Watch an excerpt from part three of “The Power of Big Oil,” a FRONTLINE docuseries investigating the decades-long failure to confront the threat and impacts of climate change—and the fossil fuel industry’s role.
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“When they were marketing natural gas as clean energy, they didn’t really know what they were talking about because they were fixated on the idea that natural gas, when burned, produces half the carbon dioxide emissions of coal,” says Dar-Lon Chang, who worked at Exxon Mobil from 2003 through 2019, in this excerpt from part three of “The Power of Big Oil.” “But without measurement devices to verify that you’re not significantly leaking, you can’t be sure that your natural gas is actually giving you less of a global warming impact than coal.”
At the time, Exxon Mobil and others in the industry said they were working to reduce methane emissions, which were already within limits set by the EPA. But "The Power of Big Oil: Delay" goes on to recount how some in the environmental community were witnessing widespread leaks — and how, in the years since, numerous studies have pointed to the dangers of methane emissions from oil and gas production.
Learn more at pbs.org/frontline: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/video-natural-gas-methane-leaks-exxon-mobil-engineer-power-of-big-oil/
Part three of “The Power of Big Oil,” “Delay,” premieres May 3 on PBS and online: https://to.pbs.org/3rByEEe
Part one, “Denial,” is now streaming: https://bit.ly/3xTxYhg
Part two, “Doubt,” is also streaming: https://bit.ly/37UjSSm
“The Power of Big Oil” is a FRONTLINE Production with Mongoose Pictures in association with BBC and Arte. The series producer is Dan Edge. The producer and director of episode 3 is Robin Barnwell. The editorial consultant is Russell Gold. The senior producers are James Jacoby and Eamonn Matthews. The executive producer for FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
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FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Park Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Funding for The Power of Big Oil is provided by The WNET Group’s Peril and Promise initiative, reporting on the human stories of climate change, with major funding by Dr. P. Roy and Diana T. Vagelos and additional funding from The Marc Haas Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and the Cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Additional support for this program is provided by The JPB Foundation, and the GBH Planet Future Fund.