This episode of Going Green explores the environmental policies and approaches of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. It highlights the influence of the oil industry on the US government and the challenges faced in addressing climate change.

The episode also touches on the manipulation of public perception and the impact of campaigns by oil companies. The conversation explores various tactics used by corporations and the government to shape public opinion and influence environmental policies. We highlight the technique of astroturfing, the manipulation of emotions in messaging campaigns, and the funding of nonprofit organizations by corporations. The episode also examines the lead up to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

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Episode Extras - Photos, videos, sources and links to additional content I found during my research.

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Episode Credits:

Production by Gābl Media

Written by Dimitrius Lynch

Executive Produced by Dimitrius Lynch

Audio Engineering and Sound Design by Jeff Alvarez

Archival Audio courtesy of: CSPAN-Richardson, AP Archive, CBS News-Clinton, CSPAN-Browner, Texas Parks and Wildlife, CSPAN-Kendall, CSPAN-Cooney, kathiamalcom, mpdrsn, Reelblack One, climatebrad, Politics Dude, CSPAN-Davis, CSPAN-Norton, CSPAN-Energy Issues, CNN

It was November 10th, 2000, and with pressure mounting, advisors to President Clinton sent

him a memo laying out negotiation issues facing the United States in the UNFCCC's upcoming

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Conference of the Parties, or COP6.

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For context, a key task for the COP is to review the national communications and emission

inventories submitted by member states or parties of the UNFCCC.

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Based on this information, the COP assesses the effects of the measures taken by the

parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the convention.

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The US was largely maligned internationally for not signing on to the Kyoto Protocol in

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This was the last chance for the administration to progress its climate goals,

particularly meeting the Bird -Hagle requirements and securing Senate ratification to sign

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the Kyoto Protocol

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before the highly possible inauguration of George W.

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Bush.

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If you recall, after a successful PR campaign and lobbying effort by the oil and natural

gas industries, the US had refused to join the Kyoto Protocol, deeming it too costly and

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unfair to developed nations.

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The Clinton administration was now threading a needle, attempting to negotiate goals that

had already isolated the US.

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especially concerning developing countries' commitments and financial contributions for

technology transfer and capacity building.

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Clinton's record in global climate diplomacy was mixed.

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While his administration played a crucial role in negotiating the initial Kyoto Protocol

targets, it faced domestic political opposition, preventing ratification.

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This opposition was central to the complex negotiations.

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With criticism from nations like China and the EU,

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as well as environmental groups for the US's perceived inaction.

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China's participation was crucial for addressing climate change and US Senate ratification

of the protocol, but Beijing opposed commitments under the protocol, citing significantly

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lower per capita emissions compared to the US.

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In enters Bill Richardson, former governor of New Mexico and secretary of energy during

the second term of the Clinton administration.

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Thank you for that, Overly.

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gracious introduction which I wrote.

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That true.

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That true.

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Let me say that this has been a terrific first day.

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A lot of symbolism.

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I just was in the cafeteria with employees.

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I shook hands with some of you this morning as you walked in.

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I noticed those of you that pointedly avoided me.

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I have met with employee groups.

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union groups, I've had thorough briefings, staff meetings.

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The main message I wanted to send out is that I want my secretaryship to be accessible to

you.

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I think we can be the best department in the cabinet and it's going to happen.

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me just also say to you...

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Richardson had a gregarious personality and a prowess for relentless bargaining.

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Through his style and approach, he usually got his way.

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He was the kind of guy who would set a Guinness World Record by shaking hands.

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No, really.

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In his first campaign for governor, Richardson set a Guinness World Record by shaking 13

,392 hands in eight hours at the New Mexico State Fair.

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Born in Pasadena, California, to a Mexican and Spanish mother and a Caucasian and Mexican

naturalized American father, Richardson grew up in Mexico.

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and returned to the U .S.

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at the age of 13.

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He attended Middlesex School in Massachusetts, earned a bachelor's degree from Tufts

University, and a master's in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and

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Diplomacy.

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After college, Richardson began his political career in the Republican Party, working for

Republican Congressman F.

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Bradford Morris from Massachusetts.

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congressional relations for the Kinsinger State Department during the Nixon administration

and as a staff member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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It was there where he pivoted, literally talking his way onto the job of executive

director of the New Mexico Democratic Party.

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Jerry Apodaca, who was governor of New Mexico at the time, warned Richardson the job

didn't pay much and might not last.

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Richardson responded, quote, Well, I'll take that chance.

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Richardson worked his way through the ranks of the Democratic Party, eventually becoming a

U .S.

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Representative and Deputy Majority Whip.

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He became friends with Bill Clinton after working together on several issues.

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During President Clinton's first term, Richardson was the ranking House Democrat in favor

of NAFTA's passage.

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For his part in backchannel negotiations with Mexico, he was recognized with the Aztec

Eagle Award, Mexico's highest award for a foreigner.

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Clinton went on to deploy Richardson on various foreign policy missions in Nicaragua,

Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, India, North Korea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sudan to represent U

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.S.

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interests.

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He was also sent to Baghdad to negotiate with Saddam Hussein and secure the release of two

American aerospace workers, William Barloon and David Daliberti.

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who were sentenced to eight years in jail for illegally entering the country.

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But let me say that in the end he responded to the humanitarian appeal.

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He told me that he would release the two prisoners and I recall at that moment that I

spontaneously grabbed his hand and thanked him.

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I think it was purely a human gesture that he appreciated.

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Let me also say that I was also encouraged by attending a mass.

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a Roman Catholic, it was Sunday.

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in downtown Baghdad.

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And I was encouraged by the fact that those attending the mass were not anti -American.

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In fact, they were very friendly.

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So my hope is that while our countries may have differences, perhaps there is hope for a

better relationship.

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Mickey Bergman, the vice president of the Richardson Center, said in a statement,

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There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise

of returning a person to freedom.

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In December 1996, Richardson also helped free three aid workers, an American, an

Australian, and a Kenyan, who were being held in Sudan.

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Richardson entered a village surrounded by vultures, perched on the roofs of thatched huts

as a goat was being roasted nearby.

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He approached the negotiating table to meet with rifle -toting boys and an entourage of

observers.

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He managed to persuade the rebel leaders to drop their demand for millions of dollars in

ransom money and agree instead to trade the prisoners for rice, jeeps, radios, and a

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health survey of their disease -ridden camp.

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While not as heroic at face value, this was the tenacity and grit that Richardson brought

to his role as Secretary of Energy.

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But what is the essence of your question is we have not communicated the threat or the

science to the American people.

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We've really been outgunned.

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We've been outgunned in the Congress and media ads.

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We have to do better.

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And what we need to do is find ways that we can communicate why it's important.

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Climate change, agricultural disasters, water rising, ozone layer, why that is important

to the American people.

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We need to do a lot better there.

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and we need to be committed towards not just international treaties, but delivering the

message to Congress and the American people.

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The President and Vice President are very committed to this, but those of us in the

bureaucracy need to do a better job in explaining this, but it's going to be a big

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priority of mine.

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And you can already see some of the people that my confirmation hearings prepared me for

this, and the Congress knows that this is going to be the lead agency.

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on global climate change.

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As Energy Secretary from 1998 to 2001, he was tasked with navigating a shifting discourse

on the environment and energy.

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He pushed to take a lead role in solving the post Kyoto and the impending COP6 problem.

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In a memo to President Clinton, Richardson laid out a divide and conquer strategy to

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Political and environmental arguments carry little weight for nations struggling to

develop and dealing with economic turmoil.

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So the argument would be that it was in the economic interests of these countries to adopt

binding targets.

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Domestically, the administration focused on near -term deliverables, promoting free market

provisions and spurring research and development in energy efficient and renewable energy.

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The domestic effort

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that the U .S.

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could meet its emission targets under the protocol while maintaining vigorous economic

growth.

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Richardson volunteered to reach out to oil and natural gas companies to challenge them to

take steps to reduce their emissions.

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The Department of Energy was looking to propose standards that would improve the

efficiency of air conditioning and heat pump systems.

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Environmental and consumer advocates called for standards that would improve efficiency

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by 30 % while manufacturers lobbied for a 20 % improved efficiency standard for air

conditioning systems.

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After weeks of debate, Richardson rejected industry and staff advice, choosing the

stronger standard.

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The legislation lingered at the White House for weeks, but after pressing the president

and his top advisors with the diplomatic skills that he honed over his career, Richardson

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prevailed.

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In his final days of office,

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Clinton approved the standards, asserting they would, quote, serve as a foundation upon

which our nation can continue to meet the profound challenge of climate change, end quote.

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Diplomatically, the US aimed to secure market -based flexibility mechanisms and meaningful

participation from developing countries in the Kyoto agreements.

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However, time had to run out.

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A of unresolved issues, including pressure from OPEC to force developed countries to

provide compensation for revenue losses due to reduced emissions, were left to the

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incoming Bush administration, who would bring a very different and skeptical approach to

the problem of global climate change.

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I'm Demetris Lynch, and this is Going Green.

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The strategy of people with a political agenda to avoid this issue is to say there's so

much to study way upstream here that we can't even begin to discuss impacts and response

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strategies.

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There's much too much uncertainty and it's not climate scientists who are saying that.

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It's lawyers.

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It's politicians.

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We do not know how fast change will occur or even how some of our actions could impact it.

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And finally, no one can say with any certainty what constitutes a dangerous level of

warming, and therefore what level must be avoided.

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In our last episode, we explored the seeds of an ideological shift on the environment,

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The episode highlighted the environmental justice movement, a fight for land reform and

preservation of the Amazon rainforest, the founding of the Federalist Society, which aimed

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to shift the ideological balance of the American legal establishment to the right.

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and internal opposition towards the environmental movement within President George H .W.

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Bush's administration.

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If you haven't listened to that episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to all the

episodes of this series in order.

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Today we'll examine both the Clinton administration and the George W.

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Bush administration's approaches to environmental policy and the direct impacts they had

on the environment and public perception.

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We'll also uncover the extent of influence the oil industry had on the US government,

public manipulation tactics by industry groups, including a technique called astroturfing,

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and the lead up to the disaster that occurred from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

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And I'll get into all of that after the break.

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Episode 8 Finding of No New Significant Impact.

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fellow citizens, today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.

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This ceremony is held in the depth of winter.

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But by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring.

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A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy.

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that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.

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Elected as the 42nd President of the United States in 1992, Bill Clinton's tenure as

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President Clinton and Vice President Gore came into office committed to demonstrating that

a strong economy and a clean environment go hand in hand.

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Researchers from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government found that environmental quality

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improved overall during the 1990s, albeit at a slower pace compared to the previous two

decades.

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According to their research, the administration's environmental policy focused on

emphasizing cost -effectiveness, reducing the role of economic analysis, and engaging in

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internal debates over cost -benefit analysis, all while simultaneously setting more

stringent environmental targets and expanding information disclosure

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voluntary programs.

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Since 1981, federal regulatory agencies were required to conduct economic analysis for

regulations with expected annual costs greater than $100 million.

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Throughout the Reagan and Bush administrations, these regulatory impact analysis were

required.

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President George H .W.

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Bush also created a Council on Competitiveness.

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to review the impact on industry of selected regulations.

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Upon taking office in 1993, President Clinton abolished the Council on Competitiveness and

revoked Reagan -era executive orders, replacing them with a new order that maintained

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requirements for benefit cost analysis and cost effectiveness, but with a softer

efficiency test and a new focus on distributional concerns.

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While the Reagan orders

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required that benefits outweigh costs, the Clinton order required only that benefits

justify costs.

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The EPA also underwent significant changes during the Clinton years, modifying its

organizational structure and approach to economic analysis.

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Relative to lawyers, scientists, and engineers, the EPA employs more economists than any

other single institution.

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The core economic staff was located within the Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation,

which provided independent economic perspectives.

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However, within weeks of Clint's inauguration, the core economic staff were shifted to a

new Office of Policy and Reinvention.

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This shift marked a decreased emphasis on economic analysis and regulatory policy

development.

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The EPA Administrator, Carol Browner,

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introduced a different approach to environmental policy and decision making.

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The laws, the way they were developed over the last 20 years has allowed us to approach

problems in a piecemeal manner.

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We have an air law, we have a water law, we have a waste law.

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We solve a problem in air, this is great, we've made progress, and then we find out that

all that happened was we moved it to water.

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and so on and so forth.

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We're moving the problems around rather than solving them.

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What we need to do is move beyond near regulation to real protection.

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We need to have a system that guarantees that the people most at risk, whether it be

children, Native Americans, our elderly population, will be protected.

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We need to have a system that moves beyond the adversarial system of today, that brings

parties together to find the best solution, the most cost -effective solution, that

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focuses on preventing pollution rather than simply decreasing how much pollution and then

cleaning up what is left over.

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We need to move beyond

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Administrator Browner and Vice President Gore introduced several initiatives aimed at

regulatory reinvention, including Project XL, which encouraged regulated firms to produce

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cost -effective alternatives to traditional regulations.

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The National Environmental Performance Partnership System was another initiative aimed at

giving states more flexibility in achieving environmental goals.

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However, by 1995,

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Under the leadership of Speaker Newt Gingrich, Congress targeted environmental regulations

for reform, aiming to boost efficiency and cost -effectiveness.

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Budget cuts led to the suspension of the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures, or

PACE, survey, a key environmental data source, but efforts to reform major environmental

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laws, like the Clean Water Act, largely failed.

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Despite congressional obstruction during this period,

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the EPA was able to implement stricter air quality standards.

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The standards faced legal challenges, but in 2001, the Supreme Court upheld the EPA's

authority to set health -based standards without considering costs under the Clean Air

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Act.

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The Clinton administration also introduced new information programs such as drinking water

consumer confidence reports and automobile pollution rankings and expanded existing ones.

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like the Energy Star Buildings Program.

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After the 1973 oil crisis, the fallout prompted the exploration and development of more

efficient lighting operations for residential use.

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Researchers at Sylvania, a lighting solutions provider, and General Electric, a company

with many electric -related businesses, pioneered compact fluorescent lighting, or CFL,

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designs in the mid -1970s.

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but production costs delayed their market introduction until the 1980s.

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Early CFLs were expensive, bulky, and had inconsistent performance.

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But over time, improvements made CFLs more efficient, lasting 10 times longer than

incandescent light bulbs.

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Today, LED technology offering even higher efficiency and longer lifespans has become the

leading lighting option.

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In the early 90s,

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George H .W.

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Bush's administration established an atmosphere where both business leaders and

environmentalists recognized that economic growth and environmental protection could and

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must go hand in hand.

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The newly available CFL technology caught the attention of the government and Bush's

administration mobilized to develop programs that would influence businesses and consumers

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to reduce energy and spread the message of energy efficiency.

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In 1991, the EPA created a program that would usher in the modern energy efficiency

movement and transform the entire lighting industry.

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The program, known as Green Lights, was run on a shoestring budget with only two staffers.

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Despite the small investment, in its first few years, the program enlisted over 600

businesses to agree to voluntarily audit their facilities and upgrade their lighting

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systems with the new CFL technology.

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The success of the Green Lights program inspired the EPA to create other energy efficient

programs such as Natural Gas Star, Ag Star, and Energy Star.

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Launched in 1992, the Energy Star program, which operates under the authority of the Clean

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businesses to protect the environment at a profit,

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it would find a powerful partner in the fight against climate change.

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The Clinton administration significantly expanded the program in 1995, merging green

lights with Energy Star to create the EPA Energy Star Commercial Buildings Program, as

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well as introducing labels for residential heating and cooling systems and new homes.

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Since its inception, Energy Star and its partners are estimated to have reduced the energy

bills of

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individuals and businesses by at least $430 billion.

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Up to this point, the country made significant strides in environmental protections, most

notably in air and water quality.

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Between 1979 and 1998, concentrations of carbon monoxide fell by 58%, nitrogen dioxide by

25%, ambient ground level ozone by 17%,

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and sulfur dioxide by 53%.

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During the 1990s, emissions of volatile organic compounds are estimated to have fallen by

25 % and particulate matter by 2%.

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From 1975 to 1994, the share of measured water quality readings in violation of federal

standards for fecal coliform bacteria declined by 19 % and for total phosphorus by 20%.

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Biochemical Oxygen Demand, or BOD, was another area of water quality success.

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BOD is a measure of the amount of oxygen and water that microorganisms need to break down

organic material in that water.

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It indicates the level of pollution in the water.

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Higher BOD means more organic pollution.

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Between 1974 and 1981, industrial

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and municipal BOD loads in the US decreased by 71 % and 46 % respectively.

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But the turn of the century would bring a very different and skeptical attitude towards

climate change and environmental protection.

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During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W.

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Bush said, as we use nature's gifts, we must do so wisely.

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Prosperity,

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will mean little if we leave future generations a world of polluted air, toxic lakes and

rivers, and vanished forests." This sentiment was quite jarring to some, considering that

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during his tenure as the governor of Texas, the state was the most polluted in the U .S.

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Houston surpassed Los Angeles as the smogiest city in the U .S.

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Texas had more smog alerts in 1999 than any other state.

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and the state led the country in the discharge of recognized carcinogens into the air, the

number of factories violating clean water standards, and the injection of toxic waste into

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underground wells.

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The city of Houston is constantly having to put out fishing bans because of some of these

toxins that are getting into the ship channel.

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And that's what we're there to try to prevent.

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Smells nasty.

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course, everything out here smells nasty.

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We've had a long -term surveillance on this particular site in front of us.

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They're using it to dump wastewater treatment sludge.

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They have a permit to be out here, except they're not following the permit guidelines.

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It's an upper end of a watershed.

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Sometimes 10 trucks coming out here a day, multiply that by 8 ,000 gallons.

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That's enough to make a river roll on its own.

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It's making pollution, contacting public waters.

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So we're concerned about that.

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George W.

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Bush went on to win a highly contested and controversial election to become the 43rd

President of the United States.

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As he announced his cabinet and staff, their individual backgrounds telegraphed the

administration's incoming policies on energy and the environment.

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From the top, the Bush family has long been engaged in the oil industry and connected to

Saudi Arabia and its oil money.

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Saudi investments are tied to the Carlisle Group, the private equity firm whose rainmakers

include George H .W.

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Bush and his presidential library.

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I must note, they also contributed to Clinton's library as well.

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But when 9 -11 families went after Saudi Arabia, the main firm the Saudis retained for

their defense was Baker Bots, whose partner of the firm, James Baker, was also the Bush

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family consigniary.

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George W.

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Bush himself established a small oil exploration company in 1977 called Arbusto Energy,

which merged with a larger oil company, Spectrum 7, then was folded into Harkin Energy, a

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company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration.

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Bush served on the board of directors and remained through 1993.

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Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton

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1995 to 2000.

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Now to my memory I only knew of Halliburton for its no bid contracts in the Iraq war but

its main business is actually oil too.

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In fact Halliburton is the world's second largest oil service company which is responsible

for most of the world's largest fracking operations.

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The first secretary of treasury John Snow was the founding chairman of the Center for

Energy and Economic Development.

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CEED, a coal and rail industry funded advocacy organization.

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CEED was a predecessor organization to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity,

a U .S.

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nonprofit advocacy group representing major American coal producers, utility companies,

and railroads.

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Gail A.

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Norton, the Secretary of the Interior, was a protege of President Reagan's Interior

Secretary, James G.

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Watt.

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who we discussed previously.

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Norton, too, has been associated with several groups in the wise use or free market

environmentalist movement, such as the Property and Environmental Research Center, of

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which she is a fellow.

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She advocated opening the Alaska National Refuge to oil exploration.

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She also served as a board member for the Federalist Society.

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The Secretary of Commerce, Donald Evans,

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began working on an oil rig in 1975 for Tom Brown Inc., a large independent energy company

now based in Denver.

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10 years later, he took the company over as CEO and continued running it until his

appointment to Commerce Secretary.

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Spencer Abraham, the Secretary of Energy.

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Let me repeat that, the Secretary of Energy.

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On three occasions proposed eliminating the Department of Energy

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while he was a senator from Michigan, arguing that it had no core mission.

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He was a proponent of small government and also suggested that commerce, housing and urban

development, and education departments be eliminated.

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In his second term, Bush appointed Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, the second

highest ranking member of the president's cabinet after the vice president, and represents

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the US to foreign countries.

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Prior to her appointment, Rice headed Chevron's Committee on Public Policy until she

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Bush.

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And Edward Schaeffer, the Secretary of Agriculture, served as an advisor and occasional

spokesperson for the North Dakota Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, before his

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appointment.

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AFP is a conservative advocacy group and the Koch family's primary political advocacy

group.

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It has been viewed as one of the most influential American conservative organizations.

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AFP supports oil and gas development and opposes regulation, including environmental

restrictions.

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Needless to say, the oil industry was well represented in all key aspects of the U .S.

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government, transforming the working environment.

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Most egregiously, the Department of the Interior and its agency, Minerals Management

Service, or MMS, had a culture of corruption and ethical lapses when it came to the oil

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and gas industry.

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While I neither condone nor excuse the behavior chronicled in this, our most recent report

on MMS, for the most part, the improper conduct of the employees at the Lake Charles

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District Office preceded the termination of the regional office.

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regional supervisor in 2007 for his gift acceptance.

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And as our report indicates, this behavior appears to have drastically declined.

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As such, I am more concerned about the environment in which these inspectors operate and

the ease with which they move between industry and government.

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I am also concerned about the conduct of industry representatives, something we also

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that they should think it permissible to fraternize and provide federal government

employees with gifts after all the media coverage of this practice is hard to fathom.

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That was Mary Kendall, acting Inspector General of the Interior Department in 2010,

speaking to the House Natural Resources Committee regarding an ethics violation

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investigation into the MMS agency.

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The U .S.

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Government Accountability Office, an independent nonpartisan government agency within the

legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the

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United States Congress,

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documented allegations of drug use and improper relationships, payments, and gifts between

the Bush -Cheney era MMS employees and the oil and gas industry that they were charged

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with overseeing.

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Now under the Executive Office of the President, there are advisory committees that

coordinate federal efforts and work closely with agencies and other White House offices.

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The Council on Environmental Quality

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coordinates environmental efforts and works on the development of environmental and energy

policies and initiatives.

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To head this important role, Bush and his administration tapped Philip Cooney.

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In these opening remarks during a March 19, 2007 hearing of the House Oversight and

Government Reform Committee on Political Influence on Climate Change Research, Cooney

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provided some of his few documented words on his work as Chief of Staff

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for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

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My reviews of federal budgetary and research planning documents of climate change were

guided by the president's stated strategy and research priorities as set forth in his June

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11, 2001 speech and chapter three of the policy book that accompanied it.

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I joined the White House staff two weeks later.

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The president's policy itself was guided by a National Academy of Sciences report that his

cabinet level committee on climate change had specifically requested entitled Climate

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Change Science and Analysis of Some Key Questions.

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That report concluded, and I would like to emphasize this point, quote, making progress in

reducing the large uncertainties in projections of future climate will require addressing

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a number of fundamental scientific

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questions relating to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the behavior

of the climate system.

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The National Academy of Sciences report itemized those uncertainties and questions, which

later guided the administration's prioritization of federally sponsored research.

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Let me be clear as this committee addresses my The thing is, Cooney was a lawyer and

lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute.

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While leader of the Petroleum Institute's climate team,

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a 1999 strategy document stated, policies limiting carbon emissions reduce petroleum

product use.

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That is why it is API's highest priority issue.

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As chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Cooney operated as

a bit of a middleman between science and law.

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But what went in often didn't come out as intended.

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Rick Pilz.

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At the time, a senior associate in the U .S.

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Climate Change Science Program co -wrote climate science reports.

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But he found that Cooney would receive a paper, then take liberties with the information

before sending it on to Congress.

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make global warming seem less threatening.

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The strategy of people with a political agenda to avoid this issue is to say, there is so

much to study way upstream here that we can't even begin to discuss.

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impacts and response strategies.

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There's much too much uncertainty.

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And it's not climate scientists who are saying that.

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It's lawyers.

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It's politicians.

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Cooney will replace a yes with a maybe and add or cut complete sections potentially

altering the significance of data and information.

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For example, in a report titled, Are Changing Planet?

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Cooney, again, not a scientist.

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made 110 edits on the content of the report.

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What happens?

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It comes back with a large number of edits, handwritten on the hard copy by the chief of

staff of the Council on Environmental Quality.

345

He was obviously passing it through a political screen.

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He would put in the word potential or may or weaken or delete text that had to do with the

likely consequences of climate change.

347

2002, Cooney's former boss at the Petroleum Institute faxed over praise, quote, You are

doing a great job.

348

In a call with the Exxon sponsored competitive enterprise Institute.

349

Cooney confirmed his process himself, stating, we'd take the text from the EPA and then

we'd add a sentence like, we don't really know if this is really happening.

350

In addition to other staffers, Rick Pilz eventually resigned in early 2005 over the Cooney

edits.

351

After his departure, he participated in a documentary piece about climate change and

politics.

352

Pilz turned over Cooney's edits that he preserved

353

and 72 hours later, Philip Cooney was on the cover of newspapers.

354

48 hours after that, Cooney resigned.

355

Poults' records and actions helped the committee find that, A week after the story broke,

ExxonMobil offered Phil Cooney a job.

356

While the oil industry influenced the narrative from inside the government, campaigns

directly to the public secretly continued.

357

An acclaimed environmental advertising campaign by Ogilvy and Maither launched in 2000.

358

What size is your carbon footprint?

359

Ah, the carbon footprint there.

360

That I don't know.

361

Whatever it is, the whole population of the world make that a very, very big number.

362

How much carbon I produce?

363

You mean the effect that my living has on the earth in terms of the products I consume?

364

The ad reads, we can all do more to emit less.

365

Over the next four years, we're planning to implement projects to reduce emissions by

another 4 million tons.

366

Learn how to lower your carbon footprint at bp .com slash carbon footprint.

367

The campaign went on to win an advertising award in 2007, a gold Effie.

368

And that award application summary states,

369

Against a backdrop of skepticism, the world's second largest energy company wanted to be

different.

370

The BP corporate reputation campaign communicates the company's progressive values in a

distinctive, non -glossy way.

371

The campaign asks difficult questions, invites customers into the dialogue, relies on

facts instead of hot air, stakes bold turf, accepts criticism, and does not hide from

372

failure.

373

The BP corporate campaign is a landmark platform for a company trying to change the way

the world uses and thinks about the fuels that are vital to human progress.

374

British Petroleum, or BP, the second largest non -state owned oil company in the world,

was promoting a slant that climate change is not the fault of oil companies, but that of

375

individuals.

376

BP promoted and successfully popularized carbon footprint.

377

The company unveiled its carbon footprint calculator in 2004, and soon there were carbon

footprint calculators everywhere.

378

I actually remember me and my friends calculating our own carbon footprints around this

time, having no idea of its origin.

379

The campaign was almost as successful as another ad from 1971 that is burned into the

psyche of many Gen X and millennials.

380

In the ad, a Native American man is seen paddling a canoe through a trash -covered lake

amongst a backdrop of oil refineries.

381

At the shore, he exits the canoe near a stream of cars on a highway, just as some jerk

382

burrows a bag of trash out of a passing car and onto the feet of our protagonist.

383

The Native American man turns to the camera for an extreme close -up of a single tear

rolling down his cheek.

384

Some people have a deep abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country.

385

And some people don't.

386

People start pollution.

387

People can stop it.

388

Write for Pollution Booklet Box 1771, Radio City Station, New York.

389

That ad too won an award for excellence in advertising.

390

It was by a nonprofit group called Keep America Beautiful, which was actually funded by

the Coca -Cola Company, PepsiCo, McDonald's, Kellogg, and Anheuser -Busch companies, who

391

are all contributing to the plastic and packaging waste that we contend with today.

392

Again, the goal was to label pollution as an individual problem, not the corporation.

393

The Keep America Beautiful campaign in particular

394

is one of the most memorable examples of astroturfing, and it is quite common.

395

Astroturfing is the practice of hiding the sponsors of a message to give the illusion of

support by a grassroots organization or swell in public opinion.

396

This tactic was also used against the US Green Building Council's Building Performance

Rating System, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED.

397

which gained significant traction in the building industry during the Clinton

administration.

398

Studies showed that buildings account for an estimated 40 % of total global energy use and

emissions.

399

Sustainable design principles increasingly made sense to many architects.

400

When some business leaders proved the financial benefits to being green, the industry

began to follow.

401

But the website, Lead Exposed, had something to say about that.

402

The tagline on the website reads, wasting taxpayer money to fund not so green buildings,

end quote.

403

There were four main talking points, arbitrary point system, questionable science,

taxpayer costs, and uncertain future.

404

The site is run by an organization based in Washington, DC called the Environmental Policy

Alliance, misleadingly using the acronym of EPA.

405

But the address listed on the Environmental Policy Alliance's website also belongs to

Berman & Company, which describes itself as a, dynamic research communications,

406

advertising and government affairs firm, end quote.

407

Its founder, Richard Berman, is a lawyer, public relations executive and former lobbyist

whose mantra is to, quote, win ugly or lose pretty.

408

In a secret recording of Richard Berman's

409

win ugly presentation to Western Energy Alliance, a Denver -based non -profit trade

association representing energy and public land interests for independent oil and gas

410

producers in the U .S.

411

Intermountain West, Berman and his vice president, Jack Hubbard, shared their tactics with

the audience.

412

One tactic Berman employs is manipulating emotions.

413

He devised the acronym FLAGS.

414

to highlight the emotions he tries to trigger.

415

Fear, love, anger, greed, and sympathy, with fear and anger being the most effective.

416

The first one is fear.

417

The second one is love or like -ship.

418

The third is anger.

419

Greed has to do with I want to get something out of this for myself.

420

And the fifth one is sympathy.

421

So if you think about how you get people, it's one of those five emotions.

422

If you can tap into two of them, you're that much better off.

423

The two that resonate best with people and that we're trying to use in this particular

campaign are fear and anger.

424

Anger is what people have over something that has happened.

425

Fear is what people have when they think something might happen.

426

It's when you tell people, be careful what you wish for.

427

The law of unintended consequences.

428

This might happen even though you don't want it to happen.

429

And fear and anger have to be part of this campaign.

430

If you want to win, that's what we're going do.

431

We're not going to get people to like the oil and gas industry over the next few months.

432

And there is no sympathy for the oil and gas industry.

433

we're not going to tap into, I'm sympathetic to all those poor guys who are running the

energy companies.

434

What you've got to do is you've to get people

435

beautiful about what is on the table and you gotta get people angry over the fact that

they're being misled.

436

Nobody likes being lied to.

437

Nobody likes being told that, this won't hurt.

438

And so that is central to the messaging campaign going forward.

439

Herman and Company have a convoluted network of industry -funded nonprofit organizations

such as the Center for Organizational Research and Education, formerly the Center for

440

Consumer Freedom, the Center for Union Facts, and the Employment Policies Institute.

441

These organizations and their subgroups have worked on issues including obesity,

healthcare, food safety, labor law, alcohol, critical race theory,

442

and the environment.

443

The Center for Organizational Research and Education is the listed parent organization of

the Environmental Policy Alliance, who runs LEED Exposed.

444

In addition to LEED Exposed, Environmental Policy Alliance's website lists three other

projects, Green Decoys, EPA Facts, and Big Green Radicals.

445

When it came to the environment,

446

Berman recognized that public opinion will never be on the side of big oil, so it has to

go on the offense in three ways.

447

Reframe the issue, reposition the opposition, and take away people's moral authority.

448

Hubbard described their big green radicals campaign against Sierra Club, NRDC, and Food

and Water Watch.

449

So what does the campaign look like?

450

I'm going to run through pretty quickly what we're up to, but...

451

We have an online website.

452

We have some of the best opposition research folks, I think, in the country, and that's to

mention Washington, DC.

453

These people dig deeper on the bad guys better than anyone else.

454

We've got radio ads.

455

There's going to be television going up.

456

You've probably seen some to a print.

457

And we're really engaged in online advertising because it's a cheap way and an effective

way to reach people that you can reach a ton of them with very little money and you can

458

accomplish the same thing that you might have been able to do with television.

459

So our website is biggreenradicals .com and there's a significant Colorado page.

460

And what we do on that site, I'm going to show you the online video in a minute.

461

Well, on the right -hand column, we dig into every group.

462

We list their money.

463

We list their funders.

464

We list their radical positions.

465

And then we do have a section on every single activist.

466

Their rap sheets, the criminal records that they have.

467

We're really making this personal.

468

We're trying to make it so that they don't have any credibility with the public, with the

media, or with the legislators.

469

Strategically, these opposition campaigns are then picked up by conservative news

organizations to shape the narrative to the public.

470

These remarkable efforts take an incredible funding system, which I outlined in the

previous episode.

471

When it comes to garnering influence directly within the White House, data compiled by the

nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics shows that oil and gas firms donated nearly $1 .9

472

million to Bush's presidential campaign.

473

making the industry among the top 10 special interest contributors.

474

Individuals connected with the oil industry contributed at least an additional $85 ,500,

and the Bush Presidential Inaugural Committee received yet another $1 million in

475

contributions from oil and gas firms.

476

The oil and gas industry also contributed at least $556 ,700 to George W.

477

Bush's

478

1994 and 1998 campaigns for governor of Texas.

479

Individuals connected with the industry contributed an additional $944 ,733.

480

Their investment paid off.

481

After the previous secretary of energy, Bill Richardson, prevailed in passing efficiency

482

proceeded to seed more doubt about the effects of climate change.

483

Now from the highest office in land.

484

My cabinet level working group has met regularly for the last 10 weeks to review the most

recent, most accurate, and most comprehensive science.

485

They have heard from scientists offering a wide spectrum of views.

486

They have reviewed the facts and they have listened to many theories and suppositions.

487

The working group asked the highly respected National Academy of Sciences to provide us

the most up -to -date information about what is known and about what is not known on the

488

science of climate change.

489

First, we know the surface temperature of the Earth is warming.

490

It has risen by 0 .6 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years.

491

There was a warming trend from the 1890s to the 1940s.

492

cooling from the 1940s to the 1970s, and then sharply rising temperatures from the 1970s

to today.

493

There's a natural greenhouse effect that contributes to warming.

494

Greenhouse gases trap heat and thus warm the earth because they prevent a significant

portion of infrared radiation from escaping into space.

495

Concentration of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, have increased substantially since the

beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

496

And the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the increases do in large part to

human activity.

497

Yet the Academy's report tells us that we do not know how much effect natural fluctuations

in climate may have had on warming.

498

We do not know how much our climate could or will change in the future.

499

We do not know how fast change will occur or even how some of our actions could impact it.

500

For example, our useful efforts to reduce sulfur emissions may have actually increased

warming.

501

because sulfate particles reflect sunlight, bouncing it back into space.

502

And finally, no one can say with any certainty what constitutes a dangerous level of

warming, and therefore what level must be avoided.

503

The policy challenge is to act in a serious and sensible way." He continued on to

repudiate the Kyoto Protocol, echoing the reasoning of ExxonMobil lobbyists.

504

people's health.

505

Kyoto is in many ways unrealistic.

506

Many countries cannot meet their Kyoto targets.

507

The targets themselves were arbitrary and not based upon science.

508

For America complying with those mandates would have a negative economic impact with

layoffs of workers and price increases for consumers.

509

And when you evaluate all these flaws,

510

Most reasonable people will understand that it's not sound public policy.

511

That's why 95 members of the United States Senate expressed a reluctance to endorse such

an approach.

512

Yet America's unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not be read by our friends

and allies as any abdication of responsibility.

513

To the contrary, my administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of

climate change.

514

We recognize our responsibility and we'll meet it at home, in our hemisphere, and in the

world.

515

Meanwhile, in California, the General Motors Corporation filed suit against the state

seeking to invalidate a new rule that would require car manufacturers

516

to sell thousands of electric cars in the state each year, starting in 2003.

517

In 1996, GM had developed the EV1, an electric car that was made available for lease,

mainly in Southern California.

518

The development followed a previous zero emissions mandate from 1990, which required seven

major car manufacturers to make 2 % of their cars that were available for sale zero

519

emissions vehicles.

520

With a staggering population total and wide -ranging ecosystems, coastal cities, deserts,

mountains, and forests, California is one of the most progressive states on environmental

521

protection and often influences other states to take similar actions.

522

New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont were expected to adopt the regulations, roughly

doubling the number of electric vehicles required across the nation.

523

Nearly 5 ,000 electric cars were designed by leading manufacturers.

524

But GM contended that the electric car rule violates the state laws requiring regulations

to be reasonable and prudent.

525

They and the automobile industry in general claimed that battery powered cars were

impractical and that the rule would bring minimal reduction in air pollution at a high

526

cost.

527

Fortunately for GM, they had friends in high places.

528

In addition to oil advocates throughout the Bush administration, Bush's chief of staff,

Andrew Card, had recently been head of the American Automobile Manufacturers Alliance in

529

California before joining the administration.

530

By 2002, the federal government joined the auto industry suit against California,

contributing to California's eventual abandonment of its zero emission vehicle mandate.

531

And that wasn't the administration's only engagement with California.

532

From 2000 to 2001, California experienced a spike in electricity costs.

533

At the time, Bush and Cheney publicly said the problem was largely a result of a flawed

deregulation plan adopted by California and repeatedly declined to call on federal

534

regulators to intervene with price controls.

535

Senator Dianne Feinstein said she tried, quote,

536

three or four times to discuss the state's energy crisis with Mr.

537

Bush during the crises, but the president refused to meet with her.

538

She settled for two meetings with Mr.

539

Cheney as part of large groups.

540

Both meetings were brief and quote, their attitude was laissez -faire.

541

Let the market do what the market does, end quote.

542

But in her and California Governor Gray Davis's mind, the market was broken.

543

I had about a 35 minute meeting with President Bush.

544

I want to thank him for coming to California and thanking him for giving me the

opportunity to explain firsthand just how challenging our energy crisis is here in

545

California.

546

We still, however, have a fundamental disagreement over whether not California is entitled

to price relief.

547

I don't think it's a matter of philosophy or ideology.

548

It's a matter of law.

549

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

550

the appropriate agency made a determination in November and again on December 15th the

California market was dysfunctional the prices were too high the term they use unjust and

551

unreasonable and we are entitled as a matter of law to some form of price relief that can

come either in the form of very substantial refunds or some tempering of the price in the

552

future I explained to the president that if he were governor

553

He, like I, would be doing everything within his power to fight for the 34 million people

in California who are getting a raw deal.

554

We paid $7 billion for power in 1999, $27 billion for approximately the same amount of

555

this year, we're looking at spending $50 billion for power in the year 2001.

556

Now, surely,

557

Electricity deregulation is not working if Californians have to spend 700 % more for

558

Einstein and Davis suspected market manipulation as the cause of soaring wholesale power

prices, which was ultimately confirmed with the release of documents and audio showing

559

that in -run traders

560

had used questionable strategies intended to increase the company's profits from trading

power in the state.

561

Enron, coincidentally, was Bush's largest corporate supporter.

562

Another early action by Bush was naming Dick Cheney as the chairman of the newly created

National Energy Policy Development Group, or NEPDG.

563

The vice president hosted a series of meetings with a group of energy industry

representatives and lobbyists to inform the development of the nation's energy policy,

564

which was released in May of 2001.

565

The report warned that in the years ahead,

566

America would face the most serious energy shortages since the 1973 oil embargo.

567

Specific recommendations were designed to meet five goals.

568

Modernize conservation, modernize US energy infrastructure, increase energy supplies,

accelerate the protection and improvement of the environment, and increase US energy

569

security.

570

The plan was controversial.

571

as it consisted of $33 billion in public subsidies and tax cuts for the oil, coal, and

nuclear power industries, as well as provisions to open the Arctic National Wildlife

572

Refuge for industrial oil drilling.

573

For months, Vice President Cheney refused to release the names of participants, citing

presidential privilege to conduct consultations in private.

574

However, the General Accounting Office

575

Congress's nonpartisan investigative and oversight arm, filed a lawsuit to obtain the

names of the industrialists who met with Cheney.

576

In the case Cheney v.

577

United States District Court, the lower district court for the District of Columbia

ordered Cheney to disclose some of his records that would at least show how the group

578

developed its recommendations.

579

Cheney appealed the decision, but the appeals court rejected the appeal.

580

After rising to the Supreme Court, the case was scrutinized when Justice Antonin Scalia

refused to recuse himself from the case, despite having hunted ducks with Cheney and

581

others while the case was pending in the lower courts.

582

The justices ultimately ruled 7 -2 that the lower appeals court had acted prematurely and

sent the case back to the court of appeals.

583

On May 9th,

584

In the U .S.

585

Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Vice President's Energy Task

Force did not have to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

586

The names eventually started to leak, identifying industry experts like former Enron CEO

Kenneth Lay.

587

There were actually 17 different provisions of note that would have directly benefited

Enron

588

and at least one executive order on energy policy was nearly identical to draft proposals

submitted by the American Petroleum Institute.

589

The Washington Post obtained documents listing executives from major oil corporations,

including Exxon Mobil, Conoco, Royal Dutch Shell, and the American subsidy of BP.

590

Cheney reportedly met

591

personally with the chief executive officer of BP during the time of the energy task force

activities.

592

While chief executives of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips deny involvement and the CEO of BP

claims he did not know if they were involved, the Washington Post reported that there were

593

at least 40 meetings with interest groups, most of them from energy producing industries.

594

Among them were James J.

595

Rouse, the vice president

596

Exxon Mobil, Jack N.

597

Gerard, then with the National Mining Association, Red Cavaney, President of the American

Petroleum Institute, and Eli Babout, a longtime friend of Cheney's from Wyoming who serves

598

in the state senate and owns an oil and drilling company.

599

The group's purpose was to quote, develop a national energy policy designed to help the

private sector and as necessary and appropriate

600

state and local governments, promote dependable, affordable, and environmentally sound

production and distribution of energy for the future." However, it was also revealed that

601

during the in -person meetings with the energy lobby, environmental groups were notified

they had only three days to provide input and writing.

602

While one area made specific recommendations for renewable and alternative energy,

603

The group's actions favored oil and gas interests, and many of the report's

recommendations were focused on increasing domestic oil supplies and ensuring that Middle

604

Eastern countries, quote, open up areas of their energy sectors to foreign investment, end

quote.

605

The group also reportedly reviewed lists and maps outlining Iraq's entire oil productive

capacity.

606

The energy debate started out as one of supply and cost in early 2001.

607

But after September 11th, a different note crept in.

608

One of our examples that I think is important to recognize is the amount of oil that we

are currently getting today from Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

609

It's 700 ,000 barrels of oil a day.

610

If Anwar were up and functioning,

611

we would be getting a million barrels of oil a day from there.

612

That would allow us to offset our reliance on that source of energy.

613

We're currently sending over $4 billion a year to Iraq in exchange for their oil.

614

Again, it's important in today's situation.

615

That was Secretary of the Interior, Gail Norton.

616

Senator Sprank Mikowski.

617

a Republican from Alaska and a long supporter of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife

Refuge, and Larry Craig from Idaho echoed the sentiment.

618

There's a great deal of attention given by both the president and vice president on a

comprehensive energy bill.

619

There's been a lot of work done on that bill and it's the national energy security

interests of this nation, particularly at a time when we have seen the effects of

620

terrorism.

621

that we should even consider going out of session without having passed a bill that will

reduce our dependence on imported sources of energy, much of which we know that the

622

funding from that part of the world to some extent is behind terrorism.

623

We know where those dollars come from.

624

On September 11th, the American people changed their mind about energy.

625

They said it was no longer an issue for economic growth and future generational security.

626

They said it was now an issue of national security of the utmost importance, that we were

too dependent on a very unstable area of the world for our energy supply.

627

That's what clearly all the polls show.

628

That's what every senator in the United States Senate now understands.

629

In October 2001, the first military action initiated by the U .S.

630

accompanied by NATO invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban regime and capture al Qaeda

forces tied to the 9 -11 attack.

631

But as time went on, Saddam Hussein, oil imports from Iraq and domestic drilling were

increasingly being connected in the energy debate and eventually the war.

632

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq,

633

Iraq's oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies.

634

Afterward, it became largely privatized and dominated by foreign companies like Exxon

Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, and oil service providers like Halliburton.

635

General John Abazaid, former head of U .S.

636

Central Command and Military Operations in Iraq, said in 2007, quote, Of course it's about

oil.

637

We can't really deny that.

638

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed, writing in his memoir, am saddened

that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows.

639

The Iraq war is largely about oil.

640

Then Senator Chuck Hagel said the same in 2007, quote, people say we're not fighting for

oil.

641

Of course we are.

642

End quote.

643

Domestically,

644

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, based on the recommendations of Cheney's Secret Energy

Policy Task Force, was passed.

645

As described by proponents, the act was an attempt to combat growing energy problems,

provide tax incentives, and loan guarantees for energy production of various types.

646

The act had four consequential effects.

647

The law repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.

648

which gave the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and

break up electric utility holding companies.

649

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, RFS, program, the law greatly increased ethanol

production to be blended with gasoline.

650

The increased ethanol additive is intended to stretch fuel further.

651

Ethanol is the same type of alcohol that is found in an alcoholic drink.

652

It is created from corn.

653

which is the largest crop produced in the US.

654

So proponents argued that this law would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase

manufacturing jobs, and expand the nation's renewable fuel sector while reducing reliance

655

on imported oil.

656

However, ethanol provides less energy, requiring you to fuel up more, potentially

increasing consumer costs, fuel usage, and subsequently corporate profits.

657

One provision was so closely identified with the former vice president that it became

known as the Chaney Loophole.

658

It exempted the drilling process of hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

659

This process, commonly known as fracking, was invented by Halliburton.

660

Fracking is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock

by a pressurized liquid.

661

The process involves the high pressure injection of fracking fluid into a well bore to

create cracks in the deep rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine

662

will flow more freely.

663

Serious environmental concerns about the process have been raised following numerous cases

of groundwater contamination after nearby drilling.

664

Lastly,

665

Another provision dramatically expanded the circumstances under which new drilling permits

could be approved without further environmental reviews under the National Environmental

666

Policy Act.

667

This provision would become quite significant for BP.

668

The Macondo Prospect or Mississippi Canyon Block 252, abbreviated as MC 252,

669

was an oil and gas prospect in the United States exclusive economic zone of the Gulf of

Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

670

In October 2007, the Minerals Management Service office that we discussed earlier issued

an environmental assessment document titled Proposed Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease

671

Sale 206.

672

This document

673

was the last meaningful review standing between BP and drilling at their first exploration

well for MC -252.

674

Bold capital letters across the top of the report's first page read, Finding of no new

significant impact.

675

Following Hurricane Katrina, the assessment identified that beaches and marshes were more

vulnerable to spills.

676

However,

677

it still concluded there was no cause for alarm.

678

Concerns were raised related to the potential effects of oil spills on tourism, emergency

response capabilities, spill prevention, accidental discharges from both deep water

679

blowouts and pipeline ruptures, the fate and behavior of oil spills, availability and

adequacy of oil spill contaminant and cleanup technologies.

680

oil spill cleanup strategies, impacts of various oil spill cleanup methods, effects of

weathering on oil spills, toxicological effects of fresh and weathered oil, air pollution

681

associated with spilled oil, and short -term and long -term impacts of oil on wetlands.

682

Offshore oil spills resulting from proposed lease sale 206

683

are not expected to damage significantly any wetlands along the Gulf Coast.

684

The assessment simultaneously dismisses and confirms potential risk to the Gulf's coastal

communities.

685

Accidental events associated with proposed lease sale 206, such as oil or chemical spills,

blowouts, and vessel collisions, would have no effects on the demographic characteristics

686

of the Gulf coastal communities.

687

As inland marshes and barrier islands erode or subside without effective restoration

efforts, the population in coastal communities in southern Louisiana is expected to shift

688

to the more northern portions of the parishes and cause increasing populations in urban

and suburban areas and declining populations in rural coastal areas.

689

On October 7, 2009, the rig commenced drilling, but operations were halted when the rig

was damaged by Hurricane Ida.

690

The Deepwater Horizon rig resumed drilling operations in February 2010.

691

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that was charged with the exploration

dig exploded, leading to a major oil spill in the region.

692

You have information now that this rig has gone under?

693

It has gone under the surface at about 1021 this morning.

694

A Coast Guard got word that the vessel has gone under.

695

And just recently we got word that the fire, visibly, has gone out.

696

What's the implication now of that having gone under?

697

We've seen it burn, which means some petroleum was burning natural gas or oil.

698

At this point, is that oil in danger now of escaping into the sea?

699

That is correct.

700

We've got the potential right now is you've got almost about 336 ,000 gallons of sweet

light crude oil per day that was coming out of that well.

701

So that oil will be released in the water now.

702

So the priority is working with our partners in this, especially BP, and getting the

environmental part of this underway.

703

Coast Guard is still searching for those 11 missing crew members as well.

704

But we have crews standing by out of Morgan City and all different staging areas.

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The explosion killed 11 workers and caused a subsea blowout, which is the uncontrolled

release of crude oil and or natural gas from an oil well.

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or gas well after pressure -controlled systems have failed.

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It took just over three months to seal off the flow of oil into the ocean.

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The 87 days of uncontrolled release of oil impacted 1 ,242 miles, or 2 ,000 kilometers, of

coastline and 4 ,247 square miles, or 11 ,000 square kilometers, of ocean surface.

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For perspective,

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That surface number is about 2 million football fields.

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There were profound and far -reaching impacts on the wildlife and communities in the

northern Gulf of Mexico.

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Home to 22 marine mammal species and 5 sea turtle species protected under the Endangered

Species Act, exposure to the oil resulted in severe health issues for these animals,

713

including reproductive failure, organ damage, and death.

714

Notably, the spill caused the largest and longest marine mammal mortality event ever

recorded in the Gulf.

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For bottlenose dolphins, the spill reduced their survival and reproductive success,

leading to a 50 % decline in the population.

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The use of chemical disparates also disrupted the marine food chain by killing microscopic

plankton.

717

Methane from the spill at concentrations much higher than typical

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is thought to have created dead zones where marine life could not survive.

719

Human communities were also affected.

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In addition to the lives of 11 oil workers that were lost, the disaster caused physical

and mental health issues among responders and residents.

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Gulf Coast communities reliant on fishing faced severe economic losses due to fishery

closures and contamination concerns.

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An initial study projected the highest total economic losses to commercial and

recreational fishing at $4 .9 billion and $3 .5 billion respectively.

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The largest commercial fisher losses were predicted for shrimpers, which accounted for

almost 85 % of the study's projected impact to that sector.

724

The fishing industry experienced significant economic hardships.

725

exacerbated by pre -existing vulnerabilities and ongoing stress from the spill.

726

After this event, I'm reminded of BP's award -winning Carbon Footprint ad campaign in the

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At the end of the ad, viewers were directed to a website where large fonts scolded

individuals with the message, it's time to go on a low carbon diet.

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The bottom line is it's going to take political courage, political will, in order to get

something done.

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And that doesn't exist in politics.

730

It just doesn't.

731

Thanks for listening.

732

Going Green is a Spaces podcast story brought to you by Lines.

733

If you learned something from this episode or think it would resonate with the print,

please share it and rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

734

It really helps others find the show.

735

If you have a question, want to submit a correction, or just share whatever is on your

mind, I'd love to hear from you.

736

You can do that at lines .studio slash podcast.

737

That's L -Y.

738

nes .studio .com and listen in to my wrap up episode to hear my response.

739

If you're looking for similar content, Spaces is a proud member of GableMedia, a digital

media platform where you can find even more content like this.

740

Visit gablemedia .com, that's G -A -B -L media .com, and before I go, if you want to see

additional photos, videos, clips, and other content that I found during my research,

741

you can visit lions .studio slash podcast.

742

Talk soon.