Drilled

The House Oversight Committee wrapped its investigation into climate disinformation, publishing a tranche of revealing internal documents on how the world's largest oil companies have misled the public about their committements to energy transition. Representative Ro Khanna , who helped spearhead the investigation, joins us to discuss. Additional resources: The Intercept   Learn more about yo...

November brought two seismic developments in climiate ligation: the first-ever climate RICO was filed on behalf of 16 Puerto Rican municipalities, plus a cohort of scientists and researches, including NASA scientist James Hansen, sued the EPA to compel them to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Toxic Substances Control Act.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Loss and damage financing was a big focus at COP 27, and ultimately one of the few things global negotiators could agree on. Wealthy nations finally acknowledged their responsibility to compensate for climate damages. But media coverage of loss and damage has left out crucial context, including how flawed the fossil fuel industry's "fossil fuels = development" myth is.   Learn more about your...

COP 27 is underway in Egypt and the stakes have never been higher. So why is longtime fossil fuel industry greenwasher Hill + Knowlton handing media for the conference?  We look back on the firm's longstanding history crafting science denial and delay strategies for tobacco and fossil fuel companies.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/list...

In just over a week, heads of state and negotiaters will meet at COP 27, the annual UN Climate Conference, to discuss a path forward on climate action. Historically, these events bring about a wave of climate disinformation. A new report walks journalists and communicators through how they can counter disinformation without amplifying it.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil) began funding universities in the late 1940s, oil companies have invested heavily in higher education, not just to fund engineering programs climate science, but crucially to fund the public policy centers and economics programs that shape policy solutions. Fossil Free Research, a new group formed by many of the same students who pushed their campu...

Taped live at the Harvard Faculty Club, Naomi Oreskes speaks to her forthcoming book The Big Myth , focused on the origin story behind free-market ideology, followed by a panel discussion on how to widen climate accountability to include not only oil companies but also the other industries and enablers that have obstructed climate action. Additional resources: UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigatio...

Three Congressional hearings shed a light on climate disinformation this week, with one looking at oil companies' role, another looking at the role of PR firms, and a third looking at corporate attempts to limit the free speech of environmental activists.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From its state treasurer to its attorney general to its Senator, West Virginia is leading the charge on climate obstruction and dismantling environmental regulation.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

West Virginia vs. EPA was just the beginning of climate cases before the Supreme Court this year. From question the SEC's disclosures to major Clean Water challenges, there's more to come. EarthJustice's Sam Sankar and Kirti Datla join to give us a preview of what's coming up.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jesse Coleman , senior investigator for Documented, walks us through an eye-opening investigation into the State Financial Officers Federation, an obscure group organizing Republican state treasurers in the fight against "woke capital." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) came up in the latest IPCC report and the summary and report itself tell a different story. The summary is vastly more positive about the potential of this tech (thanks in no small part to influence from Saudi Arabia and the United States), so we're looking at the complete picture of what the report actually says about it. Nikki Reisch and Carroll Muffett from the Cent...

The Supreme Court is taking its time in releasing a ruling in the controversial West Virginia vs. EPA case. We explore the roots of the case, its position in rightwing judicial strategy, and what avenues for climate action would remain in a worst-case scenario.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jennie King , lead author on a new report on climate disinformation on the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, discusses the reports findings, including how culture warriors—including 16 key superspreaders—have embraced climate denial and disinformation.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the Supreme Court weights in on West Virginia vs. EPA, a group of climate scientists and advocates filed a petition demanding that the EPA regulate greenhouse gas emissions, not under the Clean Air Act, but under law no one has yet applied to climatee change: the Toxic Substances Control Act. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Floodlight's Miranda Green returns with a new story about the push for natural gas in southern California: an air board tasked with cleaning up pollution is giving millions of dollars in grant money to gas projects. Read the story here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why does every right-wing think tank have an amicus program? On the surface, it seems to make no sense—is any judge surprised to learn that the Cato Institute is against regulation? These organizations don't waste money, and the presence and size of amicus programs at conservative "public interest" law firms and thinks tanks have grown steadily over the years. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, one...

In the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the gas industry is fully embracing it's new role. Right alongside the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron, and the United States Chamber of Commerce, the industry moved quickly to capture the narrative in the early days of the invasion, going from disinformation blitz to policy wins within a matter of weeks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Australians head to the polls for the first election since catastrophic bush fires destroyed millions of acres of land and blanketed the country in smoke for weeks. In the lead-up to the election, we examine the government's current climate policies and a risky proposed move to store carbon deep in the ocean. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even before the gas industry started fake grassroots organizations, it was using questionable tactics to stave off electrification. LA Times energy reporter Sam Roth and Floodlight's deputy editor and investigative climate reporter Miranda Green reveal a wild story on manipulation from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Read the story here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

When Santa Barbara residents began receiving urgent text messages encouraging them to oppose the gas ban, the messages claimed to be from Citizens for Balanced Energy Solutions, a concered "grassroots" citizens group. But it wasn't a citizens group at all—it was a front group started by the country's largest gas utility. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For over a decade, fossil gas was promoted as part of the solution to climate change. But while it did help to reduce dependency on coal, limiting CO2 emissions and air pollution, it came with a whole new host of problems. How did the industry go from climate hero to climate villain and how are they dealing with its new role as part of the problem? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

When San Luis Obispo announced its 2020 plan to become the first Southern California city to ban gas in new buildings, SoCal Gas—the largest gas utility in the country—sprung into action, threatening to bus in large numbers of protesters to crowd the town just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in the United States. Additional resources: How to stop a climate vote? Threaten a &ls...

For decades, fossil fuel companies have cast doubt on climate science, delaying action and allowing them to profit. Climate communication experts, such as John Cook, have documented how such companies dismiss, delay, and deflect. They’ve also included a concerted effort to recast political speech, banned and regulated in some contexts, as protected free speech, giving corporations more leewa...

The IPCC mitigation report dropped this week—and it's a doozy. We'll be digging into it throughout the month of April to help you make sense of it all. Read more: www.drilledpodcast.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.