Choke Hold

In a yearlong investigation, reporters at InsideClimate News chronicle the fossil fuel industry's fight to protect its central role in providing America's energy, and what happens to ordinary Americans who find themselves in its way: a rancher who lost his freshwater to the mines of big coal companies, a single father who let fracking rigs on his property and now can no longer drink his well water, a farmer whose peach crop is failing in rising temperatures as her congressman denies global warming exists, a miner with black lung disease who had to fight for 14 years to get the benefits he was owed under law. Each chapter is a case study of how the industry marshals its inordinate wealth and influence to stop action on climate change, block stronger environmental and health regulations and stymie the progress of alternative energy-its litigation fights, campaign contributions, persistent misinformation tax breaks and subsidies, and more. Together, these stories are an examination of the tight grip the industry holds over American society, in ways still invisible to many people.