1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: Early in my career, I did a ton of reporting 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,440 Speaker 1: on the plastic problem, why there was so much of it, 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: how the industry operated, the pr guys who created fake 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: front groups for plastic manufacturers. It was a lot of 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: the same stuff the oil and gas guys had done, 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: which makes sense because it was mostly the same companies 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: making plastic. But at a certain point I shifted my 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: focus away from plastic, partly because it seemed like a 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:34,319 Speaker 1: problem that. 10 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:35,919 Speaker 2: Was being solved. 11 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: The public was aware of the problem, there were various 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: alternatives to plastic being embraced. Even consumer behavior was changing. 13 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: Now to California, where a new law will ban single 14 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: use plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores. Instead of 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: buying a plastic tube of toothpaste then throwing it away 16 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: or recycling it, maybe you can now buy toothpaste tablets 17 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: that come in this little compostable paper packets. 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 3: It's called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 4: I like that in the Pacific Ocean contains plastic waste 20 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 4: twice the size of Texas. 21 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 3: That's big. 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: And then a few years ago I started to see 23 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: more and more plastic everywhere, restaurants, stores, my kids' school, 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: and I wondered what had happened to shift the course 25 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: of things so dramatically. Had I missed some kind of 26 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: policy change, had some celebrity said something pro plastic? But 27 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,960 Speaker 1: it also jumped out of me because it was so 28 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: similar to what had happened on climate change during the nineties, 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: high public awareness momentum toward change, and then boom, this 30 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: complete shift of course. So I started looking into it, 31 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: and the first place I looked was this sort of 32 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: cartoonishly evil PR guy who had been the head of 33 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: all of these pro plastic campaigns when I'd looked into 34 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: the issue before. His name was Rick Berman. His nickname 35 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: is doctor Evil, and I'm not joking. He's the guy 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: who ran a ton of the PR campaigns for Philip 37 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: Morris back in the day. The lead character in the 38 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: movie Thank You for Smoking is based on him. I 39 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: don't have an MD or law degree. 40 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: I have a bachelor's and kicking button taking names. 41 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: I get paid to talk. 42 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 5: What do you talk about? 43 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 3: I speak on behalf of cigarettes. 44 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 2: My mommy cigarettes kill? 45 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 3: Now? 46 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 2: Is your mommy a doctor? 47 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 3: No? 48 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 2: Well she doesn't exactly sound like a credible expert, now 49 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 2: does she. 50 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: Rick Berman has also targeted Mothers against Drunk Driving for 51 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: alcohol clients, and the Humane Society for beef clients. 52 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 5: Mysteres, how many alcohol related does a year? 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 2: Well, that's what two hundred and seventy a day. 54 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: Tragedy. I front an organization that killed him. So I 55 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: had followed Berman a lot when I was reporting on 56 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 1: plastic because he was working for all the plastic bag 57 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: manufacturers and the food and beverage guys who all wanted 58 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: to fight against plastic bag bands. Burman was the guy 59 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: behind my all time favorite fake grassroots group, the Save 60 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: the Plastic Bag Coalition. They claimed to be a group 61 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: of concerned citizens who loved plastic bags, I guess, but 62 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: was actually one guy paid by Rick Bourban. So when 63 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: I dove back in in twenty fourteen, the first thing 64 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: I did was google Rick Berman, and I found a 65 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: New York Times story October thirtieth, twenty fourteen, about how 66 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: Berman was suddenly very involved with natural gas companies and 67 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: fracking hard nosed advice from veteran lobbyist win ugly or 68 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: lose pretty. 69 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 2: A speech he'd. 70 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: Given in Colorado for a group of natural gas companies 71 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: called the West Start Energy Alliance had been leaked here's 72 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: a little bit from it. 73 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 5: And again we've had a lot of ads on this thing. 74 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 5: You get in people's mind a tie, they don't know 75 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 5: who's right, and you win all ties. 76 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 3: Because the tie. 77 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: Basically ensures the status quote. 78 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 3: People are not prepared. 79 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 6: To get aggressive in moving whus layers together. So I'll 80 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 6: take a tie any day if I'm trying to deserve 81 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 6: the status quote. 82 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: A tie is a win because that basically ensures the 83 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: status quo. Wow, But also what was Bourban doing there? 84 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: He had worked with every other industry before, tobacco, alcohol, meat, chemicals, 85 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: but weirdly he had never worked for oil and gas, 86 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: and now here he was in one of the hubs 87 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: of the fracking boom. Quick orientation on that front. Fracking 88 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: is slang for hydraulic fracturing. It's a drilling process where 89 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: you basically blast water and chemicals into shale rock at 90 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: really high pressure, busting open the rocks and pumping out 91 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: the gas or oil that's hiding inside of them. Around 92 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, a few independent companies figured out 93 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: how to do fracking economically, and the price of oil 94 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: and gas made it smart to pursue. That kicked off 95 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: a fracking boom. But around twenty ten, people in communities 96 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,119 Speaker 1: where fracking was happening had started to talk about how 97 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: it was ruining their water, in some cases making it flammable, 98 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: a thing you don't really want your water to be. 99 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: Then stories started to come out about the radioactive waste 100 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: being generated by fracking, Yes, radioactive waste. Fracking had some 101 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: pretty bad press going into that conference Berman was at 102 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen. Neighbors in that Colorado town are being 103 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: in the heat as well. 104 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 6: The groundwater there is apparently contaminated by natural gas. 105 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 7: A Colorado homeowners living in fear because their tap water 106 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 7: is flammable. 107 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 8: And the brine that these truckers are hauling radium can 108 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 8: be as high as twenty eighty five hundred. These levels 109 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 8: are extraordinary. 110 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: So it made sense that the industry would go looking 111 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 1: for a hitman like Berman to save it. At the 112 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: Western Energy Alliance conference, Berman was presenting on his latest campaign, 113 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: Big Green Radicals, an attempt to discredit the top three 114 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: critics of fracking at the time SERRA Club, NRDC, and 115 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: Food and Water Watch. Here's Berman's colleague Jack Hubbard explaining, 116 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 1: more so, we. 117 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 4: Thought, how are we going to kick off this campaign. 118 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 4: Take the typical Bourbon and Company model in undermining. 119 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 9: These folks credibility and diminish their moral authority. 120 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: Ah, Yes, the typical Berman and Company model of undermining 121 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: people's credibility and diminishing their moral authority. Berman's fur a 122 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: into the natural gas world got me wondering if fracking 123 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: and gas were linked to the sudden resurgence of plastic 124 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: And then over the next couple of years, I started 125 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: to hear more about another problem with fracking, a natural 126 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: gas glut. The story was that fracking companies had been 127 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: so successful at getting gas out of shale rock that 128 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: they were just kind of swimming in this stuff. 129 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 10: It was very good at producing gas, but terrible at 130 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 10: producing profits. 131 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: This is Clark Williams Dairy, an analyst with the Institute 132 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis AIFA. 133 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 10: And that's something that I think has actually been emblematic 134 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 10: the shale industry as a whole, that it's an industry 135 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 10: that's been phenomenally successful at producing oil and gas, but 136 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 10: it's been terrible at producing cash. 137 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: The fracking industry actually never produced profits, but it did 138 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: produce a lot of gas, and it needed to find 139 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: a market for it. Here's Kingsmill Bond, an analyst with 140 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: the nonprofit Carbon Tracker. 141 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 5: With the fracking of gas a lot of ethane and propane, 142 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 5: and they're considerably cheaper as a feedstock than oil. And 143 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 5: all these companies had the bright day, well, let's turn 144 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 5: this ethane into plastic, and then we can undercut our 145 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 5: competitors and we can make very high superprofits. That's basically 146 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 5: was the idea. 147 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: Okay, so now it was starting to make some sense. 148 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: Just a few years after public awareness of the plastic 149 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: problem was peaking, fossil fuel companies realized if they could 150 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: make plastic with the byproducts of fracking instead of with oil, 151 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: they could solve the natural gas clout problem and supercharge 152 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:17,199 Speaker 1: their petro chemical profits. Again, remember, most of the companies 153 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: making plastic or providing the building blocks of plastic are 154 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: oil and gas companies. And here's where we get back 155 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: to the involvement of Berman and his cronies. Thanks to 156 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: some very clever messaging over the years, the general public 157 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:39,319 Speaker 1: has largely forgotten that plastic is made out of fossil fuels. 158 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 4: But when you look at their websites, when you look 159 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 4: at their communication stuff and business. They're very clear that 160 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 4: they are all about plastics, and so this is an 161 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 4: industry has been very effective at on the one hand, 162 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 4: promoting the use of plastic residence across ever wider ranges 163 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 4: of product streams and an evermore tes around the world, 164 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 4: and on the other hand, keeping their own role in 165 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 4: these processes largely invisible from the public. 166 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: This is Carol Muffett, President and CEO of the nonprofit 167 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: Center for International Environmental Law. 168 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 4: You know, the plub public when they think about who 169 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 4: produces plastic, they think about Procter and Gamble, they think 170 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 4: about Starbucks, they think about Amazon. All those are completely legitimate, 171 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 4: But ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, 172 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 4: the molecules going into that plastic are all coming from 173 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 4: a handful of companies, and they have names like Exxon 174 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 4: and Chevron Shell. 175 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: Oftentimes those oil and gas companies own and operate the 176 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: petrochemical facilities making plastic two, but they don't really advertise it. 177 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: Exon's big plastic factory in Louisiana, it's just called the 178 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: Baton Rouge Plastics Company. Even when they're not making the 179 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: plastics themselves. The connection is pretty direct between the oil 180 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: and gas industry and plastic. In twenty eleven, construction of 181 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: a new pipeline began. It would run from the eagle 182 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:14,760 Speaker 1: Ford Shale, one of the first big fracking plays in Texas, 183 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 1: to a petrochemical plant on the Gulf in Callum County. 184 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: That pipeline was fully operational by early twenty thirteen, supplying 185 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:28,079 Speaker 1: a plant owned by a little known Taiwanese company called Formosa. 186 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: I'm Amy Westervelt. Welcome to a new season of Drilled 187 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: the Bridge to Nowhere. We're tackling the natural gas industry 188 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: this season, and we're doing something a little different. Instead 189 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: of telling you one story, over the course of several episodes, 190 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a few different stories about 191 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: the natural gas industry. First up, plastic pipelines. That pipeline 192 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: from the eagle Ford Shale to the foremost of plastics plant. 193 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: It's not alone. There's a very very direct pipeline direct 194 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:06,359 Speaker 1: connection between these two industries. Over the next few episodes, 195 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: we're going to look at how the fracking boom led 196 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 1: to a plastics boom through the story of Formost of 197 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,839 Speaker 1: plastics on the Gulf Coast. Coming up right after this 198 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: quick break. 199 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 2: I've spent my whole life around the water. 200 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,679 Speaker 9: I've been shrimpen since I was eight years old, and 201 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 9: even when I was smaller, when I was like four 202 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,079 Speaker 9: and five years old, my dad would come in from 203 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 9: shrimp and all of us kids would go to the bay. 204 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:06,439 Speaker 2: And I can remember going out in. 205 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 9: The bay and when you leave her early, you got 206 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 9: the spoon bills, you know, these pink birds flying, they 207 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 9: coming about the marshes, and you're going past the reefs 208 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 9: and you're heading out into the bay, and it was, 209 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 9: it was, It was beautiful, and it always kept that magic. 210 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 9: And I think if I gave up on the bay, 211 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 9: I would be given up on the best part of myself. 212 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 1: Meet Diane Wilson. She's a fourth generation shrimp boat captain 213 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: in Point Comfort, Texas. That was a clip of her 214 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: from the documentary Texas Gold, but I got the chance 215 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: to speak with her too. 216 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 6: For a while, I ran a shrimp house, and you know, 217 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 6: I think I handled about fifteen shrimp boats. And it's 218 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:54,679 Speaker 6: a it's an old tin building and it's right at 219 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 6: the dock. 220 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: That shrimp house. She ran the little tin building on 221 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: the dock. It basically processes all the shrimp for the 222 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: shrimpers in the area, so they go out fishing, come back, 223 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: and Diane would sort of take it. 224 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 6: From there, so I know all the comings and goings 225 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 6: of those shrimpers. And one day I had a shripper 226 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 6: come in. And this shripper, he was a real nice 227 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 6: looking guy, and he had about three types of cancers, 228 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 6: and he had these lumps all over they were like 229 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 6: tennis falls up and down his arm. And anyway, he 230 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 6: threw this magazine at me and he wanted me to 231 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 6: read it. And it was the first time the toxic 232 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 6: release inventory ever came out. And our little county, Calsing County, 233 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 6: I bet we didn't have twelve thousand people in this county. 234 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 6: We were number one in the nation for toxic disposal. 235 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 6: We had half the ways generated in Texas was right here. 236 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 6: And it's like wow, it blew my mind, it really did. 237 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: Diane was shocked and worried about her little community. She 238 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: describes herself as a quote genuine introvert. 239 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 3: I am one of these people that doesn't like to speak. 240 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 3: I don't like to be around crowds. I can remember 241 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 3: when I was a child adding under a bed to 242 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 3: get away from people. It was probably a reason why 243 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 3: I was so good on the bay because there's a 244 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 3: lot of solitude out there. 245 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: But this seemed like something the community should really be 246 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: talking about. 247 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 3: But when I saw that article, I did something totally 248 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 3: out of character. I walked down to city Hall and 249 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,359 Speaker 3: I said, I want to have a meeting about this information. 250 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,040 Speaker 1: So apparently there's this little room at city hall in 251 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:51,480 Speaker 1: Diane's town and they let people use it for meetings. 252 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: So she went in and booked that room. 253 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 6: But then I had the city secretary. She come down 254 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 6: there and she said, Dian you you just got to 255 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 6: not do this. And I'm like, uh, well, I'll do 256 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 6: it in the elementary in the cafeteria and she said, no, Diane, 257 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 6: you've got You've got to stop it completely. You can't 258 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,720 Speaker 6: do this. There's red flags. There's red flags, and I'm like, 259 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 6: what red flag? 260 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: Dan didn't understand what the problem was. But pretty soon 261 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the secretary, it was local politicians and 262 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: businessmen too. 263 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 3: By President, who I had never talked to in my life, 264 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 3: come out on the dock and he said, Diane, are 265 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 3: you trying to start a mid Gilani group to roast 266 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 3: industry of life economic development? Called my brother, and they 267 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 3: told them to make me shut up and not have 268 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 3: this meeting. They were trying everything to shut me up 269 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 3: on just having a meeting. 270 00:16:55,840 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: Dane thought this was all really weird. She had assumed 271 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: the waste they were talking about in that toxic inventory 272 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: was kind of old news. It was stuff that had 273 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: been dumped back when there was a big Alcoa plant 274 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: in the area, and that was part of it. But 275 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: there was also new waste and a big industrial plant 276 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,400 Speaker 1: in town that was planning a major expansion. 277 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 6: It was the biggest expansion in Texas history, and the 278 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 6: biggest in the United States in ten years. And I 279 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 6: mean the governor, the senators, the you name it, the 280 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 6: even Silbraham who was running for president. Everybody was pushing. 281 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 6: They were going to give promost every single thing they wanted. 282 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: Formosa, a Taiwanese petrochemical company, had been in the area 283 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: since nineteen eighty one, and now it was planning a 284 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: one point three billion dollar expansion. 285 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 6: Someone had in the mail sent me a letter and 286 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:11,639 Speaker 6: in the letter was just these type simple words that, 287 00:18:12,359 --> 00:18:15,919 Speaker 6: miss Wilson, do you know this? And in it was 288 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 6: the uh it was you know it was a newspaper 289 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 6: clipping in the back. You know, it's on the back 290 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,959 Speaker 6: pages of a newspaper and it had UH Promosa's uh 291 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 6: public notice for Promosa's air permits and UH and I'm like, hell, 292 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 6: this is something I can do for the first meeting 293 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 6: of this little group. 294 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: Diane's been fighting the company ever since, mostly with the 295 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,479 Speaker 1: help of whistleblowers who worked at the foremosta plant. 296 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,400 Speaker 6: There's no unions, there's no safety, and you will get 297 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 6: fired if you open your mouth. And they did not 298 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 6: trust uh TCQ, the state agency. They didn't trust EPA, 299 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 6: and they didn't definitely did not trust OSHA. They thought 300 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 6: that was nothing but a way to get them fired, 301 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 6: to tell a lot of anything. And so who was 302 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 6: on the bottom of the list. It was me, And 303 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:17,120 Speaker 6: so they came to me, and that were I really 304 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 6: got the information. 305 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety three, when Formosa expanded, it bought five 306 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: hundred residents out of their homes and took over the 307 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 1: town's school. 308 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 6: Formosa's has got all their houses, the school shut down, 309 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 6: there's no school. Formosa is using the school for a 310 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,200 Speaker 6: training center now, so it's for Mosa's town. 311 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: But over a decade, Diane kept building her case often 312 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: meeting with Formosa workers out of town because they were 313 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: worried about getting fired or retaliation of some kind. They 314 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: told her about Formosa cutting corners, dumping chemicals and plastic 315 00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:01,119 Speaker 1: pellets into the ocean, burning off toxic chemicals through their smokestacks, 316 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: and generally not implementing appropriate safety measures. Diane spent three 317 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 1: years collecting plastic pellets that Formosa had dumped into the 318 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: bees and waterways around its Port Comfort facility. 319 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,919 Speaker 6: I would get into kayak and go up and down 320 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,920 Speaker 6: all skin of their outfalls, and sometimes that would take 321 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 6: me like five or six syres. I was all day long, 322 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 6: going up and down that singing kayak and taking all 323 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:27,920 Speaker 6: these pictures. 324 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: At the time when she was going out in her 325 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:35,199 Speaker 1: kayak all day, Diane was in her late sixties, and 326 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,639 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen she took Formosa to court. 327 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 8: Just down the Gulf coast from Houston lies an enormous 328 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 8: plastics plant, one of the nation's biggest. It's been a 329 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 8: driving force in the local economy, and now it's expanding 330 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 8: with promises of new jobs and tax revenue. But a 331 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 8: handful of coastal residents are suing the plant, claiming it's 332 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 8: polluted the waters in their red for years. 333 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: After fighting the company for decades, in twenty nineteen, Diane 334 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: had a big win. 335 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 7: Last year, Formosa agreed to pay fifty million dollars to 336 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 7: settle a lawsuit in which it agreed to zero discharge 337 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 7: of pellets. A federal judge called Formosa a serial offender. 338 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: It was the largest settlement granted in a citizen lawsuit 339 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: in US history. 340 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 6: And we got fifty million dollars for environmental projects, and 341 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:37,360 Speaker 6: we put twenty million into a sustainable fishery co op 342 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 6: for the local fishermont. 343 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: But Diane isn't retiring her kayak just yet. Her group 344 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,239 Speaker 1: is staying on top of Formosa to make sure it 345 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: complies with the court ruling. And she's been talking to 346 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: activists down the coast a bit in Louisiana. They're trying 347 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: to prevent Formosa from building a plant there. She's hoping 348 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 1: that which he's learned over the past thirty years might 349 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: help them do the one thing she couldn't. 350 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 6: My only regret, my only regret is that I did 351 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 6: not try hard enough to keep them out. Is they 352 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 6: need to try everything to keep them up. They do 353 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 6: not want Formosa in there. 354 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: We'll bring you that story next time next week on Drilled. 355 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 2: It will be too much hottick in the air just 356 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 2: to bring it. We will not live. 357 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,120 Speaker 9: That's where I'm fighting for my life and the life 358 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 9: of my community. 359 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: It's the single largest proposed source that we've been tracking 360 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. 361 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,400 Speaker 11: Certainly, I don't think there's any way you can divorce 362 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 11: what's happening now in terms of the sighting of these 363 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,520 Speaker 11: facilities and who's burying the biggest gardens from the history 364 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 11: of slavery and that in that area. 365 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 6: It's all. 366 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 11: There's a straight line connecting it all. 367 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: Drilled is an original production of the Critical Frequency podcast Network. 368 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: The show is reported, written, and hosted by me Amy Westervelt. 369 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: Our producer this season is Juliana Bradley. Our editor is 370 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,920 Speaker 1: Julia Ritchie. Our theme song this season is Death Song 371 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,960 Speaker 1: by be Beamon. Additional music for the season composed by 372 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 1: Elliott Peltzman. Her artwork for the season is done by 373 00:23:56,040 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: Matthew Fleming. Our First Amendment attorney is James at the 374 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: First Amendment Project. You can find additional reporting and photos 375 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: for this season on our Twitter feed at we are 376 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: Drilled or online at drillednews dot com. If you're a 377 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 1: fan of the show, please consider supporting us in two ways. 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