Democrats on the House Oversight Committee will subpoena several companies to obtain documents as part of an ongoing probe into climate disinformation.
The recent offshore oil pipeline breach in California, which has dumped as much as 144,000 gallons of crude into the waters off the state’s southern coast, has been widely reported on by national TV news. Between October 3-6, programs across corporate broadcast and cable TV news aired 147 segments on the oil spill.
But while the coverage has shone a light on the very real environmental, health, and economic harms to communities that live near fossil fuel infrastructure, it has also exposed a disparity in media between which communities' stories are told and which bad actors are held to account.
As CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir pointed out: “We need to widen out the big picture. These sorts of leaks happen all the time all over the world. The reason this one is so newsworthy is where it is happening, on some of the most popular beaches in southern California, in the wealthy communities of Orange County.”
This oil spill is not an isolated event and not eve