Witness Blog
“Please?” Oil companies wield extreme control over Texas agencies.
by Miguel Escoto Regulatory commissioners vote to approve a dangerous oil industry wastewater disposal pit next to a children’s summer camp and Baptist conference center, but then ask the owner to “be a good neighbor” to the summer camp. June 2nd, 2024, Sharon and I visited the Circle...
Cautioning against the optimism of the EIA flaring data
By Jack McDonald Flaring by Skytruth How can the EIA rely on state data if the vast majority of flaring in Texas is unknown to the RRC? Last week, the EIA published their preliminary estimate of the amount of natural gas flaring that happened across the...
Economics Don’t Justify Optimism About New Methane Regulations
Methane cloud from a small midstream facility in the Texas Permian Basin. After years of working to raise the alarm about dangerous methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, I’m happy to see that the media is now reporting on many aspects of the ongoing...
TotalEnergies Flowback Operations on Memorial Day in Arlington, Texas
TotalEnergies gas well site is too close to homes. TotalEnergies decided that Memorial Day weekend would be a good time to start flowback operations at the Bruder Gas Lease in Arlington, Texas. People who have lived with oil and gas operations too close to their homes...
The Barnett Shale, the birthplace of fracking, is still a big polluter
The Texas Permian Basin is not the only area with massive emissions. The Barnett Shale in North Texas is doing its part creating health impacts for neighbors and accelerating the climate crisis by dumping more methane into our atmosphere. Methane is over 100 times more powerful at warming our planet...
A Cautious Perspective on Biden’s LNG Permit Pause
We won a battle, but the climate war is far from over. Anyone living near the four proposed LNG export terminals and the two that are in pre-filing got a reprieve when the Biden Administration announced a pause on LNG permitting. Those people have every reason to celebrate. Assessing the...
Going Back Home
I’ve traveled such a long, long way from home since I left my farm in Wise County Texas. Oil and gas pollution turned an idyllic country life into a nightmare; the industry drove me from my peaceful home. Since then, It's hard for me to feel totally at home anywhere...
Field Notes: El Paso, Texas September 30, 2023
EL PASO TOXIC TOUR by Miguel Escoto, Oilfield Witness Organizing Director Oilfield Witness and the community organization Amanecer People’s Project provided a toxic tour of El Paso to a representative from Congressman Ro Khanna’s office. (Republican’s threats to shutdown the government in late September prevented Ro from coming down...
Field Notes: Arlington, Texas September 11, 2023
Projection on NYC building during Climate Week North Texas was finally experiencing some slightly cooler weather on September 11th when I drove to Arlington, Texas to meet Liveable Arlington executive director Ranjana Bhandari, and journalists from France. The journalists were there for a story...
Utilities are a climate battleground
Our movements must win the battlefront of electric utilities to force a prioritization of health and climate--not fossil fuel profits By Miguel Escoto Profits Determine Outcome Big oil companies–the Shell’s, Exxon’s, and Chevron’s of the world–have been rightly identified by the public as villains responsible for the climate crisis....