more, according to an analysis of OSHA data by POLITICO's E&E News. Construction and agriculture workers bear the brunt of heat injuries and fatalities, but people who extract fossil fuels in oil and gas fields, or those in support service jobs, also succumb to extreme temperatures. The fossil fuel industry accounts for 4 percent of heat-related deaths in the U.S. and nearly 7 percent of worker hospitalizations, according to federal data. That makes the industry the third-highest sector for hospitalizations from heat and among the top five for heat-related deaths. Workers have fallen ill or died while operating oil and gas drilling rigs, installing pipes, and delivering odorants. Strenuous activity can amplify the dangers of high temperatures, leading to kidney damage, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, a condition that results in organ failure and death in a matter of minutes. The string of record-breaking temperatures year after year foreshadows what could be a deadly summer, as climate change fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels turbocharges heat waves around the world. Texas has already sweltered under 100-degree heat, a record for May, and the rest of the nation is on track to experience warmer-than-normal temperatures. OSHA cited the death toll from heat, and the role of climate change in causing them, when it proposed the protections in July. They cover some 35 million people. Many of the rules' requirements mirror recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the 1970s. Now the rule is in the hands of the Trump administration, which has launched a concerted effort to terminate government climate offices, repeal regulations for lowering greenhouse gases and roll back billions of dollars in climate funding. President Donald Trump rejects the basic tenets of climate science. One of the first signs of whether the rule might survive will come in June, when OSHA officials are scheduled to hold a hearing to collect public comment on the proposal. API spokesperson Charlotte Law declined to answer questions about heat illness rates in the oil and gas industry, saying in a statement, 'we don't have anything further to add beyond the memo.' The document takes issue with rest break requirements in the draft rule, saying it 'unreasonably requires reduce work/exposure hours for experienced workers, potentially leading to operational difficulties with no clear safety improvement.' Heat rules 'stifle … creativity, innovation' OSHA has identified six heat-related fatalities involving fossil fuel workers since 2017. One construction worker collapsed at a gas-fired power plant, and multiple people have died from heat as they tried clearing clogged wells and pipes. Others became ill and died while pressure-washing equipment in the hot sun, and one became fatally sick as he was sweeping up spilled metallurgical coke, according to OSHA records. Some 149 workers in the oil and gas industry have been hospitalized for heat exposure since 2017, compared to nine workers in the wind and solar industries. One OSHA citation described how a Texas worker began complaining of cramps and nausea — symptoms of heat illness — while trying to clear two obstructed well holes in 2017. Instead of being offered a break, the employee was 'encouraged to continue to work,' the OSHA citation said. He later died after experiencing convulsions and without receiving medical attention. OSHA issued fines amounting to $21,367 to the employer, Patco Wireline Services, for three serious violations. The fines were later dropped in a settlement. Officials with Patco, based in Houma, Louisiana, couldn't be reached for comment. OSHA has issued citations in each of the six industry heat deaths since 2017. The fines came under legal requirements that employers keep workplaces free of 'recognized hazards' — a general provision that would be replaced by the more detailed heat rule, if it's ever finalized. The draft heat rule outlines specific steps employers must take to prevent workers from falling ill. In addition to offering water and rest breaks, companies would have to train managers and workers to identify symptoms of heat illness and when to get medical attention. 'There are a lot of places where workers can't say, 'Oh, it's getting hot out here, I need to drink some water,' and this would help protect them before they are so ill they need to go to the hospital or die,'' said Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary for OSHA during the Obama administration. Oil and gas groups disagree. API collaborated with the American Exploration and Production Council, the International Association of Drilling Contractors, and others on a letter to OSHA in January that called the rule 'flawed.' The groups argued that it applies 'a one-size-fits all prescriptive standard to arguably the most prevalent hazard ever faced by employers across the US.' 'Unless the heat rule is substantially changed, OSHA would create unnecessary burdens and stifle the creativity, innovation and individualized performance-oriented solutions that the oil and gas industry seek to foster,' they said. 'Our hope therefore is that this version of a proposed heat rule will not move forward through the rulemaking process.' The groups take particular issue with temperature triggers in the proposed rule, which requires employers to provide water and rest breaks when combined heat and humidity reach 80 degrees. At 90 degrees, workers would get 15-minute breaks to rest and drink water after every two hours of work. They would be paid during the breaks. Such 'unbridled access to breaks' is unworkable, the industry argued. 'Employers should be allowed to set break schedules based on their specific workforce operations,' the groups wrote. They added that the rule would be a burden in cold and warm climates — from Alaska's North Slope to the Permian Basin in Texas. Eighty-degree days are so uncommon in Alaska, they argued, that 'the cost of imposing the Heat Rule's requirements are not justifiable and would be unduly burdensome and difficult to consistently apply.' It would also 'be a significant burden' in Texas because temperatures regularly exceed 80 degrees, 'requiring employers to comply with the initial heat requirements nearly half the time,' the letter said. 'Campaign of deception' The fossil fuel industry is not alone in opposing the proposed rule. Representatives of the construction and manufacturing industries made similar arguments at a hearing this month of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. But the oil and gas industry may carry extra weight during the Trump administration. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office aimed at 'unleashing American energy' that directed federal departments to review existing regulations and policies that 'impose an undue burden on the identification, development or use of domestic energy resources.' Neither OSHA nor the Department of Labor responded to questions about whether they have completed the review. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has expressed support for the fossil fuel industry, but hasn't publicly remarked on the heat rule. 'Unleashing American energy will create good-paying jobs and lower costs for business and families,' she wrote in an April post on X about the department's efforts to train workers 'to secure American Energy Dominance.' She also toured an oil and gas facility in Bakersfield, California, that's owned by California Resources to mark 'President Trump's first 100 days of economic success.' As the Trump administration weighs whether to kill OSHA's heat rule, more workers could die — and not just in the fossil fuel industry. Shana Udvardy, a senior climate analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has advocated for worker heat protections, argued that the fossil fuel industry's role in heat deaths goes deeper than the climate pollution it releases. 'If not for the fossil fuel industry's concerted, multidecade campaign of deception, the U.S. and the world may have taken much more ambitious action to curb the worst effects of climate change,' she said. 'If the industry were paying its fair share toward the cost of climate damages and climate adaptation,' she added, 'we'd have more public resources and capacity to protect workers.'
E&E News
2 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Heat is killing oil workers. The industry is trying to kill a rule for that.
The oil and gas industry is pushing the Trump administration to kill a proposed rule that would protect workers from extreme heat, arguing that it jeopardizes the president's vision of achieving 'energy dominance.' The opposition comes as people who work in U.S. oil and gas fields face increasingly dangerous conditions as global temperatures swell with rising levels of climate pollution. The industry is among the nation's leading workplaces for heat-related deaths and injuries. The American Petroleum Institute is one of several industry groups that has called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to abandon the regulation, which was proposed under former President Joe Biden and requires employers to offer water and rest breaks when temperatures rise above 80 degrees. The federal protections were drafted for the first time last year as global temperatures reached their highest levels ever recorded by humans. Advertisement 'API Ask: Do not proceed on the currently proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Standard,' the group wrote to the Department of Labor in December, in a memo that has not previously been made public. It lists the proposed heat rule as one of four priorities in a 'vision for American energy leadership.' 'The oil and gas industry is poised to fully realize its potential under a new era of energy dominance,' the group wrote, adding that its priorities are 'essential to achieving this energy potential.' Heat has killed 137 workers nationwide since 2017 and hospitalized thousands more, according to an analysis of OSHA data by POLITICO's E&E News. Construction and agriculture workers bear the brunt of heat injuries and fatalities, but people who extract fossil fuels in oil and gas fields, or those in support service jobs, also succumb to extreme temperatures. The fossil fuel industry accounts for 4 percent of heat-related deaths in the U.S. and nearly 7 percent of worker hospitalizations, according to federal data. That makes the industry the third-highest sector for hospitalizations from heat and among the top five for heat-related deaths. Workers have fallen ill or died while operating oil and gas drilling rigs, installing pipes, and delivering odorants. Strenuous activity can amplify the dangers of high temperatures, leading to kidney damage, heat exhaustion and heat stroke, a condition that results in organ failure and death in a matter of minutes. An oil refinery is silhouetted against the sky in El Dorado, Kansas. | Charlie Riedel/AP The string of record-breaking temperatures year after year foreshadows what could be a deadly summer, as climate change fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels turbocharges heat waves around the world. Texas has already sweltered under 100-degree heat, a record for May, and the rest of the nation is on track to experience warmer-than-normal temperatures. OSHA cited the death toll from heat, and the role of climate change in causing them, when it proposed the protections in July. They cover some 35 million people. Many of the rules' requirements mirror recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the 1970s. Now the rule is in the hands of the Trump administration, which has launched a concerted effort to terminate government climate offices, repeal regulations for lowering greenhouse gases and roll back billions of dollars in climate funding. President Donald Trump rejects the basic tenets of climate science. One of the first signs of whether the rule might survive will come in June, when OSHA officials are scheduled to hold a hearing to collect public comment on the proposal. API spokesperson Charlotte Law declined to answer questions about heat illness rates in the oil and gas industry, saying in a statement, 'we don't have anything further to add beyond the memo.' The document takes issue with rest break requirements in the draft rule, saying it 'unreasonably requires reduce work/exposure hours for experienced workers, potentially leading to operational difficulties with no clear safety improvement.' Heat rules 'stifle … creativity, innovation' OSHA has identified six heat-related fatalities involving fossil fuel workers since 2017. One construction worker collapsed at a gas-fired power plant, and multiple people have died from heat as they tried clearing clogged wells and pipes. Others became ill and died while pressure-washing equipment in the hot sun, and one became fatally sick as he was sweeping up spilled metallurgical coke, according to OSHA records. Some 149 workers in the oil and gas industry have been hospitalized for heat exposure since 2017, compared to nine workers in the wind and solar industries. One OSHA citation described how a Texas worker began complaining of cramps and nausea — symptoms of heat illness — while trying to clear two obstructed well holes in 2017. Instead of being offered a break, the employee was 'encouraged to continue to work,' the OSHA citation said. He later died after experiencing convulsions and without receiving medical attention. OSHA issued fines amounting to $21,367 to the employer, Patco Wireline Services, for three serious violations. The fines were later dropped in a settlement. Officials with Patco, based in Houma, Louisiana, couldn't be reached for comment. A well site supervisor looks onto the Permian Basin from the control room of an oil drilling rig in Odessa, Texas. | David Goldman/AP OSHA has issued citations in each of the six industry heat deaths since 2017. The fines came under legal requirements that employers keep workplaces free of 'recognized hazards' — a general provision that would be replaced by the more detailed heat rule, if it's ever finalized. The draft heat rule outlines specific steps employers must take to prevent workers from falling ill. In addition to offering water and rest breaks, companies would have to train managers and workers to identify symptoms of heat illness and when to get medical attention. 'There are a lot of places where workers can't say, 'Oh, it's getting hot out here, I need to drink some water,' and this would help protect them before they are so ill they need to go to the hospital or die,'' said Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary for OSHA during the Obama administration. Oil and gas groups disagree. API collaborated with the American Exploration and Production Council, the International Association of Drilling Contractors, and others on a letter to OSHA in January that called the rule 'flawed.' The groups argued that it applies 'a one-size-fits all prescriptive standard to arguably the most prevalent hazard ever faced by employers across the US.' 'Unless the heat rule is substantially changed, OSHA would create unnecessary burdens and stifle the creativity, innovation and individualized performance-oriented solutions that the oil and gas industry seek to foster,' they said. 'Our hope therefore is that this version of a proposed heat rule will not move forward through the rulemaking process.' The shadows of oil workers are seen climbing stairs in the Permian Basin. | AFP via Getty Images The groups take particular issue with temperature triggers in the proposed rule, which requires employers to provide water and rest breaks when combined heat and humidity reach 80 degrees. At 90 degrees, workers would get 15-minute breaks to rest and drink water after every two hours of work. They would be paid during the breaks. Such 'unbridled access to breaks' is unworkable, the industry argued. 'Employers should be allowed to set break schedules based on their specific workforce operations,' the groups wrote. They added that the rule would be a burden in cold and warm climates — from Alaska's North Slope to the Permian Basin in Texas. Eighty-degree days are so uncommon in Alaska, they argued, that 'the cost of imposing the Heat Rule's requirements are not justifiable and would be unduly burdensome and difficult to consistently apply.' It would also 'be a significant burden' in Texas because temperatures regularly exceed 80 degrees, 'requiring employers to comply with the initial heat requirements nearly half the time,' the letter said. 'Campaign of deception' The fossil fuel industry is not alone in opposing the proposed rule. Representatives of the construction and manufacturing industries made similar arguments at a hearing this month of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. But the oil and gas industry may carry extra weight during the Trump administration. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office aimed at 'unleashing American energy' that directed federal departments to review existing regulations and policies that 'impose an undue burden on the identification, development or use of domestic energy resources.' Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (center) visited an oil and gas facility near Bakersfield, California, last month. | U.S. Department of Labor Neither OSHA nor the Department of Labor responded to questions about whether they have completed the review. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has expressed support for the fossil fuel industry, but hasn't publicly remarked on the heat rule. 'Unleashing American energy will create good-paying jobs and lower costs for business and families,' she wrote in anApril post on X about the department's efforts to train workers 'to secure American Energy Dominance.' She also toured an oil and gas facility in Bakersfield, California, that's owned by California Resources to mark 'President Trump's first 100 days of economic success.' As the Trump administration weighs whether to kill OSHA's heat rule, more workers could die — and not just in the fossil fuel industry. Shana Udvardy, a senior climate analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which has advocated for worker heat protections, argued that the fossil fuel industry's role in heat deaths goes deeper than the climate pollution it releases. 'If not for the fossil fuel industry's concerted, multidecade campaign of deception, the U.S. and the world may have taken much more ambitious action to curb the worst effects of climate change,' she said. 'If the industry were paying its fair share toward the cost of climate damages and climate adaptation,' she added, 'we'd have more public resources and capacity to protect workers.'
