S6: Episode 21 - Oakley Shelton-Anderson On "Fracking Endgame"

For this week's episode, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola interview a researcher for Food and Water Watch named Oakley Shelton-Thomas. He worked on the organization's recent , "Fracking Endgame: Locked Into Plastics, Pollution, and Climate Chaos." The report describes how fossil fuel companies are building a "wave of new gas-fired power plants" and relying on the proliferation of plastics plants to prop up business. Industry is propping up the fracking industry. "Our latest research shows that their endgame is a world locked into plastics, pollu-ion and climate chaos. In addition to the buildout of a growing pipeline network, we’ve discovered that more than 700 new facilities have been built or proposed to capitalize off a glut of cheap fracked gas," according to the report. In the organization's assessment, "These new projects [will] bring dangerous air pollutants associated with heightened cancer risks and respiratory illnesses, and color where they are most commonly located." "If even a fraction of them come to fruition, they will condemn the planet to a future of climate chaos," the report declares. Later in the show, the hosts stick with the issue of climate change and discuss a report from Brown University's "Cost Of War" project that how the Pentagon is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. They conclude the show by highlighting Bernie Sanders' "Democratic Socialism" speech and some of the reactions to the speech among Democratic presidential candidates and establishment media.