Drilled

As Ecuadorian plaintiffs gain press, public support, and an endorsement from the country's president, Chevron kicks things up a notch, bringing in new lawyers and a PR firm to rewrite the story. Support us on Patreon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In September 2009, Chevron filed an international arbitration claim against the Ecuadorian government over the Lago Agrio case. In the years since, Chevron has pointed to the decisions of the arbitral panel as akin to court decisions, but they're not one in the same—arbitral tribunals exist to help companies protect their profits and are largely conducted in secret. Marcos Orellana explains...

The fight for justice in Ecuador's Amazon moves to the courtroom, while an election changes the political landscape and a global PR war kicks into high gear. Support us on Patreon . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did the Amazon's oil conflict come about in the first place? We go back to the 1960s, the early days of oil colonialism in Ecuador, when the partnerships between oil men and missionaries began and disrupted Indigenous communities. Support us on Patreon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In August 2019, an American lawyer was placed under house arrest while awaiting trial for criminal contempt, stemming from a decades-long case that began with polution in the Amazon. The cas has since spanned continents and courtrooms while the victims—indigenous tribes in the Ecuadorian Amazon—continue to seek justice. This is season 5: La Lucha En La Jungla. See omnystudio.com/listen...

TheTrump administration proposed a rule that would make it harder for financial managers to investment retirement funds in environmentally or socially responsible ways. The fossil fuel industry praised the rule, noting that the divestment movement has become a serious problem and reduced its access to capital. Journalist David Sirota broke that story and joins us to explain. PLUS: a sneak peek of...

The FBI arrested Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder for racketeering or, as the state attorney general put it, "bribery, that's what it was." Private utility FirstEnergy paid politicians, including Householder, to pass a corporate bailout to keep coal and nuclear plants open while blocking renewables. Leah Stokes , University of California Santa Barbara political science profe...

An advocacy group in the Netherlands is calling for a ban on fossil fuel ads. Campaigner Femke Sleegers joins us to explain the roots of the campaign, its goal, and the initial response to it. Additional resources: Ban Fossil Fuel Advertising; a Dutch Citizens’ Initiative See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite tax breaks, royalty cuts, and other COVID-19 incentives, Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in the American fracking industry, has declared bankruptcy. We explore why the pandemic isn't to blame and what the says about government bailouts for struggling fossil fuel companies. Support us on Patreon   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two new lawsuits, in Minnesota and D.C., were filed within 24 hours of each other and allege the same thing: that fossil fuel companies misled consumers about climate change.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new Carbon Tracker report finds that oil and gas companies have been grossly underestimating the cost for plugging and abandoning wells, particularly for fracking wells. The report co-authors Rob Schuwerk and Greg Rogers break down the scale of the problem, the cost, and who will ultimately foot the bill.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, some climate activists have been saying "now's not the time to talk about climate." On Hot Take, Mary Annaise Hegler and Amy Westervelt discuss the idea that climate and racial justice are connected and influence one another. Find Hot Take here.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Naomi Klein describes how "disaster capitalism," the corporate feeding frenzy that happens in the wake of major crisis, is playing out in America right now. On a research trip to post-Katrina New Orleans for her book The Shock Doctrine, she connected her work on human rights and labor to climate, and shares what needs to happen, including the Green New Deal, to spur a justice-focused transformatio...

A major investigative report from the Netherlands has uncovered new evidence that Royal Dutch Shell directly funded climate science denial in the 1990s. Reporters Alexander Beunder and Jilles Mast have been combing through 150+ boxes of documents from the personal archive of Fritz Böttcherone, one of the Netherlands' top climate skeptics during the 1990s, and made a shocking discovery: throug...

The New York Times recenty ran a story on the GOP's new climate narrative: that the Dems imposing climate action will be worse than the pandemic quarantine. In this episode from Hot Take, Mary Annaise Heglar and Amy Westervelt look at how the narrative emerged, why it's striking a nerve, and how to wrestle the climate story back. Find Hot Take here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

In April 2020, Fred Singer, longtime "king" of the climate deniers, died at the age of 95. Singer played a key role in shaping the history of science denial. Investigative reporter Dan Zegart, author of the book Civil Warriors, and Connor Gibson , an investigator with Greenpeace, discuss the climate denial machine Singer built, the legacy he leaves behind, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic may top...

A lawsuit filed against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over a small Massachusetts project could have nationwide implications. The lawsuit aims to force FERC to evaluate the overall emissions and climate change impact of any new energy project—something the courts ordered the agency to do yers ago and has particular relevance right now as FERC has been rapidly approving new e...

The Michael Moore–produced documentary Planet of the Humans sparked controversy around renewable energy. Political scientist and environmental policy expert Leah Stokes joins us to discuss the many things the new film gets wrong about environmentalists and the fight for climate action. Additional resources: Michael Moore produced a film about climate change that’s a gift to Big Oil Sup...

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and a decade after the BP Deepwarter oil spill, we head to Louisiana to examine petrochemicals, petroleum, plastic, fossil fuel philanthropy, and the impact the pandemic is having on it all. Additional resources: Bucket Brigade Healthy Gulf See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joanie Lemercier has been a thorn in software company Autodesk's side for more than a year now, since the French artist first pointed out that Autodesk's computer-aided drafting (CAD) software keeps Europe's largest coal mine operating. Tech reporter Maddie Stone investigates how the software is used by not only coal mines but also to design oil and gas pipelines, raising urgent questions about cl...

A new report from the Center for International Environmental Law examines how oil, gas, and petrochemical companies are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to push policy and increase profits. Carroll Muffet walks us through key points of the report, including how the industries are using the pandemic to boost single-use plastics. Read Pandemic Crisis, Systemic Decline: Why Exploiting the COVID-19 Cr...

As shelter-in-place orders went into effect, residents of Broomfield, Colorado faced exposure to flowback-driven air pollution thanks to their proximity to oil and gas operations. When the city issued an emergency decree to local operations to cease fracking flowback during the pandemic, Extraction Oil filed for a restraining order to block the city's decree. It's the first test of Colorado's 2019...

Fossil fuel use has certainly grown GDP, but it has had no effect on life expectancy. In other words, the industry's "benefit" has acrrued to relatively few humans. Dr. Julia Steinberger , professor of social ecology and ecological economics at the University of Leeds, has published research debunking classic fossil fuel narratives around the industry's importance to society and human wellbeing. R...

Field investigator Sharon Wilson has spotted a troubling increase in methane emissions from refineries in the Permian Basin, in Texas. Things went from bad to worse in January 2020, and really blew up in early March ... almost as though they knew regulators wouldn't be watching. Support us on  Patreon. Extra tidbits in the Heated newsletter. Read the transcript See omnystudio.com/listener for...

The American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil and Chevron have been amongst the biggest opponents to bailouts for shale gas companies as part of the coronavirus relief package. DeSmog's Justin Mikulka explains why. Support us on  Patreon. Extra tidbits in the Heated newsletter. Read the transcript See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.