Message From the Editor

Many news outlets think JD Vance “won” this week’s vice presidential debate against Democrat Tim Walz. But when it comes to climate change, Vance totally bombed.

DeSmog’s Sharon Kelly gave us an original take on Vance’s response that I didn’t see covered anywhere else. She points out that Vance echoed billionaire Peter Thiel’s confusing approach to climate change more than his boss, Donald Trump (whose approach is far more weird: Windmills massacring birds, anyone?).

Thiel fueled Vance’s rise with a whopping $15 million donation to the VP contender’s Senate campaign in 2022. It’s easy to see how that amount of money can buy a LOT of influence. 

Against the backdrop of climate-induced Hurricane Helene’s destruction – one of the most devastating climate catastrophes in U.S. history – Vance basically said, “If you believe in climate change.” 

By looking at Thiel’s association with fossil fuel pusher Alex Epstein and climate-confused Joe Rogan, Kelly gives us a full portrait of how the billionaire influenced Vance to present a much more underhanded form of climate denial.

Speaking at Epstein’s 2022 Fossil Fuel book launch, Thiel admitted that burning oil and gas might be hazardous, but “we should be using more fossil fuels. We should be using a lot more energy generally.”

What?

Thiel and Vance are muddying the water on the climate discourse: They confuse the issue, sidestep the science, and then undermine it by saying it’s something we still need to debate. But questioning the science doesn’t make climate change go away—or the suffering from catastrophic storms like Helene, massive heat waves, and other impacts the world’s population is going through right now. Read here for more.

And a breaking story from Friday shows us the perils of not just fossil fuel burning, but fossil fuel extraction before our very eyes. DeSmog photographer Justin Hamel photographed a 100-foot-high oil and gas well blowout in West Texas that sent a tower of oily water shooting into the sky. Blowouts are one of the most dangerous accidents that can happen during drilling – causing injuries to workers and polluting the air for Texans who live nearby.

Addressing the fallout from this disaster requires more than environmental concern; it demands advocacy, education, and — something Vance and Thiel want to avoid — action. But we know better than that, right? Get the full story here.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you power our journalism dedicated to climate accountability. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: WikimediaCommons  (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Blowout Erupts in West Texas’s Permian Basin, Creating 100-Foot Tower of Oily Water

— By Sharon Kelly and Justin Hamel (5 min. read) —

A 1961 oil and gas well is the suspected source of a geyser eruption in the region where Permian wastewater disposal is causing a flurry of earthquakes.

Vance’s ‘Weird Science’ Debate Remark Echoes Billionaire Who Powered His Political Rise

— By Sharon Kelly (7 min) —

Peter Thiel, JD Vance’s former boss, also expresses confusion on climate, supporting expanded fossil fuel use while appearing unclear on the consequences.

AI Is Pushing Gas Demand to ‘Record Highs,’ Pipeline Builder TC Energy Says

— By Geoff Dembicki (4 min. read) —

Tech firms like Amazon and Google ‘have enormous responsibility’ for driving fossil fuel expansions, climate expert argues.

No Mention of Climate Change in Ontario Minister’s Disaster Response Speech

— By Taylor Noakes (3 min. read) —

An emergency preparedness conference in Ottawa hosted two days of panels with only limited discussion of climate change’s root causes.

Kemi Badenoch Manifesto Uses Climate Denial Group Research to Attack Net Zero

— By Adam Bychawski (4 min. read) —

The Tory candidate is running her campaign from the home of a prominent anti-green activist.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Jim Wright

Jim Wright was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) in November 2020. The RRC, with its three elected members, oversees the oil and gas pipeline industry in Texas. A climate denier, Wright went as far as to say that running the country off of renewable energy would be more damaging to the environment than fossil fuels. In 2020, he told “The Voices of Texas” podcast: “CO2 promotes vegetation growth. . . It’s part of being on the Earth. I think there needs to be a lot more study and a lot more research on what is really causing the fluctuation of CO2 increase. I do know that man has contributed to that, but at what detriment? You know, which has not been proven to me.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.