Blowout audiobook cover - Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Blowout

Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Rachel Maddow

★ 4.2 / 5(91 ratings)
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Categories:
EconomicsPolitics

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Blowout
History & Origins+
The Fracking Evolution+
Negligence & Disasters+
Exploiting Local Economies+
Complicity in Global Corruption+
Russia's Petro-State+
US-Russia Collusion & Sanctions+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 9
What lasting operational legacy did John D. Rockefeller leave on the oil industry?
  • A. A commitment to funding environmental conservation efforts
  • B. A culture of extreme cost-cutting and pinching every penny
  • C. A strict adherence to antitrust regulations and fair competition
  • D. A focus on prioritizing worker safety over corporate profits
Question 2 of 9
In the late 1960s, how did the US government and the Austral Oil Company attempt to extract natural gas in Colorado?
  • A. By importing advanced hydraulic drills from Russia
  • B. By melting subterranean rock with geothermal lasers
  • C. By detonating underground nuclear bombs to fracture the rock
  • D. By injecting massive amounts of a chemical called slickwater
Question 3 of 9
What is a major controversy surrounding the 'slickwater' fluid developed by George Mitchell for hydraulic fracking?
  • A. Its exact chemical ingredients are kept as a highly protected trade secret.
  • B. It is significantly more expensive to produce than traditional drilling fluids.
  • C. It requires massive amounts of imported Russian oil to manufacture.
  • D. It causes the extracted natural gas to become highly radioactive.
Question 4 of 9
According to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson's admission to Congress following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, how does the oil industry handle major spills?
  • A. They rely on highly effective chemical dispersants that safely dissolve the oil.
  • B. They utilize containment domes that capture 99 percent of leaked oil.
  • C. They depend entirely on the US military to manage ocean cleanups.
  • D. They are ill-equipped to clean up major spills and instead rely on trying to prevent them.
Question 5 of 9
What environmental consequence of the fracking boom in Oklahoma did oil tycoons like Harold Hamm attempt to suppress?
  • A. The contamination of the Gulf of Mexico
  • B. The occurrence of unnatural, severe earthquakes
  • C. The depletion of the state's natural freshwater springs
  • D. The release of radioactive krypton-85 into the atmosphere
Question 6 of 9
How does ExxonMobil justify its ongoing business dealings with the highly corrupt government of Equatorial Guinea?
  • A. By claiming they are actively funding democratic elections in the country
  • B. By asserting it is not their role to dictate how foreign governments spend their money
  • C. By arguing that their presence prevents Russian oil companies from taking over
  • D. By providing direct financial assistance to the nation's impoverished citizens
Question 7 of 9
Why did Russia shut off its natural gas supply to Ukraine in 2006?
  • A. To conserve dwindling gas reserves for domestic Russian use
  • B. To protest Ukraine's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula
  • C. To demonstrate Ukraine's unreliability and drum up support for the Nord Stream pipeline
  • D. To punish Ukraine for refusing to allow ExxonMobil to drill in the Black Sea
Question 8 of 9
According to the text, what was a primary motivation behind Russian meddling in the 2016 US Presidential election?
  • A. A plot to force the US back into the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
  • B. An attempt to steal advanced hydraulic fracking technology from US databases
  • C. A personal vendetta Vladimir Putin held against Hillary Clinton
  • D. A desire to lift US sanctions that were crippling Russia's oil industry
Question 9 of 9
How did the US Congress respond when the Trump administration attempted to lift sanctions against Russia?
  • A. They passed a bipartisan bill to codify the sanctions, making them much harder to remove.
  • B. They agreed to lift the sanctions in exchange for a new Trump Tower in Moscow.
  • C. They dissolved the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a compromise.
  • D. They launched a joint investigation with Gazprom to monitor Russian oil profits.

Blowout — Full Chapter Overview

Blowout Summary & Overview

Blowout (2019) takes a deep dive into the murky waters of the global gas and oil industry and reveals just how toxic it is. Author Rachel Maddow looks at evidence of this in the US, along with the corrupt deals being made in Russia and Equatorial Guinea, and makes a strong case for why big gas and oil needs to be held accountable for its actions – before things get any worse.

Who Should Listen to Blowout?

  • Citizens worried about the erosion of democracy
  • Close followers of news about US-Russian relations 
  • People concerned about corporate influence on world affairs

About the Author: Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow is a political commentator and host of the long-running and award-winning Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. She has a doctorate in political science from Oxford University and is also a best-selling writer whose work includes the book Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power (2012).

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