Distressed pelican from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010; Photo by Louisiana GOHSEP, CC 2.0

Episode Notes: This interview was pre-recorded on March 26th, 2020.

For thousands of years, humans have coexisted with the naturally occurring phenomenon of oil and natural gas, formed deep beneath the Earth’s surface, buried in sediments, and submerged in ancient oceans. In the last 150 years, however, we have turned fossil fuels into a disposable resource that now threatens our very existence on the planet. This week, we’re joined by journalist Antonia Jhuasz to investigate how we got here and the new landscape of big oil in the U.S., now the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. With a global market in free fall, a rising climate activism movement, and the uncertainty of elections on the horizon, this episode tackles a set of essential, timely questions: How has the fracking boom radically transformed communities, ecologies, and life in states across the country? Why are oil prices crashing and how does this reflect an industry in debt, teetering on the brink of collapse? 

Antonia Juhasz is a leading energy analyst, author, and investigative journalist specializing in oil. An award-winning writer, her articles appear in Rolling Stone, Harper’s Magazine, Newsweek, The Atlantic, CNN.com, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, The Advocate, Pacific Standard Magazine, and many more. Antonia is the author of three books: Black Tide (2011), The Tyranny of Oil (2008), and The Bush Agenda (2006). Antonia is also a 2019/2020 Ted Scripps Fellow at the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder where she is writing a book on the end of the fossil fuel era.

Drawing from Antonia’s extensive breadth of knowledge and experiences in the field, this episode begins with a brief history of our national fossil fuel sector and then moves into other topics, including the rise of residential drilling, the Bakken oil fields North Dakota, the global glut of oil, environmental deregulation under the Trump administration, lessons from the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon spills, the “separation of oil and state,” the industry’s expansion into plastics production, and the $2 trillion stimulus package. Despite the rise of oil production, we are witnessing a toxic industry in the throes of crisis, as we come together in solidarity and demand the end of the fossil fuel era. 

♫ Music by Marty O'Reilly and The Old Soul Orchestra

Episode References

For a full list of Antonia’s interviews, articles, & books, please visit her website. 

Op-Ed: Trump’s pursuit of ‘American energy dominance’ threatens the entire planet by Antonia Juhasz (2018) 

Inside the Tax Bill’s $25 Billion Oil Company Bonanza by Antonia Juhasz (2018) 

Death on the Dakota Access Pipeline by Antonia Juhasz (2018) 

Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill by Antonia Juhasz 

How an Oil Boom in West Texas Is Reshaping the World by Justin Worland (2019) 

Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Is Getting Even More Toxic — But Residents Are Fighting Back by Antonia Juhasz (2019) 

Banking on Climate Change: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2019

UpFront KPFA Radio: On the collapse in global oil prices sparked by Covid 19 (2020)

WBEZ Chicago: How OPEC And Oil Prices Impact Our Everyday Lives (2020) 

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