MURDERING OUR STARS - podcast series
The Permian Basin is one of the worst climate polluting oil and gas basins in the world. Your host Miguel Escoto and certified thermographer Sharon Wilson take you on an in-depth tour of this climate bomb. In this special 8-part series podcast -- through conversations with whistleblowers, thermographers, impacted community members, former oil workers and other experts -- you’ll get up close and personal with this global threat brewing in Texas. A phenomenon so powerful, it murders stars.
Listen to the series now via Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podcast Index, Stitcher, Pandora, TuneIn, Deezer, or iHeartRadio.
Episode 1: Welcome to Methane Land
The Permian Basin oilfield in West Texas is destroying the climate. The Texas Field Team at Earthworks document oil and gas emissions with technology that makes pollution invisible to the naked eye visible. Listen and subscribe now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here
Episode 2: Loophole Extravaganza
The state agency that is supposed to protect public health and natural resources in Texas is broken, putting fossil fuel profits above people. The Texas Field Team at Earthworks go on a deep dive into the vast shortcomings of the regulatory system that allowed the Permian fracking boom to happen in the first place. Listen and subscribe now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here
Episode 3: Regulator Whistleblowing Part 1
The state agency that is supposed to protect public health and natural resources in Texas is broken, putting fossil fuel profits above people. The Texas Field Team at Earthworks go on a deep dive into the vast shortcomings of the regulatory system that allowed the Permian fracking boom to happen in the first place. Listen and subscribe now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here
Episode 4: Regulator Whistleblowing Part 2
Sheila Serna joined the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) right out of college because it seemed like an opportunity to be a part of something that could actually make a difference. Within months of being there and learning what air regulations look like, however, she began to question why more violations weren’t given to more operators. Listen now via Apple, Spotify,
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Episode 5: The Radioactive Crisis of Oil and Gas Waste
Most people know that oil and gas emits air pollution. But few people understand that these wells also produce radioactive waste. That’s right — radioactive. Melissa Troutman, co-founder of the investigative news nonprofit Public Herald and co-director of three documentary films between 2013-2020, tells us why the climate threat of oil and gas is not bad enough. Listen now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here.
Episode 6: The Lotus LLC Saga
A lot more than oil and gas comes to the surface at an oil and gas well. We’re joined by Justin Nobel whose 2020 feature with Rolling Stone magazine, “America’s Radioactive Secret,” was the result of a two year investigation into the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas production and the harms posed to the industry’s workers, the public and communities, and the environment. Listen and subscribe now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here.
Episode 7: Plugging Wells to Save the Planet
The United States could have more than 3.2 million orphaned and abandoned wells that cause huge impacts to the environment. For ranchers and landowners like Schuyler Wight, this poses a significant threat to livelihoods. According to Megan Biven, it’s an opportunity to turn this emergency into a much-needed, water-saving climate jobs program, which turns oil and gas workers into national environmental heroes. Listen now via Apple, Spotify
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Episode 8: Oilfield Workers for a Just Transition
John Beard Jr., founder and president of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, worked at Exxon for 38 years. As a community advocate focusing on environmental issues and community development today, John knows firsthand the important intersection of environmental justice and labor justice. In this concluding episode we discuss the potential of organizing oilfield workers for a just transition to renewables. Listen now via Apple, Spotify
Transcript of episode available, click here