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Future Heist

@futureheist.bsky.social
162 followers 238 following 162 posts

Stealing back Texas. Independent journalism on who's plundering the state — and the Texans fighting back. Tracking land, water, energy, politics.

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Reposted by Future Heist
Saul Elbein @saulelbein.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
If you're at all interested in climate or energy not paying attention to the Texas Railroad Commission — our state's confoundingly-named oil and gas regulator — I don't even know what to tell you. Except that things are getting *crazy* there in a way that are a serious risk for Texas Republicans.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Texans are mad about the growing torrent of toxic oilfield waste by their homes. So the state oil regulator acted decisively: it told them to please shut up. New op-ed with Virginia Palacios in the San Antonio Express News; gift link in comments. www.expressnews.com/opinion/comm...
expressnews.com
Texas' oil and gas regulator cuts out the public from its meetings
Last month the Railroad Commission of Texas — which oversees oil and gas, not railroads — ended guaranteed public comment at its monthly open meetings.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Texas all having a minor constitutional crisis over oil regulation www.texastribune.org/2026/09/15/t...
texastribune.org
Drew Darby berates Wayne Christian for missing Capitol meeting
Wayne Christian said his agency’s meeting kept him from addressing lawmakers about eliminating some public comments at the Texas Railroad Commission.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
So the bad news about methods of cooling data center that use less water: they rely on forever chemicals. "In “two-phase immersion cooling” systems, servers are immersed in a pool of Pfas with a low boiling point." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn
Big manufacturers planning to produce more of the forever chemicals to meet demand from datacentres
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Texas, we have a significant problem.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Emily Atkin @emorwee.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
No matter how high the price of oil climbs, the actual price is far, far higher
heated.world
Oil worker says fracking waste eroded his jaw
An elementary school was built atop the site where the radioactive waste was spread, journalist Saul Elbein reports.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"In doing so, they inadvertently gave the public a free lesson in how to bring the U.S. oil and gas industry to its knees." Intrigued? @saulelbein.bsky.social has the details at @emorwee.bsky.social's Heated
heated.world
Oil executives just accidentally exposed the industry’s greatest weakness
To keep drilling, Big Oil needs permission to dump treated fracking wastewater into rivers and onto cropland. We don’t have to give it to them.
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Reposted by Future Heist
c-a-m @cad6711.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Texas is proposing to allow frackwater (complete with benzene and radioactive elements) to be discharged into waterways and spread on crops. Sound like a horrible idea? Here's what you can do to stop it.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Every one of these wells is a potential source of chemicals that interfere with children's development and never go away.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
What are zombie oils wells, and why does it matter that there are 50x as many at-risk wells in Texas as we thought? Read below.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Our analysis in @houstonchronicle.com this morning: ~25,000 plugged Texas wells at critical risk of failing, roughly 50x more than anyone had counted. When they do, "industry’s toxic wastewater can flow up the well to the surface." Is one under your house? futureheist.org/zombie-risk/
futureheist.org
Texas Zombie Wells — Risk Map
Texas oil & gas wells mapped by zombie-well risk, injection threats to drinking water, and schools & daycares.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Saul Elbein @saulelbein.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Texas has hundreds of thousands of old oil and gas wells that were plugged decades ago and then forgotten — many now under neighborhoods grew on top of them. We read the state's own records against the scientific lit. We found 25,000+ now at risk of going zombie. tinyurl.com/zombie-wells
tinyurl.com
25K Texas oil and gas wells could soon be ‘zombie wells,' watchdog group warns
Analysis by Future Heist watchdog group identifies 25,000 high-risk "zombie wells" and hundreds with leaks threatening groundwater and communities.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
@saulelbein.bsky.social's climate watchdog @futureheist.bsky.social turns public data into (very cool) tools the public can actually use. This map shows the sheer extent to which Texas has been penetrated by the fossil fuel industry. It's a visual primer on oil power you have to see to believe
futureheist.org
Texas Zombie Wells — Risk Map
Texas oil & gas wells mapped by zombie-well risk, injection threats to drinking water, and schools & daycares.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Texas pumps billions of barrels of oil waste underground annually, often down the nearest old well. But when the plugs fail, a hole everyone thought was dead leaks upward again — and people living over "zombie wells" rarely know it. Check @futureheist.bsky.social's new map to see if that's you.
futureheist.org
Texas Zombie Wells — Risk Map
Texas oil & gas wells mapped by zombie-well risk, injection threats to drinking water, and schools & daycares.
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Reposted by Future Heist
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Good message: “Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat, along with vast fires, was being significantly amplified by the human-caused climate crisis, accelerated by the burning of fossil fuels.”
theguardian.com
July was hottest month ever recorded in US as heatwaves scorched country
Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
And as a counterpoint of how not to write a headline: may we submit this piece www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Record wildfires in Europe show failure to adapt carries a mounting cost
Scientists call for better land management alongside reduction in greenhouse gases causing the crisis
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Worth saying they're also looking to seize land from hundreds of landowners and at least three Texas state parks for the Wall, too.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Saul Elbein @saulelbein.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The attack on data represents media savvy by the pro-fossil camp: it doesn't just stop climate science, it also closes off a data pipeline that translates directly into artifacts that journalists can quote, and numbers that can become memes. It leaves the question of: how do you cover an absence?
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The data centers, the Big Bend wall, and the rush to put fracking fluid on crops are interesting choices for an election year. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘I’ve never worked with so many conservatives’: the Texans fighting the Big Bend border wall
Residents across party lines say Trump’s proposed wall threatens their homes, livelihoods and wilderness along the Rio Grande
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Underappreciated trend of the last two years is pro-fossil movement in Texas watching the rise of renewables and concluding that the problem is a free market. insideclimatenews.org/news/0608202...
insideclimatenews.org
As Solar and Batteries Dominate in Texas, Republican Lawmakers Consider Natural Gas Minimums - Inside Climate News
Renewables make up 70 percent of the state’s future electricity generation, outcompeting fossil fuels in the marketplace.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Worth noting that in farm regions, pesticides a bigger cause of cancer than cigarettes. There's a significant political opening here — polling shows most Americans aren't with MAHA on vaccines or even seed oils, but they *do* agree on environmental chemicals. thehill.com/policy/energ...
thehill.com
Republicans vote down farm bill amendment enabling lawsuits against pesticide companies, a blow to MAHA
Senate Republicans on Thursday voted down an amendment that sought to open up Americans’ ability to sue pesticide companies over the health impacts of their products.  The amendment to the Sen…
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
“Republicans should be on this issue and we’re not,” Miller said. “The Democrats are, and they’re right on the issue. I’m not endorsing any Democrats, but we’re going to lose some elections in the midterms because of this one subject.” He called out Abbott for "inaction."
texastribune.org
Sid Miller says Texas GOP will lose because of data centers
The Texas agriculture commissioner has openly criticized Gov. Greg Abbott for not taking a stronger stand against data center development. The governor has ignored him.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Chevron and Williams are explicitly pitching investors on their ability to sell to data centers — making data centers a "lifeline" to a fossil fuel industry increasingly outcompeted by solar + storage. wired.com/story/chevro...
wired.com
Two Fossil Fuel Companies Are Betting Big on Data Centers
Chevron and Williams are big winners in the race to power artificial intelligence as they build out gas-fired power plants and pipelines.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The crazy part of this isn't just that the drought in Central Europe is so bad that Romania had to sink ships to keep water levels high enough to run nuclear — it's that doing so just buys them *days* apnews.com/article/roma...
apnews.com
Romania rushes to sink 4 barges in the Danube to keep a nuclear power plant's second reactor running
Romania is racing to sink four barges into the Danube River to redirect water toward a nuclear power plant.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Califronia alleges that everal DuPont spin-off companies [created] a “fall guy” company designed to take the financial hit stemming from several multibillion-dollar pollution lawsuits while keeping the companies’ most valuable assets out of reach." latimes.com/science/stor...
latimes.com
Bonta accuses DuPont of 'corporate shell game' to dodge PFAS cleanup in California
California's attorney general has added an amendment to a suit he filed in 2022 against the makers of forever chemicals. He claims the defendants were involved in a fraudulent transaction scheme.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"Still, he acknowledged it’s getting harder to find a home for produced water," which is to say, the toxic wastewater that comes out of the oilfield at 4x the volume of oil — minimum. "Reuse [putting it on crops and in rivers] has to be introduced at some point." www.mrt.com/business/oil...
mrt.com
Permian Basin oil companies prioritize water management strategies
Producers highlight the need to incorporate water management into their operations
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"Developers must win every permit. If they lose only one, it’s likely that it’s game over." Great advice here on organizing in general. "Your neighbors have jobs, children and livestock. They will act only if acting is easy and the ask comes from someone they trust. dallasnews.com/news/watchdo...
dallasnews.com
A Texas community stopped a proposed data center in just 11 weeks.
Part 2 of 2  A Texas community defeated a proposed data center in 11 weeks. Its leaders share a 10-step blueprint.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
"This is pretty simple. It’s fossil fuel companies destroying our future for a quick buck." Only thing we'd add: and if they *stop* destroying our future in a way that slows the flow of quick bucks, the shareholders get to sue them. Only way out: changing the structure in which they operate.
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Reposted by Future Heist
Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
What Texans need to understand is that these projects aren't subject to Greg Abbott's state pause, because they *don't connect to the grid.*
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Reposted by Future Heist
Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
What's particularly startling about this story is that this is happening in Southern France and the U.K., which are at the same latitude as, respectively Maine and Newfoundland. Imagine, please, what this means for Texas.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Not just a lot of money for batteries, but a lot of money for Austin, TX manufacturing (and, by the way, non-software tech) www.canarymedia.com/articles/bat...
canarymedia.com
Base Power raises $1B to get big batteries into more homes
The startup, newly valued at $13 billion, is now manufacturing batteries in Texas. It offers an affordable way for homeowners to get backup power and it…
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Government regulators "said the staffing loss has also led to a loss of institutional knowledge and experienced people." The thing to remember is: this year we may scrape by, as the El Nino wind shear rips apart Atlantic hurricanes before they can form. But what about after that?
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
What's particularly startling about this story is that this is happening in Southern France and the U.K., which are at the same latitude as, respectively Maine and Newfoundland. Imagine, please, what this means for Texas.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
You might think that combined brutal heat wave, calls of "climate emergency" in Spain and France ... added to clear evidence that fossil reliance exposes you to wild out-of-control price swings would cut the value of fossil fuel companies. This is not the case. Market valuations post-Iran up $600B
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
What Texans need to understand is that these projects aren't subject to Greg Abbott's state pause, because they *don't connect to the grid.*
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Sneaky move from Greg Abbott: this only applies to those projects that aren't building their own natural gas plants. Which ... a lot are.
texastribune.org
New Texas data center projects frozen until state audits them
On Monday, the governor ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit all data centers wanting to connect to the state’s power grid.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
To be clear: the coal plant is not closing. Developers argue that the solar project (and it is MASSIVE) will cancel it out. grist.org/energy/this-...
grist.org
This Texas coal mine will soon be home to a 1.2GW solar farm
Panamint Capital broke ground on a $1.7 billion solar and storage project at the Calvert coal mine. The mine and an adjacent coal plant will stay online.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
real interesting fight between Trump administration and Texas government over what Texas is calling "illegal" land clearing by federal contractors “Texas sovereignty will not be infringed upon by failure to follow established protocol,” Texas state officials said
texasstandard.org
Texas officials order contractor on Big Bend area border wall to halt land clearing
Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham on Friday sent cease and desist letters to Barnard Construction and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, claiming the border wall contractor had…
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
More proof the beaver beat deserves (we repeat) at least one reporter at every serious publication: beavers make "really complex wetlands" that fight drought and provide habitat "www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr7z150…
bbc.com
Beavers helping to reduce drought with wetlands
Research shows beavers are creating more wetland areas since being reintroduced to the wild.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
There's an interesting parallel here: salt caverns are what holds oil and gas; the oil right loves to hold up nuclear (looking at you, Landman) as the thing we're all gonna switch to soon so no need for renewables; also oil and gas waste itself often radioactive
futureheist.org
Client Challenge
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
what if I were to tell you that a substance isn't PFAS if — stay with us here — it would be inconvenient for CropLife America* *the actual name of the pesticide lobby phys.org/news/2026-07...
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This is, in every sense of the word, wild.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
There's a big fight over expanding Texas' grid — something analogous to jump from the old federal highways to Interstates — and fascinating to find the oil hard right (TPPF)and the mainstream oil and gas industry (TXOGA) at daggers drawn over it thetexan.news/issues/energ...
thetexan.news
Texas Power Transmission Lines Project Under Fire at Senate Committee Hearing
Texas’ renewable energy fixation was a topic heavily debated in the hearing.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
More tactile; more real.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“It became very clearly obvious to me that this is a totally cross-partisan rebellion that’s happening from the bottom up,” @wewill2026.bsky.social told @hurwitz.bsky.social, after watching "MAGA Republicans and true-blue Democrats" protesting a Mich data center. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Can opposing data centers help progressives win?
A Sunrise Movement cofounder says the issue unites people across the aisle. He’s not the only one.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Worth noting that people can fall into this perspective honestly – but when they do, there's a well-funded, glad-faced shill network waiting open-armed to greet them
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"A national security emergency"
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"I began to see this as a pattern in some of Fasulo’s arguments against industrial solar: Legitimate concerns were often inflated into sweeping conclusions with shaky evidence." heated.world/p/the-influe...
heated.world
The influencer teaching millions to fear solar
Alexandra Fasulo says she’s protecting farms and wildlife. Her campaign is becoming a blueprint for the fossil fuel right.
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
new American unity party
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Future Heist @futureheist.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
One possibly pertinent fact: Israel gets its virtually all of its oil (semi-illegally) from oilfields in Russia. Turkey kind of looks the other way. But at any point, Ankara could close the Dardenelles, and then things get really interesting.
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