Latest / Austin Signal / A shunned GOP candidate could regulate Texas oil and gas

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A shunned GOP candidate could regulate Texas oil and gas · Austin Signal

• 0:08
  Texas Republican leaders previously
• 0:10
  shunned a man for his racist social
• 0:12
  media posts, now they want
• 0:14
  him to regulate the state's oil and
• 0:15
  gas industries, the reason for
• 0:18
  that reversal.
• 0:19
  And Austin City Council voted in May
• 0:20
  to annex a 2,600 acre
• 0:22
  site in the eastern part of the
• 0:24
  city. Plans were made for the
• 0:25
  development for months, but
• 0:27
  neighbors nearby only had a few days
• 0:29
  to make their voices heard about
• 0:30
  those plans.
• 0:31
  We're going to tell you more about
• 0:33
  those stories that's coming up on
• 0:34
  today's show.
• 0:35
  The Austin Signal is a production
• 0:37
  of KUT News, hosted by
• 0:39
  Jerry Quijano.
• 0:40
  Plus, what happens to the dead
• 0:42
  animals the city picks up on the
• 0:43
  roads here in Austin?
• 0:45
  The question was asked of our
• 0:46
  ATXplain project and the answer
• 0:48
  is probably what you'd expect.
• 0:51
  But today, we're gonna meet some of
• 0:52
  the people handling that service
• 0:54
  with care.
• 0:55
  We've got plenty more coming up
• 0:56
  next, right here on Austin
• 0:58
  Signal.
• 1:08
  Howdy out there.
• 1:09
  Thank you for tuning in to Austin
• 1:11
  Signal. It is Monday, June 8th.
• 1:13
  I'm your host Jerry Kehannel.
• 1:14
  Thank for making us part of your
• 1:16
  day.
• 1:18
  This brings some of the biggest
• 1:19
  voices in Texas Republican
• 1:21
  politics lined up to oppose Beau
• 1:23
  French in his bid to join the Texas
• 1:25
  Railroad Commission.
• 1:26
  That's the state agency that,
• 1:28
  despite its name, regulates Texas
• 1:30
  oil and gas.
• 1:31
  French had become popular in
• 1:32
  right-wing circles with his racist
• 1:34
  and anti-Muslim social media
• 1:36
  posts, but He also alienated
• 1:38
  people like Lieutenant Governor Dan
• 1:40
  Patrick and Governor Greg Abbott,
• 1:42
  who just last month said French
• 1:44
  would, quote, wreck Texas
• 1:46
  oil production.
• 1:47
  Now, after his primary victory,
• 1:49
  those same GOP critics have backed
• 1:51
  him enthusiastically in the
• 1:52
  general election.
• 1:54
  KUT's Moe's Bouchelle reports on
• 1:56
  how the electorate and the industry
• 1:58
  may respond.
• 1:59
  The last time a railroad
• 2:01
  commissioner faced a serious
• 2:02
  political challenge was in 2022.
• 2:05
  That's when Sarah Stogner, a lawyer
• 2:06
  from the Permian Basin, launched
• 2:08
  an insurgent primary campaign
• 2:10
  against incumbent Republican Wayne
• 2:12
  Christian.
• 2:13
  Writing a wave of discontent over
• 2:15
  abandoned oil wells and groundwater
• 2:17
  contamination, Stogmer shocked
• 2:19
  many by forcing Christian into
• 2:21
  a primary runoff.
• 2:23
  She says it was only then
• 2:25
  that her campaign hired political
• 2:27
  consultants.
• 2:28
  Those consultants, they told
• 2:30
  me, okay, you need to be talking
• 2:32
  about the wall.
• 2:33
  You need to talking about abortion.
• 2:34
  You need be talking about the hot
• 2:36
  button topics at the time.
• 2:37
  And I said, absolutely not.
• 2:39
  Instead, she kept hammering her
• 2:41
  opponent on issues related to oil
• 2:42
  and gas, and she lost
• 2:44
  the runoff by 30 percentage
• 2:46
  points.
• 2:47
  If I'd talked about maybe abortion
• 2:49
  in the wall, I might've had a better
• 2:50
  shot.
• 2:51
  Stagner, now a district attorney in
• 2:52
  West Texas, shared the story
• 2:54
  to explain the victory of Beau
• 2:56
  French, former chair of the Tarrant
• 2:58
  County GOP over incumbent
• 3:00
  commissioner Jim Wright in this
• 3:02
  year's primary.
• 3:03
  Unlike her, French made his
• 3:05
  campaign almost exclusively
• 3:07
  about hot-button culture war
• 3:09
  issues, ginning up outrage
• 3:11
  and media attention with racist
• 3:13
  and xenophobic pronouncements
• 3:15
  often on social media.
• 3:17
  Some examples.
• 3:19
  He believes that the US should,
• 3:21
  quote, round up every Muslim
• 3:23
  and send them home.
• 3:24
  He has called a group of Native
• 3:26
  Americans, quote third world
• 3:28
  savages, and said that they should
• 3:29
  be deported too.
• 3:31
  And then there was this one
• 3:33
  Some of Texas Republican party
• 3:34
  leaders are denouncing Tarrant
• 3:36
  County GOP chairman Beau French
• 3:38
  after his recent post on
• 3:39
  X that polled users who
• 3:41
  posed a bigger threat to the United
• 3:43
  States, Jews or Muslims.
• 3:45
  That last tweet prompted Lieutenant
• 3:47
  Governor Dan Patrick to call for
• 3:49
  French's resignation from party
• 3:51
  leadership.
• 3:52
  Not only did Patrick and Governor
• 3:54
  Greg Abbott endorse French's
• 3:55
  opponent, Jim Wright, in the
• 3:56
  primary, so too did
• 3:58
  some big oil companies and the
• 4:00
  Texas Oil and Gas Association PAC,
• 4:02
  the political action committee of
• 4:04
  the state's biggest oil industry
• 4:06
  lobbying group.
• 4:08
  None of it stopped French from
• 4:09
  winning.
• 4:11
  Cal Jillson is a political scientist
• 4:12
  at Southern Methodist University.
• 4:14
  He says It all has to
• 4:16
  do with who votes in primary
• 4:18
  runoffs.
• 4:18
  Republican turnout was 7.4,
• 4:21
  so it boils down.
• 4:23
  Even a more deeply.
• 4:25
  MAGA Republican.
• 4:28
  But Jilson says French's
• 4:30
  extreme politics may
• 4:32
  become a liability in the general
• 4:34
  election.
• 4:35
  One person betting on that is
• 4:37
  his democratic opponent.
• 4:38
  I'm John Rosenthal.
• 4:40
  I'm currently the Texas State
• 4:41
  Representative for House District
• 4:42
  135 in Northwest Houston.
• 4:45
  Rosenthal says he entered this
• 4:47
  race to highlight the vulnerability
• 4:49
  of the state's gas supply system
• 4:51
  in big winter storms, like the
• 4:53
  kind that caused the 2021 blackout.
• 4:56
  He was expecting to run against
• 4:57
  the incumbent in the general
• 4:59
  election, and he had a plan for
• 5:01
  that.
• 5:01
  And I was gonna hit him on
• 5:03
  self-dealing and having conflicts
• 5:05
  of interest in the industry.
• 5:06
  Beau French's upset victory changed
• 5:08
  those plans, but Rosenthal thinks
• 5:10
  it's also brought an
• 5:12
  opportunity.
• 5:13
  You know, in an environment where
• 5:15
  normally the lobby and
• 5:16
  big business will line up with an
• 5:18
  incumbent. In this case, it
• 5:20
  becomes an open seat race and I can
• 5:22
  buy for that support.
• 5:23
  To do that, he has a message for
• 5:25
  people in the oil business.
• 5:27
  His Republican opponents'
• 5:29
  politics are not just offensive,
• 5:31
  they are, echoing the words of
• 5:33
  Governor Abbott just a few weeks
• 5:35
  ago, a threat to
• 5:37
  energy production in Texas.
• 5:39
  All be good for business.
• 5:41
  For someone to run on an
• 5:42
  Islamophobic platform where
• 5:44
  they're going after companies just
• 5:46
  because part of their ownership is
• 5:47
  from the Middle East, that's bad for
• 5:49
  business
• 5:49
  French, whose campaign did
• 5:51
  not respond to an interview request,
• 5:54
  has his own allies in the world of
• 5:56
  Texas oil.
• 5:57
  Funding for much of his primary
• 5:59
  campaign came from two wealthy
• 6:01
  independent oil men, Tim Dunn
• 6:03
  and Ferris Wilkes, who put big
• 6:05
  money behind him through their
• 6:06
  right-wing political action
• 6:08
  committee.
• 6:09
  According to a report by Inside
• 6:10
  Climate News, that funding was
• 6:12
  not just about culture war politics,
• 6:14
  it was also about waste
• 6:17
  pit regulation.
• 6:18
  Tim Dunn opposes rules recently
• 6:20
  passed by the Commission for
• 6:21
  overseeing those pits and
• 6:23
  funded French's campaign in part to
• 6:25
  get them overturned.
• 6:26
  Well, I would look to roll back some
• 6:28
  of those regulations that just went
• 6:29
  into effect last July.
• 6:30
  Here's Beau French taking a break
• 6:32
  from the culture wars to talk about
• 6:34
  waste pits with KLTV
• 6:36
  and Tyler last month.
• 6:38
  A lot of people I know in the oil
• 6:39
  industry are upset about these new
• 6:41
  rules and so I would look to work
• 6:42
  with my industry friends and
• 6:44
  partners and figure out how we can
• 6:46
  right size these in a way so that
• 6:48
  it's fair for everybody in the
• 6:49
  business.
• 6:49
  Dunne and Wilk's political action
• 6:51
  committee did not respond to
• 6:52
  requests for comment, but
• 6:54
  Cal Jillson, the SMU political
• 6:56
  analyst, says he expects more
• 6:58
  industry backing for French,
• 6:59
  especially from those Texas
• 7:01
  independent firms, which tend to be
• 7:03
  more conservative and
• 7:04
  anti-regulation than the oil majors.
• 7:06
  As long as he stays out of the way
• 7:09
  and does not become
• 7:11
  a distraction and
• 7:13
  embarrassment.
• 7:16
  A source at the Texas Oil and Gas
• 7:18
  Association told KUT News that
• 7:20
  the group's political action
• 7:21
  committee will be looking at
• 7:22
  endorsements for the fall race later
• 7:24
  this year, while prominent Texas
• 7:27
  Republicans who once opposed
• 7:29
  both French, like Governor Abbott
• 7:30
  and Lieutenant Governor Patrick,
• 7:32
  have already thrown their support
• 7:33
  behind him.
• 7:34
  Of course, it's the voters
• 7:36
  who will decide in November.
• 7:38
  Sarah Stogner, who ran for
• 7:40
  railroad commission in 2022,
• 7:43
  does not expect a lot of enthusiasm
• 7:45
  for French.
• 7:46
  And his brand of politics in the
• 7:48
  general election.
• 7:49
  I personally know a lot of lifelong
• 7:51
  Republicans that are just not
• 7:53
  going to cast a ballot.
• 7:54
  While she ran as a Republican four
• 7:56
  years ago, she says she now plans
• 7:58
  to vote for Democrat John
• 7:59
  Rosenthal.
• 8:01
  In Austin, I'm Mo's Boucher.
• 8:11
  Austin City Council voted in late
• 8:12
  May to annex a 2,600-acre
• 8:15
  site in east Austin known as
• 8:16
  Dogshead.
• 8:17
  The plan is to develop the former
• 8:19
  industrial site into a mixed-use
• 8:21
  development, but neighbors say they
• 8:23
  were given little notice about that
• 8:25
  vote.
• 8:26
  Andrea Ball is a Growth Development
• 8:28
  Reporter for Austin Current.
• 8:29
  Andrea, welcome back to the show.
• 8:31
  Thank you for having me.
• 8:32
  So tell us a little bit about the
• 8:34
  plan for this dog's head
• 8:35
  development.
• 8:36
  Who is involved and what is
• 8:38
  eventually planned for this piece of
• 8:40
  land?
• 8:40
  So Dog's Head is called
• 8:42
  Dog's head because it looks like
• 8:44
  a dog's head.
• 8:45
  It's 2,600 acres in Southeast
• 8:47
  Austin along the Colorado River
• 8:49
  and near the airport.
• 8:51
  It's a project being developed by
• 8:53
  Endeavor, which is, you know, they
• 8:55
  are the folks who did the domain.
• 8:58
  Recently, the owners of the property
• 9:00
  decided they wanted to be annexed
• 9:02
  into the city of Austin, which would
• 9:03
  ensure them water services,
• 9:05
  wastewater service, whatever they
• 9:06
  need kind of thing.
• 9:08
  Um, and ordinarily,
• 9:10
  um, people find
• 9:12
  out things, uh, about these
• 9:14
  coming projects earlier
• 9:16
  in the process, not necessarily
• 9:18
  through the city, but you know, an,
• 9:19
  an advocacy group finds out,
• 9:22
  somebody finds out something and.
• 9:22
  Somebody in the community.
• 9:24
  Somebody in the community, whatever,
• 9:25
  and they decide they
• 9:27
  want to talk about it, but that
• 9:28
  didn't happen in this situation.
• 9:31
  Uh, since we don't know exactly yet
• 9:33
  what is going to be put at
• 9:35
  this dog's head development, why is
• 9:36
  the city so interested in developing
• 9:37
  the land?
• 9:38
  Oh gosh, we need to
• 9:40
  broaden our tax base.
• 9:42
  Essentially the state put a cap
• 9:44
  on property taxes so
• 9:46
  they can't generate more money that
• 9:48
  way. We are no longer getting
• 9:50
  federal money
• 9:52
  that was used for COVID relief
• 9:54
  money. So that has, have we seen
• 9:56
  in other ways played out so that you
• 9:58
  don't have that money.
• 9:59
  And so one
• 10:01
  of the ways that we can
• 10:03
  get a better
• 10:05
  source of money is to.
• 10:08
  Go out and take the
• 10:10
  ETJs, you know, the parts of
• 10:12
  the city that are not actually in
• 10:15
  the city limits and adopt
• 10:17
  them if they are so willing to be
• 10:18
  adopted.
• 10:19
  OK, well, let's talk about the
• 10:21
  pushback from neighbors in the area.
• 10:23
  What did the residents tell you
• 10:24
  about this process?
• 10:26
  So these people live maybe
• 10:27
  quarter of a mile from like the end
• 10:29
  of dog's head or these people live
• 10:31
  very close. They're already in the
• 10:32
  city. Okay.
• 10:33
  And so they weren't being annexed.
• 10:35
  They were already there, but they
• 10:37
  did not know from anybody,
• 10:39
  they never received any kind of
• 10:41
  notice that there would be
• 10:43
  a hearing to
• 10:45
  annex dog's had and
• 10:47
  to enshrine
• 10:49
  certain uses of that property
• 10:51
  that the city would determine at a
• 10:53
  particular meeting.
• 10:54
  They found out through a friend who
• 10:56
  happened to be looking at the agenda
• 10:59
  or whatever.
• 11:00
  The thing is they never had to
• 11:02
  be notified. That's not how it
• 11:03
  works.
• 11:04
  So essentially the
• 11:07
  city did what it was supposed to
• 11:08
  do. It posted on the website,
• 11:11
  it posted a notice in the Austin
• 11:13
  American Statesman.
• 11:15
  It notified the
• 11:17
  local Del Valle school district,
• 11:19
  Travis County, and some emergency
• 11:21
  services group. That's what they
• 11:22
  have to do and they did
• 11:24
  do it.
• 11:25
  The question in these situations
• 11:28
  become, what is
• 11:30
  legal, what is right,
• 11:32
  and what is being done for
• 11:33
  expediency?
• 11:35
  And Austin has this reputation of
• 11:37
  being slow going and
• 11:39
  the city is trying
• 11:41
  to move that process faster
• 11:43
  so they can bring people in
• 11:45
  to the community and broaden that
• 11:46
  tax base faster.
• 11:48
  So in this case,
• 11:50
  they didn't notify the neighbors,
• 11:52
  because they didn't have to.
• 11:53
  But of course, that's offensive to
• 11:55
  those who live nearby.
• 11:58
  It's hard to
• 12:01
  separate that from
• 12:03
  what is a city's responsibility
• 12:05
  to its constituents?
• 12:06
  What is its responsibility to
• 12:08
  do good things economically
• 12:11
  because you know we're having
• 12:12
  problems with our budget right now.
• 12:13
  So they're really trying to figure
• 12:14
  that out. So what's best for the
• 12:16
  community? What's best the city?
• 12:18
  And what's for economics?
• 12:20
  And people are like, don't we count?
• 12:22
  And the city's like, yes, you count.
• 12:23
  But don't you want to have like
• 12:25
  a strong budget?
• 12:28
  Okay, so where does this go from
• 12:29
  here? What are you watching for
• 12:31
  next?
• 12:31
  So there are some additional
• 12:33
  planning processes that have to
• 12:35
  happen to be able to
• 12:37
  get certain
• 12:40
  development going.
• 12:41
  So basically they will be working
• 12:42
  with the city to figure out, okay,
• 12:43
  we wanna build this here.
• 12:45
  What are the rules for that?
• 12:46
  We want this company to come in
• 12:47
  here. What kind of
• 12:49
  stuff do we need to do to make this
• 12:51
  happen? I don't know how much
• 12:53
  of that will actually be public and
• 12:54
  how much it won't.
• 12:56
  All right, that is Andrea Ball.
• 12:57
  She is the growth development
• 12:58
  reporter for Austin Current, a
• 13:00
  reporting partner with KUT News and
• 13:02
  Austin Signal in covering the city
• 13:03
  of Austin.
• 13:04
  Andrea, always great to talk with
• 13:05
  you.
• 13:06
  Thanks for having me.
• 13:07
  And thank you out there for making
• 13:09
  Austin Signal part of your day,
• 13:11
  88 degrees outside our studio.
• 13:13
  And it's raining!
• 13:14
  I didn't expect that, but taking a
• 13:16
  look at the radar, it looks like
• 13:17
  some storms moving up southern
• 13:19
  Travis County, so if you're out to
• 13:21
  lunch, make sure and grab
• 13:23
  that umbrella.
• 13:24
  Be safe, keep it tuned in right
• 13:25
  here. This is KUT News.
• 14:31
  This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
• 14:33
  It happens all the time, you're
• 14:35
  walking or you're biking or driving
• 14:37
  down the street and there it
• 14:39
  is, a lump in the road, usually
• 14:41
  it's furry, sometimes it's even
• 14:43
  bloody.
• 14:44
  This is what happened to someone who
• 14:45
  wrote to KUT's ATXplained project.
• 14:48
  He found a dead possum in the bike
• 14:49
  lane in front of his house.
• 14:51
  So he called 311 and
• 14:54
  within a day the poor little guy was
• 14:55
  picked up by the city, but.
• 14:57
  That got him wondering where did
• 14:59
  they take it.
• 15:00
  So he asked our ATXplain project.
• 15:03
  KUT's Matt Largie went to find
• 15:05
  out, and a warning,
• 15:06
  this story does include descriptions
• 15:08
  that some people might find
• 15:10
  disturbing.
• 15:11
  To find this answer, we're gonna
• 15:12
  have to do it the hard way.
• 15:14
  We'll start from the beginning.
• 15:16
  Right now I'm trying to recover an
• 15:17
  animal that one of the residents
• 15:19
  reported. I think their pet had
• 15:20
  passed away and it's a dog in the
• 15:22
  box right over there and I'm gonna
• 15:23
  collect it up.
• 15:24
  Marvin Levan is 63 years
• 15:26
  old. He works for Austin Resource
• 15:28
  Recovery, the city's trash
• 15:29
  department.
• 15:30
  He's a dead animal man.
• 15:31
  Most of the animals that we pick up
• 15:33
  are usually like possums and
• 15:34
  raccoons, but we get quite a few
• 15:36
  cats.
• 15:36
  Marvin doesn't have any cats waiting
• 15:38
  for him at home, but he does have
• 15:39
  some guppies and a winter white
• 15:41
  dwarf hamster.
• 15:42
  His name's Gizmo.
• 15:45
  Marvin opens the doors on the back
• 15:47
  of his truck.
• 15:48
  The dog he's collecting is in a
• 15:49
  cardboard box at the curb.
• 15:51
  Some green plastic HEB bags are
• 15:53
  duct-taped over the top of the box,
• 15:55
  kind of like a little coffin.
• 15:57
  It must be a small dog.
• 15:58
  The box is pretty light.
• 15:59
  As Marvin picks it up, brings it
• 16:01
  over to the truck.
• 16:03
  He gently slides it into the back.
• 16:05
  We usually load them up and then at
• 16:07
  the end of the day we take them to
• 16:08
  our disposal facility, you know,
• 16:10
  so they can be buried.
• 16:12
  Marvin tells me it's unusual to
• 16:14
  pick up a pet dog from its home,
• 16:16
  but it happens.
• 16:18
  Most people usually will set their
• 16:20
  pets out at the curbside and bag
• 16:21
  them and stuff.
• 16:23
  But occasionally we'll run across
• 16:24
  them and they're just laying there.
• 16:26
  But that really makes me sad,
• 16:29
  if you have a pet and then
• 16:31
  it's something that you loved for a
• 16:33
  few years or something.
• 16:34
  And then you just lay it out on the
• 16:35
  ground. But I take good care of
• 16:37
  them when I get there.
• 16:39
  You're kinda like an undertaker for
• 16:40
  some of these dogs.
• 16:41
  Yes, sir.
• 16:42
  It gets sad sometimes, but you know,
• 16:44
  I'm just glad to tidy them up or
• 16:46
  whatever and put them away properly
• 16:48
  and just not leave them out there on
• 16:49
  the roads or streets to ride.
• 16:54
  On to our next stop.
• 16:56
  We have a squirrel already
• 16:58
  bagged up from the, I guess
• 17:00
  the neighbors already did it earlier
• 17:01
  today.
• 17:02
  Dwight Leonard is the other driver
• 17:04
  working today.
• 17:05
  We're in Barton Hills.
• 17:06
  He walks over to the mailbox in
• 17:07
  front of a fancy house.
• 17:09
  Next to it, a paper bag.
• 17:11
  Mmm.
• 17:12
  Yep.
• 17:14
  Oh, yeah, this is gonna be
• 17:16
  him. This one's a E.
• 17:16
  One today.
• 17:18
  Are they usually not bagged up?
• 17:19
  Oh no, they're usually not bagged
• 17:21
  up. A lot of times they may be in
• 17:23
  the middle of the street.
• 17:24
  Oh. Ha ha ha.
• 17:28
  I'll pitch for it, we'll do it.
• 17:30
  I've been lucky so far.
• 17:31
  We haven't had to actually see
• 17:33
  either one of the animals we've
• 17:34
  collected.
• 17:35
  And I'm worried about how I'll feel
• 17:37
  if we do.
• 17:38
  Do you ever think about the animal?
• 17:39
  Do you think about what happened to
• 17:41
  it?
• 17:42
  You know, every now and then you do,
• 17:44
  but how
• 17:46
  can I say?
• 17:46
  With this job, you might not want to
• 17:48
  think too much because you see a
• 17:50
  lot of it.
• 17:51
  You try not to think about what
• 17:52
  happened and just bag
• 17:54
  him and go.
• 17:58
  Stop number three, east side,
• 18:00
  near 183 and 969.
• 18:03
  Back with Marvin.
• 18:04
  So what do we got here?
• 18:05
  It's going to be a
• 18:07
  collection of a dog,
• 18:10
  their pet died so they got it
• 18:12
  in a blue bin on the side of the
• 18:13
  house.
• 18:15
  We head over to the bin.
• 18:16
  Marvin opens it up and we peer
• 18:18
  inside.
• 18:19
  This bagged up, but...
• 18:21
  It's a big dog, graying black fur,
• 18:23
  I think. Oh, oh no.
• 18:26
  It's hard to tell because it's
• 18:27
  wrapped in plastic like a mummy.
• 18:29
  It's nestled at the bottom of the
• 18:30
  recycling bin with a handful of cans
• 18:32
  and a plastic bottle.
• 18:34
  Marvin is matter of fact about it.
• 18:36
  I'm horrified.
• 18:37
  This is going to be a larger dog so
• 18:39
  you'll get an opportunity to see
• 18:41
  me loaded up on the wind
• 18:46
  Let me go get a bag.
• 18:47
  Ah man, I'll be right back.
• 18:48
  Okay.
• 18:49
  He comes back with a big bag, dumps
• 18:51
  the recycling bin over, puts the dog
• 18:53
  in the bag, then
• 18:55
  he drags it over to the truck, wraps
• 18:57
  a cable around the dog,
• 18:59
  turns on the winch, and lifts it up
• 19:00
  into the open truck.
• 19:07
  Okay, that's that.
• 19:08
  I got them all loaded up and
• 19:09
  secured.
• 19:13
  Do you ever say a few words for the
• 19:14
  animal?
• 19:16
  No, not really.
• 19:17
  Maybe a little prayer or something
• 19:18
  inside my head or sometimes
• 19:20
  I'll talk to them if nobody's around
• 19:22
  and say, I'm going to take good care
• 19:23
  of you and put you away proper.
• 19:30
  Next stop, Copperfield Drive.
• 19:33
  There's a possum in the road,
• 19:35
  or at least it was reported.
• 19:37
  I don't see one anywhere.
• 19:38
  There is something in the row.
• 19:41
  Robin goes to check it out.
• 19:42
  Usually if it's something that's
• 19:44
  been squished, you know, a hundred
• 19:45
  times or something, you know it's
• 19:47
  kind of pointless to pick it up.
• 19:50
  But I don't think that's a possum.
• 19:53
  No, it's just some trash.
• 19:55
  Looks like a diaper or something.
• 19:57
  Sometimes they come out to collect
• 19:58
  an animal, and it's already gone.
• 20:00
  Vultures, scavengers got their.
• 20:02
  First.
• 20:03
  Coyotes and foxes and stuff, they're
• 20:04
  kind of nocturnal creatures if they
• 20:06
  see something like that, a squirrel,
• 20:08
  a possum, that's a free meal for
• 20:09
  them.
• 20:11
  So empty-handed it's on to
• 20:13
  the next call Marvin
• 20:14
  makes a few more stops picks up
• 20:16
  another dog a couple of possums
• 20:18
  that haven't been scavenged yet And
• 20:20
  then it's time to finish up for the
• 20:22
  day
• 20:25
  Last stop, the Texas Disposal
• 20:27
  Systems Landfill, southeast of town.
• 20:30
  Where do the dead animals go after
• 20:31
  they're picked up?
• 20:33
  We're about to see.
• 20:36
  I'm not allowed to ride in with
• 20:38
  Marvin, just for safety reasons.
• 20:40
  So his supervisor, Tony Dudley,
• 20:42
  gives me a lift in his pickup truck.
• 20:43
  That's all trash?
• 20:45
  We wind through the mountains of
• 20:47
  decomposing trash.
• 20:48
  Looks like rolling hills covered
• 20:50
  with dirt, grass growing over the
• 20:52
  mounds.
• 20:53
  They tower over us as we drive into
• 20:54
  a valley where it finally resembles
• 20:56
  what I imagine a landfill to look
• 20:58
  like, just an open pit of
• 21:00
  garbage.
• 21:01
  We park the truck, but we keep
• 21:03
  the windows closed.
• 21:04
  At one point, I opened the window to
• 21:06
  get a smell.
• 21:07
  That is... You can smell it down
• 21:09
  here, right? That is unpleasant.
• 21:13
  Yeah, this is the
• 21:15
  end of the line We
• 21:17
  watch as Marvin backs his truck up
• 21:19
  to the jumble of garbage bags
• 21:20
  construction debris and assorted
• 21:22
  junk There are giant bulldozers
• 21:25
  driving over the pile grinding it
• 21:26
  up mixing it all together
• 21:28
  Tony narrates
• 21:30
  He's going to get all
• 21:32
  the way against to
• 21:34
  the trash area open
• 21:36
  the doors and then he's
• 21:38
  going to lift up the
• 21:40
  bed of the truck.
• 21:45
  So now he's lifting the bed of the
• 21:47
  truck up.
• 21:49
  Sometimes animals get stuck,
• 21:51
  and you got to kind of
• 21:53
  rock it a little bit,
• 21:55
  but look like majority of his just
• 21:57
  slid right out.
• 22:05
  The dead animals disappear into
• 22:07
  the abyss of garbage.
• 22:08
  The dogs, the possums,
• 22:10
  are swallowed into the tangle of
• 22:12
  shopping bags, food wrappers, and
• 22:14
  IKEA furniture.
• 22:16
  They're one with the pile now.
• 22:20
  It all seems so undignified.
• 22:22
  Pets that we loved.
• 22:24
  Living things that died by our hand.
• 22:26
  At least our car tires.
• 22:28
  Carcasses discarded like an old pair
• 22:30
  of socks.
• 22:39
  I catch up with Marvin after it's
• 22:41
  done.
• 22:42
  It's the end of the day and he's
• 22:43
  ready to go home to Gizmo and his
• 22:45
  guppies.
• 22:46
  I ask him what he thinks about
• 22:47
  dumping the animals in the landfill.
• 22:49
  They get sort of a burial.
• 22:51
  It's a little different, but at
• 22:54
  least they're not out there left on
• 22:55
  the streets, decomposing or
• 22:57
  something, or buzzards
• 22:59
  just eating at them.
• 23:01
  Do you think that's better for them?
• 23:03
  What the animals?
• 23:05
  Yeah. Yeah. I think it's better for
• 23:06
  them to go out to a place like that
• 23:08
  Then just be sitting left on the
• 23:09
  side of the road right and you know
• 23:11
  in their bones there for years, you
• 23:12
  know
• 23:13
  I mean, that's kind of like their
• 23:14
  final resting place, I guess.
• 23:16
  Yes, sir.
• 23:17
  Yeah, eventually they
• 23:19
  they fill all that in with dirt and
• 23:21
  green grass grows over the top of
• 23:23
  it.
• 23:23
  It's just unmarked graves, you know,
• 23:25
  for those animals.
• 23:27
  But they they go on to become part
• 23:29
  of something else I guess
• 23:30
  Oh yeah, yeah, I guess they go
• 23:32
  back into the earth or whatever.
• 23:34
  You know, like they say, man's made
• 23:35
  from dust. I guess animals are the
• 23:37
  same way and they turn back into
• 23:38
  dust after they're long gone.
• 23:51
  Maybe Marvin's right.
• 23:53
  Maybe this is kindness for these
• 23:54
  poor critters.
• 23:56
  Our human rituals of dignity and
• 23:58
  death mean nothing to nature.
• 24:00
  Would it be different if they were
• 24:01
  each given a proper burial in a
• 24:03
  little possum-sized coffin?
• 24:05
  No.
• 24:06
  It's not perfect, but returning
• 24:08
  them to the Earth, even if it's a
• 24:10
  landfill, might be the best care
• 24:12
  we can give.
• 24:18
  I'm Matt Largi in Austin.
• 24:22
  That story was part of KUT's
• 24:24
  A.T. Explained project where we
• 24:26
  answer your questions about Austin's
• 24:27
  people, places, and sometimes
• 24:30
  animals.
• 24:31
  Catch up on all the questions we've
• 24:32
  answered on the A.
• 24:33
  T. Explain podcast.
• 24:35
  You can ask your own question
• 24:36
  over at KUT.org.
• 24:39
  That is it for today's show.
• 24:41
  Thanks for being with us.
• 24:42
  There's more from us at Kut.org
• 24:45
  slash Signal.
• 24:47
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• 24:48
  director, Alexandra Hart is our
• 24:50
  producer, and Kristin Cabrera is
• 24:52
  our managing producer.
• 24:54
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• 24:55
  same time tomorrow.
• 24:57
  We'll talk to you then.