WEBVTT - “All Hell Breaks Loose”: How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:03.440 Hello, and welcome back to Drilled. 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:04.800 I'm Amy Westervelt. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:08.960 This week we're thrilled to be re publishing a series 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:12.280 on our site from the Xylum, about a small town 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.480 in Texas that happens to be the country's top boil 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.880 export hub. It wasn't always that way. About ten years ago, 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.160 residents bought houses next to a naval base. Maybe not ideal, 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.040 but they could get a house near the ocean in 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:31.880 an affluent, sleepy community. Then the naval base shut down, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:37.040 the export terminals took over, and this predominantly white, conservative, 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.680 affluent town became a fence line community. Alex Ip, who 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:51.640 reported and wrote the series, is here to tell us more. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:02.080 Hi. My name is alex Ipp. I'm the founder, publisher 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:03.520 and editor of The Zilo. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.679 I would love to hear, Alex how you first stumbled 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:16.240 across this town, because it has so many standout, weird 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.679 little facts about it, and I'm like, ho, have I 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:19.800 never heard of this place? 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:25.040 Yes? So I have to thank the Society for Environmental Journalists, 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.000 which I am a member, and also the Institute for 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:33.880 Journalism and Natural Resources. They organized a post conference tour 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.200 in SDJ twenty twenty two, which was in Houston at 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.200 the time, and I was invited to participate in the 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.520 strip along with a number of other journalists to go 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.720 down to South Texas to the Texas Coastal Bend, which 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.760 is where Corpus Christie is, and also to surrounding towns 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:55.560 and as villagists. So we wanted to understand what are 0:01:55.560 --> 0:02:00.520 some environmental challenges facing this part of the country where 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.840 there's a lot of oil and gas activity. So this 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.480 little town that we're talking about is Ingleside on the 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.960 Bay in Texas. This town has around six hundred and 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.960 fourteen people has the last census, and it is a 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.880 reasonably wealthy town in South Texas. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:19.520 It has the. 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:24.960 Second highest home prices within the Corpus Christi metro area. 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.639 It has access to Corpus Christie Bay, which is one 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.400 of the larger bays that connects to the Gulf of Mexico. 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.640 It is also a town that's really white. Census data 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.680 shows that roughly eighty five percent of their residents are white. 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.320 It is also quite a conservative town. It voted for 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.960 Trump for a margin of over fifty points in the 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:53.079 last three presidential elections. But what is also really interesting 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.240 about Ingleside on the Bay is that it is located 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.920 in close proximity to free crude oil export aminals. So 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.920 when you know America drills oil, a lot of the 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:09.160 oil it exports to various countries. So in order to 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.560 have the oil get from the oil fields to other countries, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.840 you have to use pipelines to send them to where 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:18.840 it meets the ocean, where it gets loads up into 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.960 oil tankers and then they go their way to different countries. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.800 Angleside On the Bay has two of the largest crude 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.080 oil export terminals in the entire US. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:29.760 It has the. 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.240 Single largest crude oil export terminal in the US. It 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.080 has the second largest crude oil export terminal in the US. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:38.880 There used to be a third one, but it got 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.880 purchased by the biggest one, so now there's only two left. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.160 In effect, based on what we can estimate, half of 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.840 US's crude oil export industry is found in this little 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.760 town and residents live less than two miles and in 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.560 certain places, maybe you know, half a mile away from 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.360 crude oil export terminals where these oil tankers just come 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.520 in and out, in and out, and they load oil 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.600 and sometimes there are accidents. Sometimes there are incidents and 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.400 residents have to deal with it on a daily basis. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.760 I think the thing that struck me most about this 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.880 story when you first were talking to me about it, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.640 is that this is not maybe the type of community 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.640 we often think of or see when we're talking about 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.800 frontline community. So this is a pretty affluent, pretty white town, 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:33.120 and they are a fence line community. I'm curious what 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.960 you found when you talk to people, like, how do 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.560 they view themselves in comparison to other fence line communities. 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.200 Are some of these people folks who have maybe voted 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:48.320 for policies that they're now being negatively impacted by. 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:51.680 Yeah, So I do want to add a caveat that 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.800 I never asked directly any of the sources that I 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.720 talk to, you know, what political party they identify? 0:04:58.000 --> 0:04:58.919 Who did you vote for? 0:04:59.320 --> 0:04:59.640 No? 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.080 I can ask them because this is not an issue 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.560 that belongs to one political party or not. This transcends 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:11.320 political boundaries because you can just observe the impact that 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.520 they're facing on a day to day basis. It doesn't 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:17.239 care whether you belong to a political party or another 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.240 political party, or you don't believe in political parties at all. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.080 One thing I did notice was a lot of residents 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.719 moved in about ten years ago. That's when the home 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.120 prices started increasing. A lot of them weren't really aware 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.120 of what was happening because the place where all these 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.880 crewed export terminals used to be was a naval station, 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:40.800 but people just sort of live with it. There are 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.720 drawbacks to being next to a naval station, but that 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:45.680 people lived with it. There's a lot of people who 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.360 used to be related to, you know, the military communities, 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.760 and now this former naval base has in your life 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.200 as a crude or export terminal. And these residents were 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.960 sort of just thinking about retiring, thinking about having a 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.640 good time. Wanted to go fish, they wanted to go 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.400 eat seafood, They want to just do hang out, do 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.080 their thing, and now they're realizing that this is no 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.640 longer something they can do on a day to day basis, 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.359 and they are upset about this. There are shocked, I 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.600 would say, they couldn't really figure out why this would 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:22.080 happen to them, But this is also something that they 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.720 are determined to put a stop to. So they are 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.440 organizing not just within their little town, but also organizing 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.280 with various groups across the coastal band, across the Corpus 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:39.040 Christi metro area that has different racial backgrounds, different ethnicities, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.040 different income backgrounds, different political leanings. They realize that the 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:47.360 best way to respond to these challenges is to work 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:52.120 together with groups who might have, you know, different ideas 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.279 of how to do it, but they have a same 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:59.200 ultimate goal of making sure that there's good regulations on 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.760 the crude altern criminals and also to maybe just stop 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.080 them wherever they can. 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.080 That's super interesting for some of these people. This is 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.240 maybe their first time organizing, right, what's their experience with 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:17.840 having to organize and being in a situation where, you know, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.200 the local government, the state government, et cetera, is not 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:23.400 necessarily on their side. 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.680 Yes, So one thing I would say for this town 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.280 Ingleside on the Bay is residents do recognize some of 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.760 the connections and privileges they have, and so they're able to, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.800 for example, apply for various philanthropic funding that could help 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.480 support the work they've been doing. They realize that they 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.160 need to show up in numbers. That's why they show 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:50.640 up to various public meetings hearings, and they also try 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.440 to coordinate a message. They want to coordinate with a 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.200 simple message that they can remember from the top of 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.960 their head and they could just speak clearly about what 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.400 their demands are and what they are not happy about. 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.360 What I also noticed is for a lot of these folks, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.240 some of their educational background helps, or some of their 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.760 previous business background helps, and it's trying to figure out 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.120 how in this stage of their lives they're trying to 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.400 look out for their kids and their grandkids, and how 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.960 can they use the remaining time that they're around the 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.120 town or the energy that they have to put it 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.960 to a purpose that they think that could benefit the 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:28.440 people around them. 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.480 Right, that makes sense. What are the sorts of things 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.360 that people are dealing with as a result of having 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:40.000 these facilities nearby. What are some of the daily things 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.880 that they are having to deal with. I know you 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.600 mentioned accidents and incidents before, but what do those look 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.480 like and what's the experience like for these people. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.880 Yes, So, in a span of a year and a week, 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.200 there were two oil spills that happened right next to 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:00.240 Ingleside on the day. And this doesn't just affect go 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.240 side on the Bay obviously, because when you have an 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.560 oil spill, there are chemicals that are in the air, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.240 there are chemicals that are in the water, and it spreads. 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.160 And so what residents have described through you know, the 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.560 public social media posts or through conversations that I have 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.200 with them or when they're testifying publicly, is that everything 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:26.040 from you know, they're feeling really nauseous. They can't you 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.920 open the doors, open the windows. They notice that, you know, 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.520 fish have been dying, crabs have been dying. They can't 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.280 fish as much as they did anymore. Their pets are 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:41.280 going insane because pets also can smell what's in the air, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.440 or they can feel that something's not right, and in 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.520 certain cases, certain residents report that they have asthma. Now, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.400 while I am not able to establish, you know, a 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:57.240 cause a relationship between these facilities and their asthma, these 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.480 residents do say that they have never had asthma or 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:03.920 health issue before moving to Ingleside on the Bay. One 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:08.720 thing that also is a big point of anger of 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.360 these residents is that they bought these homes to be 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.040 by the bay. That's what Ingleside on the Bay is about, 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.240 and they found that it is getting harder and harder 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.800 for them to do recreational activities or fishing, simply because 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.040 there's a lot of oil tankers going around there's a 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.240 lot of dredging to deepen the channel, and they're concerned 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.200 that this prevents them from physically accessing a lot of 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.520 these spaces that they can do such activities. And finally, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:41.160 you know, residents are concerned of a future risk of 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:42.880 their home prices getting lowered. 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:47.080 Okay, let's have you set up the TCEQ hearing. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.840 So the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which residents commonly 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:57.920 refer to as TCQ, they're supposed to have a regulatory 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:03.679 process before they issue a state permit for Clean Air 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.160 Acts or other federal laws. So in this case, in 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.800 January twenty twenty four, they had a notice in comment 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.920 hearing where representatives from Enbridge, the Canadian oil and gas 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.160 company that's trying to get the permit renewed for five years, 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:27.240 get to speak to residents and also with other concerned citizens, advocates, 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:34.600 elected officials, and collects public comments. TCQ did in February 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:41.080 greenlit the permit renewal. So this was a view of 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.200 the process of how it happened. 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:44.679 Thank you. 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:47.360 My name is Lynn Porter. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:49.160 I live on Engle Side. 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.160 On the day, I am approximately a half a mile 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:59.600 from your wonderful facility. You just talked about vapor relief. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.280 I know there's vapor release. I see it, I smell it. 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:05.400 I have to stay inside. 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:07.000 I'd like to thank you. 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.479 And then now at sixty three, I have two inhalers 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.880 that I have to have never had them before until 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:15.560 three years ago when I lived on the bay and 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.120 I am a runner, so luve should be pretty good. 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:21.520 My main concern is CCQ. 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:23.640 There are five. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.920 Hundred elementary children from three to six one point six 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.839 miles from this and I know where those vapors, so 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:37.040 the wind takes them. There is no monitor by that school. 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.800 Why that should be in the permit. There is no 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.719 monitor at any of our schools. 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.280 I was really struck by this woman who has been 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.280 a runner of her whole life. You know, still wants 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.720 to run every day, but she's now having health issues 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.040 because the air quality is so bad. I'm just curious 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.840 if you heard that from multiple people, and what kind 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:06.480 of daily annoyances people are having just from being exposed 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.840 to all these little organic compounds in the air too. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.640 Yeah, so not just phototile organic compounds, but when the 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:19.120 oil spills happen, right, there were just yellow clumps of 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.600 stuff that's on the shore that's not being cleaned, and 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.320 residents have sent me photos of those clumps of oil. 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.960 So there are two layers to this. The one thing 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.880 is that it's very annoying nauseous to inhale this on 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:37.280 a daily basis, or to walk through the oil spills 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.800 whenever they happen. The other thing that residents are concerned 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.520 about is they don't know what's really in the air, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.600 or they don't feel like they have the knowledge or 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:50.360 don't know how to fully understand this. And that's a 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.720 hard thing knowledge that they don't know what's really in there. 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:59.040 The uncertainty of what am I inhaling on a daily basis, 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.040 what is there in the world or what's on the shore. 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.240 They don't really know, and I think that adds to 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:09.680 the stress that residents have living in Ingoside on the Bay. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.920 Where do things stand right now for this community and 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.560 what kinds of things are they hoping to get done? 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.120 Where are they at now in their fight? 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:25.640 Yeah, So two of the US's largest crude oil export 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:30.320 terminals are located right next to Ingleside on the Bay. 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.480 Not only that, there's been a plan for one of 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:37.640 those companies, Enbridge, a Canadian oil and gas company to 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.800 work with Yara, who's a Norwegian chemical company, to build 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:47.280 a facility that creates ammonia, and this ammonia will be 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.720 exported to support agricultural needs and that won't be sold 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.600 in the US. So a lot of residents are trying 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:59.239 to fight the ammonia facility. They're also trying to intervene 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.080 in this process were these facilities need to get their 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:07.040 licenses renewed every five years, and so residents have been 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.920 showing up to public readings, showing up, writing letters, writing 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:15.160 public comment, and the public comment petition period is still 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:19.520 active until May twenty eighth, and residents are hoping that 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:24.320 the federal government would step in and hold not just 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:29.200 the oil company accountable, but also the TCEQ, which is 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:34.360 the state level environmental regulatory agency, accountable, so they could 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:38.800 make sure that these companies don't polude the environment and 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:43.600 also not to admit various being hold gases or various 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:47.160 pollutants that would harm the community. One thing I also 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:51.520 wanted to know is how much data is important and 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.720 how when we don't have data, things fall apart. So 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.320 one thing that's really struck me and I was doing 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.760 this reporting process, which was also confirmed by the TCEQ, 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.280 was that they did not have a single air quality 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.720 monitor that the states set up in the entire county 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.320 of where Ingleside on Debay is. So this is San 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:17.400 Patricio County in South Texas. All the sensors are in 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.920 Nuasis County, which is on the other side of Corpus Christie. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:26.680 So the question is if there's no data that residents 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.320 can access from the state government, then what they can 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.600 do in this case, do they buy their own sensors 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.880 and risk not having the data that they collected from 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:46.080 these sensors accepted by various agencies. Do they just give 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.400 the best shot at what the government can give them, 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.920 or do they trust self reported data from all these 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.720 oil and gas companies and try to make the best 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.520 out of it. That's a big thing, you know. If 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:03.960 you don't have data, it's very hard to start a conversation. 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.760 Or if you don't have the data, you can't see 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.920 the trends, you can't see the outliers. What we can 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:15.400 know is that the risk of toxic chemicals in San 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.600 Patricio County, which is where this little town is located, 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:23.399 has increased seventeen times since twenty eighteen, which means that 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.960 it is now more risky to live on the side 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.760 where Ingleside on the Bay is compared to where Corpus 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.720 Christie is and where all the oil and gas development 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:37.280 happened earlier last decade. The final thing that I've been 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:41.960 noticing is that, you know, the Trump administration has deleted 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.960 certain federal data and federal databases, and that has affected 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.360 residents and has affected my reporting. When I was starting 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.840 this investigation, it was laid into the Biden administration. At 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.480 the time, there was data, but the data has been 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.880 outdated because it takes, you know, up to a calendar 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.480 year for the reporting to happen and for them to 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.640 be uploaded to public databases for people to see. Which 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.320 also means the data that we're working with that we're 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.600 citing in this reporting represent a snapshot in time. It's 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.560 something in the past, and we're looking at the breakneck 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.600 pace of how this oil and gas expansion has been. 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.119 You know, we've been hearing that Enverage, for example, nearly 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.560 doubled how much oil they export every day just in 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:35.080 the past year. Then that's something that residents are essentially 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:39.640 playing a game of catchup. And now in the Trump administration, 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:46.200 certain databases such as yjscreen or short for Environmental Justice Stream, 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.440 which looks at various types of risk, that's certain neighborhood 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.040 space that's been taken offline, which means that residents have 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.320 fewer data to work with to compare their own situations, 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.600 what's happening to nearby towns across the state, or compared 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:06.320 to some environmental justice hotspot set as cancer Allity or Beaumont, Texas. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.679 And when we have less and less data, our journalism 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.879 work is harder. For one, and the second thing is 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.520 resonent just feels like, you know, they're being hit in 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.360 the dark, that they don't know what's happening to them. 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:20.360 And that is. 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:22.920 Something that you know, we have to grapple with as 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.760 environmental journalists moving forward. How can we gather data that 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:31.280 is accurate and authoritative, you know, without relying on what 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.600 the federal government has given us in the past. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.840 That's so huge right now. I don't think people really 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:43.000 realize what we're losing as the government eliminates programs that 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.200 collect this data, takes the data offline, makes it illegal 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.800 to share the data, you know, the Environmental Defense Fund 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.760 just had to sue the government to get the greenhouse 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.400 gas inventory released, for example. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.240 And I love Republica. They've been doing top notch work. 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.840 I love you know, inside climbing News, they've been doing 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:05.840 top notch work. I want to shout out the work 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:10.800 that Lisa's song al saw, Lila Jones and also Dylan 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.440 Bador has been working on in this region. And I've 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.760 benefited a lot from their poor of reporting before I 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:20.640 started my reporting, But what I realized was, you know, 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.280 they rely on data as well. And for example, when 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:29.240 Republica published the most detailed map of cancer causing industrial 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:32.800 air pollution in the United States, it published the story 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.840 in twenty twenty one, but the data in the MAC 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.119 covers emissions from twenty fourteen to twenty eighteen, which was 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.040 three years ago the time that we had to spend 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:45.080 to verify all the data, which also means that we 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.040 are playing catch up as well, and we're not being 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.240 able to show residents in real time what they're dealing 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.800 on a day to day basis and when we are 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.400 sharing risk. Risk is also something that it's like playing 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:00.760 Russian roulette. You have a more likely chance of getting cancer, 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.440 but you know, some big incident can happen and the 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.679 numbers change really quickly, or or some folks it's like 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:12.440 when it happens, it happens. So how can we communicate 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:16.040 this risk to residents and provide them with useful information 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.120 so they can act on it. That's also something that 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:26.600 I think both journalists, residents, advocates, policymakers, lots of officials 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:29.160 need to really sit down and think about in these 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:30.160 uncertain times. 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.840 Completely completely agree. Thank you so much, Alex. 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:42.400 That is it for this time. You can check out 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.600 the rest of Alex's three part series at the xylom 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:49.720 dot com. That's th e x y l O M. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:55.000 Drilled is an original Critical Frequency production. This episode was 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:59.720 produced by Peter Duff, reported and hosted by me Amy Westervelt, 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:04.480 fact checked by shild Legendia, and scored with the song 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:07.920 A Bird in the Hand by Forenoon. Check out Drill 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.000 dot Media for more and make sure you are subscribed 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.960 to the podcast so you don't miss the first episode 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:19.119 of our new season coming next week. Thanks for listening 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:20.400 and we'll see you next time.