Amy Sisk
Credit Sarah Kovash / 90.5 WESA
Amy Sisk covers energy for WESA and StateImpact Pennsylvania, a public media collaboration focused on energy. She moved to Pennsylvania in 2017 from another energy-rich state, North Dakota, where she often reported from coal mines, wind farms and the oil patch. While there, she worked for NPR member station Prairie Public Broadcasting and the Inside Energy public media collaboration. She spent eight months following the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy, her work frequently airing on NPR and other outlets. Amy loves traveling to rural communities -- she visited 217 small towns on the Dakota prairie -- and also covers rural issues here in southwestern Pennsylvania.
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Gas and oil companies pay royalties to millions of American landowners. But a growing number accuse energy companies of cheating them out of their fair share.
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The shale oil boom attracted thousands of oil workers to North Dakota, sending the population of some small towns soaring. In response, communities built up infrastructure projects — new wastewater facilities, schools, etc. But now they're facing hundreds of millions of dollars of debt that will take decades to pay off, not to mention continued uncertainty over whether they've built too much as they watch the boom-bust cycle of the oil patch.
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Energy Secretary Rick Perry says subsidizing coal and nuclear power plants would make the grid more reliable. An unlikely array of critics say the move is expensive and unnecessary. -
As renewables make up a bigger share of the nation's energy grid, some worry about blackouts when the wind doesn't blow. But grid operators say they're getting better at balancing energy resources. -
The oil industry is coming out of a two-year slump after OPEC cut production. In oil-rich North Dakota, there are more energy jobs than available workers and local businesses are seeing a revival. -
They have until Wednesday to clean up and go home. Authorities want protesters off the land before the river thaws and floods the camp. -
The plan is on hold while a legal battle plays out. Even if it's upheld, the Trump administration is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, states are looking at energy alternatives. -
While some protesters are staying in North Dakota to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline, residents feel mixed about their new neighbors. One Bismarck resident says she just wants her "hometown back." -
North Dakotans have mixed opinions about the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been put on hold. Oil and gas is a big industry in the state.
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Hours from Standing Rock, N.D., is another reservation, in the the Bakken oilfield's sweet spot. Drilling has brought in millions of dollars, but the tribes have environmental worries, too.
