What else is left to say about extractive energy? We know it鈥檚 extremely bad for the environment and听for听public health. We also know it鈥檚 gotten worse in听new ways since the advent of fracking and that its supporters 诲辞苍鈥檛听seem to be getting any less tenacious (see: the oil and gas industry鈥檚 abiding interest in public lands).
But two excellent听podcasts, Texas Monthly and Imperative Entertainment鈥檚听听and Critical Frequency鈥檚听, prove that good storytelling about devastating environmental issues is still vitally important, informative, and inspiring. Both are well听produced and told with an ear for radio intrigue, and听they鈥檙e听comprehensive enough to serve as primers for fossil-fuel novices听but packed with enough interviews and historical tidbits to surprise those who already follow the subject closely. They remind us what鈥檚 at stake and what can change鈥攅ven when it comes to an overwhelming issue we鈥檝e been thinking about for decades.
Drilled (just starting its third season) is a true-crime podcast that investigates one very large-scale wrongdoing: climate denial. The first season exposed how the oil industry went from commissioning studies to abandoning science in a span of just ten years; the second season featured West Coast fishermen fighting a frontline battle against Big Oil鈥檚 climate denial; the current听season looks at the industry鈥檚 public-relations machine and the mistruths it spreads. Host Amy Westervelt introduces so many players that at times they start to sound like a Greek chorus of climate arguments. It makes for dramatic listening: 鈥淭he issue was not were we going to have a problem,鈥 former Exxon scientist Ed Garvey says in the podcast鈥檚 inaugural episode, noting that the company was in total agreement that man-made global warming was听an urgent reality. 鈥淭he issue was simply how soon and how fast and how bad was it going to be. Not if.鈥听Of course Exxon knew鈥攖he听story听has been 听before鈥攂ut it鈥檚 still fascinating to hear in first person.
Christian Wallace, the host of Boomtown (currently finishing its first season), takes a people-focused approach to investigating the changing fortunes of the Permian Basin in West Texas and eastern听New Mexico. The area has ranked among the most productive oil fields in the world in the past few years, and no one does a more colorful job of describing the roller coaster of living in an oil town than the locals: 鈥淚t was so desolate, the buzzards used to bring sack lunch,鈥 a barber in Pecos, Texas, quips, recalling the mood of听the region before drilling started. Wallace is from West Texas himself, which gives him a natural rapport with those he interviews.听Boomtown鈥檚 episodes zero in on how the economics of energy affect the lives of West Texans. Evidence of the industry鈥檚 growth in the area (such as a very lucrative Domino鈥檚 Pizza franchise听or a rise in strip clubs) takes center stage while industry-shattering events like the invention of fracking as an extraction method appear in the background.
Drilled听plays the ominous thriller as seriously as Boomtown听leans on charming banjo riffs and sound bites.
Both podcasts commit to their respective tones: Drilled plays the ominous thriller as seriously as Boomtown leans on charming banjo riffs and sound bites. Each approach feels like a reasonable way听to make extremely dense, decade-spanning reporting accessible to audiences.听
And they听ultimately form the same conclusion: Big Oil is scarily powerful听and not keen on sharing success. The economic windfall fueled by the Permian Basin, and the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota, and other regions around the world that run on extraction听is pocketed by faraway executives听and听rarely trickles down to workers or local residents in a meaningful way. (And when it does, it rarely lasts long.) Oil production itself is terrible for human health, from the risks of working on a rig to the long-term effects of pollution. Both podcasts emphasize through interviews that public opinion is steadily turning: several West Texans who appear in Boomtown seem unsettled about their relationship with the industry, as are some of the corporate insiders听in Drilled.
The last episode of Boomtown addresses the Permian Basin鈥檚 boom through the lens of a conflicted听player: the late George Mitchell, known as the father of fracking,听whose company figured out how to use massive amounts of water and blasting to听access additional natural gas and oil deposits back in 1998.听Mitchell thought of himself a conservationist and believed that natural gas was the 鈥渇uel of the future,鈥 a way to cut down on carbon emissions. He did not anticipate that fracking releases enough methane to听cancel out the relative benefit of burning natural gas instead of oil.听Mitchell听had a complicated relationship with his legacy: he eventually advocated for more regulation and corporate responsibility in the industry he helped propel, but did so after he鈥檇 made his billions.听
It鈥檚 an apt way to wrap the series: pondering an extreme example of individual responsibility in a sector听where personal accountability is concentrated at the very top, even though there are big consequences for a whole lot of bystanders听(that鈥檚 us). It helps to remember that even an industry as toxic and out of control as Big Oil didn鈥檛 necessarily have to end up that way鈥攁nd doesn鈥檛 have to continue as it has.