Fighting for Our Lives in Fossil Fuel Country w/ John Beard Jr. / A People's Climate
“This is about life. And this extractive industry is not a giver of life, it is a taker of life.”
On March 23, 2026, a massive explosion tore through the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, shaking homes and sending a plume of smoke over a community that has lived with oil and petrochemical pollution for generations. In this episode of A People’s Climate, host Shilpi Chhotray talks with John Beard Jr., a former refinery worker who spent 38 years inside the industry, about what happens when global oil decisions become local realities.
From U.S. policy toward Venezuelan oil to the expansion…
The skinny
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