When we first started reporting this story, people unfamiliar with it would suggest talking to local environmental groups. Surely they would have something to say about a massive new polluting industry springing up in the country! But every group we could find operating in Guyana had taken money from Exxon or one of its partners. Several have made promotional videos praising the project. They argue that oil money is no dirtier than any other source of funding, and if it’s there, they may as well...
Apr 18, 2023•39 min•Season 8Ep. 6
The tension between addressing global poverty and acting on the climate crisis is one the fossil fuel industry, and those who carry water for it, have been increasingly leaning on in recent years. We asked Dr. Narasimha Rao to join us this week to get into the details of that conversation, where there are and aren't tradeoffs, and what his Decent Living Energy Project at Yale can tell us about how to solve both global crises at once. Download our discussion guide on debunking the "moral case" fo...
Apr 11, 2023•41 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Melinda Janki has filed seven separate cases aimed at blocking oil drilling in Guyana, but only one of them explicitly names climate change as a problem the project is guaranteed to exacerbate. It’s a constitutional case that invokes Guyana’s constitutional right to a healthy environment—an amendment Janki herself helped to write. Plaintiffs Dr. Troy Thomas and Quedad DeFreitas argue that the government’s choice to fast-track permits and oil production threatens their right to a healthy environm...
Apr 04, 2023•42 min•Season 8Ep. 4
One person in Guyana knows both the inner workings of oil companies and the intricacies of Guyanese environmental law better than most. Melinda Janki grew up in Guyana, but went to university at Oxford and then worked as in-house counsel for oil giant BP before returning home. Decades ago she started to help strengthen the country’s environmental laws. In 2018 she started filing suits against the government to block offshore drilling. Her latest suit demands that ExxonMobil be liable for any env...
Mar 28, 2023•44 min•Season 8Ep. 3
After a year’s worth of pressure from local press and civil society groups, the Guyanese government released its contract with ExxonMobil to the public in December 2017. The IMF calls it an unfair deal for Guyana. Some local leaders start calling on government officials to try to renegotiate the contract, but others say that’s a fool’s errand and the only place to fight the contract is in court. Read more in Antonia Juhasz's Wired story on Guyana: https://www.wired.com/story/the-quest-to-defuse-...
Mar 21, 2023•40 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Five years ago, Kiana Wilburg was a new reporter when ExxonMobil executives and Guyanese government officials announced they had found oil 40 miles offshore. Wilburg and her newsroom had to quickly learn about the industry and this company that was suddenly so influential in their country and were left with just one question: exactly what kind of a deal had the country signed onto? Visit https://brilliant.org/Drilled for 30 days free and 20% off a subscription. Subscribe to our newsletter for cu...
Mar 14, 2023•31 min•Season 8Ep. 1
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows exactly how accurate oil company scientists' climate models were back in the 1970s and 80s. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this final episode, a look at what it might take to finally act on climate. Sign up for our newsletter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 09, 2023•27 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows exactly how accurate oil company scientists' climate models were back in the 1970s and 80s. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this episode, a look at how successful the fossil fuel industry's decades-long information war was at convincing the public there was nothing to worry about, and how that su...
Mar 06, 2023•22 min
On paper, the small South American country of Guyana is the fastest-growing economy in the world, thanks to its oil boom. The country started shipping barrels of oil in 2019. Hotels are popping up all over its capital city. Historic homes are being turned into condos for visiting oil execs. But average citizens say they aren’t benefiting from the boom like they thought they would. And one lawyer is trying everything she can to stop her homeland from being changed from a carbon sink into a carbon...
Feb 28, 2023•2 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this episode, we look at how f...
Feb 27, 2023•24 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this episode, we look at how o...
Feb 25, 2023•24 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial and Exxon's role in it, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this ep...
Feb 14, 2023•19 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial and Exxon's role in it, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this ep...
Feb 07, 2023•24 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial and Exxon's role in it, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. 2015 Exx...
Feb 01, 2023•25 min
A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial and Exxon's role in it, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. 2015 Exx...
Jan 24, 2023•24 min
In this special sneak preview of our next season, we hear from Melinda Janki, a lawyer who's fighting to keep her home country of Guyana from becoming one of the world's largest carbon bombs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 10, 2023•52 min
The House Oversight Committee wrapped up its investigation into climate disinformation earlier this month and published a second tranche of revealing internal documents that spell out exactly how the world's largest oil companies have misled the public on their commitments to energy transition. One of the people who spearheaded that investigation, Representative Ro Khanna, joins us to discuss. Read more: https://www.drilledpodcast.com/highlights-from-the-climate-disinfo-document-dump/https://the...
Dec 20, 2022•20 min
A new report from Influence Map shows that despite all their talk of "clean trucks," truck manufacturers are lobbying heavily against emissions reductions at both the state and federal level. Read the report: https://influencemap.org/report/US-Heavy-Duty-Transport-Climate-Change-20434 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 13, 2022•20 min
November was a big month for climate litigation! The first-ever climate RICO was filed on behalf of 16 Puerto Rican municipalities, plus a cohort of scientists and researchers, including NASA scientist James Hansen, sued the EPA to compel them to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 06, 2022•43 min
Loss and damage was a big focus of #COP27 and, ultimately, one of the few things global negotiators could agree on. But media coverage of loss and damage has left out a lot of important history, including how flawed the fossil fuel industry's "fossil fuels = development" myth is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 22, 2022•34 min
Investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki's new book The Petroleum Papers looks at the fascinating history of climate denial in Canada, and how denial built a bridge between the U.S. and Canadian fossil fuel industries. Buy the book: https://greystonebooks.com/products/the-petroleum-papersAttend the U.S. launch: https://climatemuseum.org/2022-events/2022/11/15/book-launch-with-geoff-dembickiRead Geoff in Vice News: https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/geoff-dembicki Learn more about your ad choices...
Nov 15, 2022•37 min
COP27 is underway in Egypt. Everyone agrees that the stakes have never been higher so why is longtime fossil fuel industry greenwasher Hill + Knowlton handling media for the conference? Today a look back at the firm's longstanding history crafting science denial and delay strategies for both tobacco and fossil fuel companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 08, 2022•34 min
The annual Conference of the Parties —a global meeting of negotiators and heads of state to discuss a path forward on climate action—is coming up in a little over a week. Historically these meetings gin up all sorts of climate disinformation. Today, a new report walks journalists and other communicators through the many ways they can counter disinfo without amplifying it. Report: https://caad.info/report/journalist-field-guide-navigating-climate-misinformation/ Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Oct 26, 2022•40 min
Beginning with Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon) in the late 1940s, oil companies have invested heavily in universities, not just to fund engineering programs and, eventually, climate science, but also to fund the public policy centers and economics programs that shape policy solutions. Fossil Free Research, a new group formed by many of the same students who pushed their campuses to divest from fossil fuels, is demanding that the world's top universities break their addiction to fossil fue...
Oct 18, 2022•55 min
Taped live at the Harvard Faculty Club, an interview with Naomi Oreskes about her forthcoming book "The Big Myth," focused on the origin story behind free-market ideology, followed by a panel discussion on how to widen climate accountability to include not only oil companies but also the other industries and enablers that have obstructed climate action. Resources:UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigation: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/science-hub-climate-litigationClimate Social Science Network:...
Oct 07, 2022•2 hr 2 min
Three Congressional hearings shone a light on climate disinformation this week, with one looking at oil companies' role, another looking at the role of PR firms, and a third looking at corporate attempts to limit the free speech of environmental activists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 20, 2022•19 min
From its state treasurer to its attorney general to its Senator, West Virginia is leading the charge on climate obstruction and dismantling environmental regulation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 13, 2022•17 min
West Virginia v EPA isn't the only big climate case before the Supreme Court this year, from questioning the SEC's disclosure rules to major Clean Water challenges there's a lot more to come. EarthJustice's Sam Sankar and Kirti Datla join to give us a preview of what's coming in the court's Fall session. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 23, 2022•49 min
Jesse Coleman, senior investigator for Documented, joins to walk us through an eye-opening investigation into the State Financial Officers Federation, an obscure group organizing Republican state treasurers in the fight against "woke capital." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 16, 2022•34 min
Everyone else might have moved on but we're still plodding through the latest IPCC report over here. Carbon dioxide removal, or CDR, came up all over this report, and because the summary is vastly more positive about the potential of this tech than the rest of the report (thanks in no small part to influence from Saudi Arabia and the U.S.), I wanted to bring together a more complete picture of what the report actually says about it. Nikki Reisch and Carroll Muffett from the Center for Internatio...
Jul 12, 2022•38 min
