Future Heist

Stealing back Texas. Independent journalism on who's plundering the state — and the Texans fighting back. Tracking land, water, energy, politics.

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Texans are increasingly mad about the growing torrent of toxic oilfield waste by their homes.

So the state oil regulator acted decisively: it told them to shut up.

New op-ed with @CommissionShift and @vepalacios in the San Antonio Express News

https://t.co/nOoQ7ExkPr

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Zombie wells are the "scourge" of the oilfield, @AmandaDrane writes. When they fail, "the industry’s toxic wastewater can flow up the well to the surface, contaminating aquifers along the way."

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Texas has ~25,000 plugged oil wells at critical risk of going "zombie", according to our analysis in
@HoustonChron. That's roughly 50x more than previously found. Check our new map to see if one is under your house.
https://t.co/uTHDobJ5xa

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Such zombie wells are a "scourge" of the oilfield, writes @AmandaDrane. When they fail, "industry’s toxic wastewater can flow up the well to the surface."

https://t.co/lvVdXPH6rI

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Article is here https://t.co/lvVdXPH6rI

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Link to the article is here: https://t.co/lvVdXPH6rI

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Underappreciated trend of the last two years is pro-fossil movement in Texas watching the rise of renewables and concluding that the problem is a free market, per @arcelitamartin

https://t.co/bNtbCjbwDl

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Worth remembering MAHA tried to get Trump to fire EPA head over glyphosate, and were shot down. https://t.co/Np8pnWjdd3

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

"After only three days, the bees exposed to glyphosate showed a 13 percent decline in foraging activity. They also displayed changes in brain chemistry that were not seen in the unexposed bees."

https://t.co/OxiPDZdoed

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

“Republicans should be on this issue and we’re not,” Miller said. “The Democrats are, and they’re right on the issue. I’m not endorsing any Democrats, but we’re going to lose some elections in the midterms because of this one subject.”

https://t.co/t1La1zDwwM

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Chevron and Williams are explicitly pitching investors on their ability to sell to data centers — making data centers a "lifeline" to a fossil fuel industry increasingly outcompeted by solar + storage.

https://t.co/H6R5n6mTKX

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

The crazy part of this isn't just that the drought in Central Europe is so bad that Romania had to sink ships to keep water levels high enough to run nuclear — it's that doing so just buys them *days*

https://t.co/veK5J8sGCg

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

Califronia alleges that everal DuPont spin-off companies [created] a “fall guy” company designed to take the financial hit stemming from several multibillion-dollar pollution lawsuits while keeping the companies’ most valuable assets out of reach."

https://t.co/4r2iJhyVG2

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

To be clear: the coal plant is not closing. Developers argue that the solar project (and it is MASSIVE) will cancel it out.

https://t.co/raQlPnVHa2

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

real interesting fight between Trump administration and Texas government over what Texas is calling "illegal" land clearing by federal contractors

https://t.co/FdSQRqs7Wh

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

More proof the beaver beat deserves (we repeat) at least one reporter at every serious publication: beavers make "really complex wetlands" that fight drought, per @zharasimpson
https://t.co/4ABj8WWRX2

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

There's an interesting parallel here: salt caverns are what holds oil and gas; the oil right loves to hold up nuclear (e.g. Landman) as the thing we're all gonna switch to soon so no need for renewables; also oil and gas waste itself often radioactive

https://t.co/95it1pRUA3

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

what if I were to tell you that a substance isn't PFAS if — stay with us here — it would be inconvenient for CropLife America*

*the actual name of the pesticide lobby

https://t.co/KEyXpkQfSG

[Future Heist @FutureHeistTX]

@CarolineVakil Generally speaking ... how are they doing?

[Saul Elbein @saul_elbein]

We do not seem to have many such communities in this here state