Drilled
Pushkin Industries
Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.
In September 2025, a group of Brazilian ministers trekked all the way to chilly North Dakota to see a presentation on a new type of clean energy project, one that promised to help them deliver Brazilian President Lula’s dream of turning Brazil into “the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuels.” It was the latest in a string of projects from Midwest Republican kingmaker and corn ethanol magnate Bruce Rastetter, whose investments in Brazil might just transform him into a global carbon czar, even as his Summit pipeline carbon project faces fierce opposition from Iowa to North Dakota. The problem? It all requires loads of land and none of it does a thing about climate change.
In September 2025, a group of Brazilian ministers trekked all the way to chilly North Dakota to see a presentation on a new type of clean energy project, one that promised to help them deliver Brazilian President Lula’s dream of turning Brazil into “the Saudi Arabia of sustainable aviation fuels.” It was the latest in a string of projects from Midwest Republican kingmaker and corn ethanol magnate Bruce Rastetter, whose investments in Brazil might just transform him into a global carbon czar, even as his Summit pipeline carbon project faces fierce opposition from Iowa to North Dakota. The problem? It all requires loads of land and none of it does a thing about climate change.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 13, 2023 • 19min
The Anti-ESG Campaign Gets a Boost from RAGA
Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its intention to make Environmental Social and Governance metrics actually meaningful to investors, polluting industries have suddenly turned on ESG. Now that fight has a legal strategy, being carried out by the Republican Attorneys General Association.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 30, 2023 • 34min
Jake Bittle on the Complexities of Climate Migration
Jake Bittle's book The Great Displacement looks at how extreme weather events are likely to drive Americans to move from one part of the country (or their state) to another. He talks through the complex web of factors that drive migration, and how policies might be changed to ease the burden on people and communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 23, 2023 • 36min
Rethinking Electrification
Electrification offers an opportunity to rethink how we use energy and how we get around. Researcher Thea Riofrancos wants to see the United States seize that opportunity and set the country on a path to a better, more equitable future. Subscribe to our newsletter! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 9, 2023 • 28min
A Verdict
The day after our season finale last week, we got some incredible news from Guyana: the High Court ruled against the oil company and the government in the big insurance case Melinda Janki filed. We caught up with Janki shortly after the verdict was released for this conversation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 2, 2023 • 36min
The Turning Point: What's Next for Guyana?
Will Guyana become the fossil fuel industry's newest profit center or can it chart a different path? In the last episode of our "Light, Sweet Crude" season we look at what's next for Guyana, and for other Global South countries grappling with poverty and climate change at the same time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 25, 2023 • 35min
The Global Oil Rush
What's happening in Guyana isn't an isolated case. It's part of a global oil rush, as oil companies race to tap as many remaining fossil fuel reserves as they can. Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell discusses his story about what the global oil rush looks like in another part of the world: Namibia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 18, 2023 • 38min
ExxonMobil's Greenwashing Playbook
When we started reporting on Guyana's oil boom, we reached out to local environmental groups to hear their concerns about this new polluting industry. But we discovered something unsettling: every environmental organization we could find had taken money from ExxonMobil or its partners. Several have even made promotional videos praising the project. They argue that oil money is no dirtier than any other funding source, and, if it's there, they may as well take it to use for conservation efforts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 11, 2023 • 37min
Global Poverty and Global Warming
The tension between addressing global poverty and acting on the climate crisis is one the fossil fuel industry has been stoking in recent years. We asked Dr. Narasimha Rao to join us this week to get into the details of that conversation, where there are and aren't tradeoffs, and what his Decent Living Energy Project at Yale can tell us about how to solve both global crises at once.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 4, 2023 • 37min
Constitutional Violation: Guyana's Climate Lawsuit
Melina Janki has filed seven separate legal cases aimed at blocking oil drilling in Guyana, but only one explicitly names climate change as a problem the project is guaranteed to exacerbate. It's a constitutional challenge invoking Guyana's constitutional right to a healthy environment, an amendment Janki herself helped write. Plaintiffs Dr. Troy Thomas and Quedad DeFreitas argue that the government’s choice to fast-track permits and oil production threatens their right to a healthy environment, as well as the rights of future generations. The Guyanese government argues that, ironically, it needs oil money to adapt to climate change.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 28, 2023 • 40min
Unlimited Liability: The Guyanese Lawyer Taking on ExxonMobil
One person in Guyana understands both the inner workings of Big Oil and the intracacies of Guyanese governmental law better than almost anyone. Melinda Janki was raised in Guyana, but went to Oxford University and then worked as in-house counsel for oil giant BP before making her way back to Guyana. She returned home with a mission to help strengthen the country's environmental laws. In 2018, she began filing suits against the government to block offshore drilling. Her latest suit demands ExxonMobil be held liable for any environmental damages caused to Guyana in the case of an offshore catastrophe.Read more in Antonia Juhaz's Wired story on Guyana. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
