VICE (2013) s02e08 Episode Script

SHANE SMITH: This week on "Vice", a natural gas windfall that's destroying a country.
SHANE: Then, how is Texas dealing with its catastrophic drought? Sometimes, I gotta say, "God, this is all I know.
I'm gonna need you to intervene.
" Move that camera, eh? [People shouting in native language.]
[Yells command in native language.]
[Crowd cheering.]
[Chanting in foreign language.]
[Man speaking foreign language.]
Are you prepared to become violent and prepared to die for this? MAN: Yes.
According to GPS, we are in the reservoir.
This kind of freaks me out.
Humans are addicted to energy.
The global appetite for oil and gas is as voracious as ever, and our addiction is propelling the global extraction industry into some of the world's most remote places on the hunt for precious resources.
Recently, energy giant Exxon Mobil has done a deal with the government of Papua New Guinea to develop a liquid natural gas project with a budget stated at a staggering $19 billion.
Now, for a poor, underdeveloped nation, this could be a major windfall that could open up amazing opportunities for its people and even propel most of the country into the 21st century.
So, we sent Vikram Gandhi to see firsthand just what happens when an energy goliath like Exxon descends upon a small, poor country like Papua New Guinea.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: You wouldn't know by looking at this pristine landscape, but Papua New Guinea has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Only decades ago, the local people's main forms of currency were pigs and shells.
Now, since modern industry has arrived to harvest natural resources, their lives have been turned upside down.
Hello.
Hello! Can you tell me the future of Tari and Hela Province? VIKRAM: OK.
Who is this? This is your father? OK.
[Speaking native language.]
[Drums playing.]
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: Mr.
Munago's words are not just some mystical prediction.
They express the common feeling of animosity across the region.
In Port Moresby, the nation's capital, I met with Phillippe Allen from OXFAM, one of the NGOs tracking the Exxon development.
It is certainly one of the largest LNG investments worldwide.
There's about $19 billion worth of infrastructure being put into the project.
Pipelines essentially running from the highlands down to the coast.
What was the deal that Exxon made as far as you know with the PNG government? It's a 30-year arrangement.
It'll be producing about 7 million tons of liquefied gas every year.
There are already significant contracts lined up with Japanese and Chinese buyers for that gas.
But in the PNG mentality, there's a psychological issue about the LNG project because 97% of the country is owned under what you'd call native title.
It's owned by the indigenous people.
But the government is the one that granted the concession.
It's the one that gets the revenue.
They're the ones who hold the checkbooks.
And the bureaucracy in PNG doesn't work.
It is so deep-rooted corruption that I think the government, um, is asking for trouble.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: We wanted to see exactly what was being built in the jungle, so we headed to Hela Province.
There we got a private tour of the Exxon liquefied natural gas drilling operation from its self-proclaimed mastermind, Governor Anderson Agiru.
VIKRAM: So, tell me about where we're going to go.
Cool.
Let's go in.
OK.
[Laughter.]
VIKRAM: This is one of the most lush forests I've ever seen.
Right now, most people live off the land as farmers.
Is that right? And-- Oh, that's the pipeline over there? So, this is a newly built airport? Are all the contractors, are they multinationals, or are they within, from Papua New Guinea? Right, right.
That mountain ridge over there is the Hides.
It's massive.
Were there people living here before? So, like, they just moved over a bit? Is that a complicated process to relocate people? VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: Governor Agiru sees his plan to bring his people into the modern age as visionary.
But not everyone in Tari agrees with his methods or believes his intentions.
VIKRAM: What happened after Exxon came here? So, they paid money to the government.
Where did the money go? Did you all get paid money? Who took the money in Hela? VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: After hearing these allegations, we wanted to get Agiru's side of the story.
Turns out the governor, who spends most of his time in Port Moresby, was only in Hela Province to stand trial on corruption charges, so, we decided to pay him another visit before he left town.
VIKRAM: The general feeling out when we just talked to anyone out on the street is that they're owed money and that somebody's been taking their money and a lot of people blame the government.
So, have people here, uh, benefited from Exxon being here, the local people? that comes from Exxon will go to the government of Papua New Guinea.
You mean the state does.
But it seems like so much money's been spent here but it hasn't reached the people.
So, where did the money go? There was money being taken in Port Moresby from the people here.
But do you know where that money that's been spent is, that never reached the people? But you're the governor, so you must know how this works.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: With allegations of nearly $190 million stolen from the public already, it's not hard to imagine why the people would feel burnt by their leaders, especially considering many of them don't have access to electricity or running water.
So, what did you think this place would look like? VIKRAM: So you imagined that after Exxon came here, that this place would transform.
It doesn't look like much of a city now.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: The people of Hela Province are slowly realizing that they are merely an afterthought in a development story that's about what's in the ground and not who lives on it.
We reached out to Exxon for comments but our repeated requests for an interview were denied.
As it turns out, what's happening in Papua New Guinea is not unique.
It is so common in the developing world that it has an economic term known as the Resource Curse.
So, we spoke with Terra Lawson-Remer, a former senior policy advisor at the U.
S.
Treasury Department who is familiar with both the resource curse and the situation in Papua New Guinea.
The resource curse occurs when poor countries or middle-income countries with relatively weak governance have a windfall of natural resources like oil, like copper, like gold.
And essentially what happens is that the country, which should have really strong benefits from all of this income, actually is left worse off.
They're significantly more likely to experience an armed conflict.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: Oxford economists have found that the chance that a developing nation with resources will have a civil war is one in 5, a rate 20 times higher than normal.
For example, Nigeria.
It is the world's fourth largest producer of oil.
Yet over half their population is destitute, leading to uprisings and piracy.
Or Burma, where for half a century the regime has collected profits to fund their army against insurgency.
The potential for conflict only increases as poor underdeveloped nations become the fueling stations for both industrialized giants and emerging economies like China and India.
LAWSON-REMBER: The government of Papua New Guinea is just an unsophisticated bargainer compared to global multi-nationals.
If you just look at the size of the economy of Papua New Guinea versus the size of these big transnational extractive industries companies, it's just David and Goliath.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: But this is not even the first time that the Resource Curse has struck Papua New Guinea.
VIKRAM: Can you give me an example of when resource development from an outside corporation went wrong? You should look no further than Bougainville.
There was a very significant mine in Bougainville, copper mine, which, um, had been running for many, many years.
Arguments about the distribution of those resources, questions about whose land the mine was on, about fair compensation, about employment of people were never adequately addressed at the start, and as a result, there was a protracted civil war in Bougainville for the best part of a decade.
[Gunfire.]
It appears that the mistakes that were being made is in fact being replayed now.
Exxon may end up wearing a lot of the community's anger.
The community itself won't make a distinction between the monies coming from Port Moresby, from the government, or coming from Exxon.
It's a recipe for violence and everything else.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: After years of fruitless petitioning and demonstrating, many people in Papua New Guinea are resorting to other forms of resistance.
Stanley Mamu, a community organizer, readily took us into the jungle to meet the growing armed movement for ourselves.
VIKRAM: These guys have their own militia? What are they after? VIKRAM: Oh, shit.
Can you show that to me? Yeah.
VIKRAM: Who made this? You made it? Yeah.
VIKRAM, VOICE-OVER: Besides Stanley's crew, we met several other groups, all preparing for war with Exxon.
Does everyone have one of these? ALL: Yes! So, are we headed for a war? [Chanting in native language.]
In 2013, California experienced its driest year since the state began measuring rainfall in 1849.
This extreme weather has propelled the state leadership into action, against not only the current drought but also, the root of the problem, which is climate change.
Talk is cheap, action is difficult, and that's why so little gets done.
But there's no place getting more done on renewable energy, reducing pollution, and confronting climate change than the state of California.
SHANE: Meanwhile, in Texas, which has experienced even more extreme temperatures and has suffered from far worse drought conditions over the past 3 years, the reaction has been dramatically different.
The science is not settled on this.
The idea that we would put American's economy in jeopardy based on scientific theory that is not settled yet is nonsense.
SHANE: It would appear that many in Texas' leadership are not only doing little to combat the drought, but actually disagree with the global scientific community that climate change is even real.
So, we sent Thomas Morton to the state with the highest CO2 emissions in the country to see just how bad it has to get before they take any action.
We're looking for the Twin Buttes reservoir, which is the main water reservoir for the city, for a lot of the outlying area, and according to GPS, we are actually in the reservoir right now.
And I gotta say, I thought it'd be a little more watery.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: The Twin Buttes reservoir holds the water supply for San Angelo, Texas in the middle of the state.
Or, rather, held the water supply until 3 years of drought turned it into the town mudding spot.
THOMAS: How long has it been this low? THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Despite the fact that extreme weather has turned an entire city's water supply into a mud puddle, the kids driving their trucks through it didn't seem too concerned about climate change.
THOMAS: Do you guys believe in climate change? THOMAS: What about, like, this drought, though? You don't think this is evidence of it, or? THOMAS: Now, does this freak you guys out or is it just kind of like, this is what it is? [Laughter.]
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: More than half of Texans don't believe that climate change is caused by people, if they even believe it exists.
This disbelief isn't just limited to rowdy teens and off roaders.
Even Texans whose livelihood depends on the weather are still skeptical.
Where we're standing here under normal circumstances, we'd be up to our, at least our necks in water.
Heat is up, we're over 100 I think 40 days last year, another 60 days this year.
I mean, you go to the truck stop and you're gonna hear one thing: weather, weather, weather.
What do you make of this, the crazy weather? Do you think there's, do you think there's an underlying cause like global warming or something, or is it something different? You know, global warming, I'm not a big proponent of global warming.
The Bible that I believe in as the word of God says that men like Elijah spoke to the clouds.
I mean, you look around and it's a little green here, and you can go down the road and it's a little brown there.
You think it's a sign of, uh, like a sign of grace? I do.
But are you worried you might be wrong about this stuff? We don't have all the answers.
And I'm doing the best I can with the information I've been given, but sometimes I gotta say, "God, this is all I know.
"I'm gonna need you to intervene and help me make those decisions.
" That's not a great way to look at it because nothing's changing in the now.
Yeah.
However, I been here.
And I know it's gonna change back.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Brandon's faith that the Lord will fix this situation isn't just the rustic optimism of a God-fearing cattleman.
He's also a preacher, with a flock of over 10,000 followers.
FENDER: Before we can experience a earthly rain, we have to encounter a heavenly rain.
The Bible says in the Book of James, Chapter 5, that Elijah said, "Don't rain", and it didn't rain on the entire earth for 3 1/2 years.
But the Bible also says that he prayed again and the Lord opened up the windows of heaven and poured down a physical rain that rained over the entire earth.
ALL: Open the floodgates of heaven! Let it rain! THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: One reason climate change is such a hard sell on many Christians is because they believe that God controls the weather.
So, to them, the idea that humans could screw up the entire climate on our own isn't just unlikely, but blasphemous.
Not all Christians believe this, however.
Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech and a devout Christian who believes the religious aversion to climate science stems from something other than just faith.
In the Christian community, we've been told a lot of information that isn't true.
Specifically, we've been told by people we respect, by leaders, that climate change isn't real.
Or that it's not humans, or it's just a natural cycle, or it doesn't matter.
There is no doubt whatsoever that humans produce carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide traps heat.
That the planet is heating up because of that and it is causing impacts that we are actually starting to see today.
Here in West Texas, the economy is primarily based on agriculture.
If you're growing crops or if you're ranching cattle, you need water in order to do what you do.
And so, whenever we're in a drought situation, it puts tremendous amount of stress on farmers and ranchers.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Dealing with this stress is a regular part of farming and raising livestock.
But 3 years of historically bad drought has made cattle ranching in some parts of Texas nearly impossible.
John Nanny's family has raised cattle for over a century and in the last 3 years, he has had to sell off 90% of his herd thanks to the drought.
What gets grown there? NANNY: Well, in the last several years, nothing.
When I was a youngster, the last week in May and the first week in September, it rained.
We couldn't attend school because we couldn't get out.
That pattern is no longer in place.
THOMAS: What's happened to the cattle ranches that were here? Did they just move? Most of them, they just sold their numbers down.
You know, I get calls almost daily saying, "Hey, I'm gonna come to Barnhart and do this and this," and I say, "Well, that's fine, "but you better bring your own damn water cause we ain't got it.
" THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Without enough rain to water them, ranchers have to sell off their cows.
Less cows means less beef to process.
Which leads to closures like the Cargill beef plant in Plainview, which laid off 2,000 workers when it shut down in 2013, turning the city into a ghost town.
I feel like we've been abandoned by Cargill.
I feel like here we're laying the whole town off.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: This is what it looks like when the drought ripples out from farming and ranching into the rest of Texas.
Empty factories, abandoned strip malls, and schools with no children.
BALDERAS: Right here is one of the schools that closed.
It's pretty much the picture of desolation.
It's not even empty swing sets, it's swingless swing sets.
Yeah.
Right up here is, like, a vacant house right here.
And then you got one right here.
And then you've got one right here.
And it looks like they're moving out right here.
We got, like, 5 of them in a row.
So, on this block, the only non-vacant house is one where a family is actively moving out right now.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: While prayer seems like a scant solution to social destruction of this level, it's kind of all there is left to do.
So, Officer Balderas holds a regular prayer run around the old Cargill plant with a few of the town's remaining Christians.
Father, this morning, we just continue asking for rain, Lord, that somehow this drought will cease.
Father, we just pray, somehow, Lord, that there will be a miracle.
Whatever it's gonna take, Father, to open this plant up.
In Jesus' name, amen.
OK, let's go! THOMAS: What do people make of the drought out here? Do they attribute it to anything? Do people believe in global warming? BALDERAS: You know, I haven't heard too many people speak about the global warming around here.
Even with, like, the weather getting this extreme.
The conversation isn't picking up? No.
Nothing.
I don't know anything about that.
I just know that, uh, God's going to answer our prayers.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: As the beef industry buckles under the weight of the drought, Texas' other big industry, oil, is doing just fine.
And it's not because they don't need the water.
Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," requires massive amounts of water.
They can just afford to pay for it.
In fact, right next to John Nanny's parched and dying ranch is a retaining pond for a fracking well filled to the brim with water.
THOMAS: Now, this is, this is just fracking water.
NANNY: It stinks, don't it? Yeah, it does.
That sign says hydrogen sulfide.
That's sulfur, right? Yeah, but it's also poison.
You don't want to breathe it.
A normal, regular, on average frack takes anywhere between gallons of water.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Robert Forbis has been studying fracking and its effects since the practice took off in the nineties.
We used to drive across Texas and you'd see guys on horseback, you know, running their cows.
Now you see trucks filled with water and drilling gear.
Are there any measures that Texas can take to restrict water use specifically among frackers? It would be difficult to do.
Why is that? Um, I know I'm probably going to get in a lot of trouble for saying this, but any time you run for an election, you're beholden to some interest group but, you know, at some point, it doesn't matter whether you're a water commissioner or, you know, Senator Ted Cruz.
The lobby's way too strong.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: The oil industry doesn't just have enough money to buy up the remainder of Texas' dwindling water supply.
They can also afford to spend an estimated $60 million a year lobbying the Texas government to push their interests.
Among which is that climate change, which 97% of climate scientists attribute to burning oil and gas, doesn't exist at all.
And that's why Texas' political leadership is so strident that climate change is bullshit.
Not because it's a Christian orthodoxy or because they genuinely believe it, but because it's a Conservative orthodoxy, one implicitly linked with one of their biggest financial boosters: oil.
Which explains why giving any credence to climate science as a Republican is to commit straight-up political suicide.
Which is exactly what former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis did.
I said that climate change is a bunch of hoo-ee, Al Gore's imagination.
It was total ignorance on my part.
I hadn't looked into at all.
All I knew is that he was for it and therefore I was against it.
What, uh, what had changed your mind on climate? Science and reality.
Eventually, you know, shaky ideologies are overcome by the facts.
So, how did the rest of your term play out after your conversion moment? Not too well.
[Laughs.]
I guess is the short of that.
After 12 years in Congress, I ultimately lost in Tea Party, kind of, turmoil.
You know, I had basically articulated a heresy that climate change is real, let's do something about it.
How hard is it to believe in climate change as a member of the Republican Party? It's a hard situation.
Human beings are tribal.
Most of us just think in terms of our tribe's view.
But the science here pretty clearly indicates risk.
And I think people are experiencing that risk.
I mean, we are living with climate change.
We're experiencing it daily.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: So, while Texas' leaders loudly parrot the oil industry to the members of their tribe, the lakes and reservoirs surrounding the capital have sunk to empty.
THOMAS: This is Lake Travis.
Or this was Lake Travis.
MAN: Yeah.
This right here, we're walking down the boat ramp that used to be in the water.
Two years ago.
THOMAS: It's just like a little puddle in the middle.
Does this scare you guys? This kind of freaks me out.
Well, I'll be honest with you, most of Austin doesn't even see this effect.
You don't ever really see the full effect of it till, like, you drive down in this valley and you see, oh, no, this is our water supply.
And you know what? It's not stopping.
THOMAS, VOICE-OVER: Since the average Texan doesn't have the political or financial clout of the oil and gas industry, there's pretty much only one leader they can petition who isn't beholden to the energy lobby at this point.
LUJAN: I just ask that you hear our cry here today, God.
That you fill up our lakes that are dry, God.
Send forth your power, your love and your grace, and your mercy over this city.
Ah! LUJAN: Go, 3 at a time, go ahead.
Ah! Ho! Ah! Ah! Rain, dammit.
LUJAN: Ah! ALL: Let it rain! We cry out! ALL: Let it rain!