Inside Energy

The United States on the verge of becoming the world’s top producer of oil – that’s according to the International Energy Agency. This is thanks to the drilling and hydraulic fracturing in Texas and North Dakota. But this oil boom is also leading to a boom in toxic oil field waste. There is a lot of it. And some of it ends up in massive open pit disposal pits. There is growing concern over the environmental danger that these pits pose to air quality. A recent eight-month investigation by InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity uncovered a lack of oversight by state and federal regulators over these giant pools of oil field muck. We get more from Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies.