Witness Blog
Ongoing Emissions at Sinclair Navajo Refinery Raise Alarms
A recent visit to the Sinclair Navajo Refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, a facility with a history of pollution violations — despite being located a few hundred feet from an elementary school — revealed ongoing emissions. This visit was part of an informational field tour I organized for some of...
Peak US Oil Reveals The True Hoax of the US Shale Revolution
In 2019 the U.S. oil industry was on a roll and a long hot streak of constantly breaking records for new crude oil production. It would seem an odd time to write an article asking the question, “Will the Fracking Revolution Peak Before Ever Making Money?” but that is what I did....
Methane Insanity
We’ve been warned of inconvenient truths. A movie was made about society’s unspoken agreement to ignore science and reality and the current U.S. regime is making that movie’s head-in-the-sand approach of science denial official policy. Meanwhile, the very real impacts of our changing climate are becoming harder to ignore. Polls are showing that a...
The Uncertain Future of the Lesser Prairie Chicken in the New Mexico Permian Basin
The lesser-prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a grassland bird species native to the United States. Their habitat can be found in the southern Great Plains. They are known for their courtship displays and vocalizations, unique physical traits, and specific habitat needs. Unfortunately, they face severe threats due to habitat loss...
The Oil Industry’s Big Bluff
In a recent Wall Street Week video report on oil industry methane emissions there was a great insight into what the oil industry plans to do when it comes to environmental liabilities and the world in general. After hearing how there was potential to plug old oil and gas wells and have...
Soil Vapor Extraction: A False Cleanup Solution?
Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a remediation technology for cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater. However, SVE has significant limitations and drawbacks, particularly when it comes to its environmental impact. In this blog post, I’ll talk about SVE, exploring what it is, how it works, and why it's not as...
The Harms of US LNG – From Calcasieu Pass to Puerto Libertad
The U.S. is working hard to get the rest of the world hooked on expensive and dirty liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is getting plenty of help from the banking system in other countries like Japan. The example I will focus on today is the proposed Mexico Pacific LNG export...
My Observations of the Devastating Impact of Oil and Gas on Biodiversity
Prior to joining Oilfield Witness as a thermographer and field ecologist, I worked as an ecologist and Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) cruiser for the Texas A&M University Forest Service. Cruisers gather info on tree species, size, and age. We look at forest structure and composition, vegetation density and diversity, soil...
The Cleanup Bill for the Fracking Boom is Already Here
In the world of shale oil and gas production there is a concept known as “the Red Queen effect.” In this 2014 article, it explains that, “The ‘Red Queen’ effect refers to the relatively short lifespan of fracking wells, which tend to reach peak production earlier than conventional wells.” The Red...
America’s Oil and Gas Export Delusions
The true hoax of this energy transition is the idea that the U.S. has unlimited oil and gas that is just waiting to be produced as soon as those tree-hugging liberals stop standing in the way. Did you hear that the Republicans have threatened Europe that if they don’t buy...