The uneasy alliance between ranchers and the oil industry goes all the way back to the early wildcatting days in West Texas. But today, that relationship is more fraught than ever.SimpliSafe: Get free shipping plus a 60-day money-back guarantee at <a href="https://simplisafe.com/boomtown">SimpliSafe.com/boomtown</a>. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>

The uneasy alliance between ranchers and the oil industry goes all the way back to the early wildcatting days in West Texas. But today, that relationship is more fraught than ever. SimpliSafe: Get free shipping plus a 60-day money-back guarantee at SimpliSafe.com/boomtown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The uneasy alliance between ranchers and the oil industry goes all the way back to the early wildcatting days in West Texas. But today, that relationship is more fraught than ever.SimpliSafe: Get free shipping plus a 60-day money-back guarantee at <a href="https://simplisafe.com/boomtown" rel="noopener noreferrer">SimpliSafe.com/boomtown</a>. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>

Wild West Texas | Chapter 8

In a rugged corner of West Texas, billionaire wildcatters and roughnecks are fueling an oil boom so big it’s reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics. This modern-day gold rush has sent both big oil companies and scrappy start-ups scrambling to secure a piece of the action. Texas Monthly’s Christian Wallace follows characters along every rung of the oil field ladder, from the executive cutting billion-dollar deals to the itinerant pipeline worker risking life and limb, and from the traveling exotic dancer following the trail of money to those who worry that our planet is on a path to destruction. Meet the people cashing in and those just trying to get by as the world around them is turned upside down.

"A beautiful ride filled with levity, even as it delivers troubling forecasts for the future" - The Atlantic

2021 Webby Award Honoree, Podcast Documentary

Society & Culture

Documentary

News

In a rugged corner of West Texas, billionaire wildcatters and roughnecks are fueling an oil boom so big it’s reshaping our climate, our economy, and our geopolitics. This modern-day gold rush has sent both big oil companies and scrappy start-ups scrambling to secure a piece of the action. Texas Monthly’s Christian Wallace follows characters along every rung of the oil field ladder, from the executive cutting billion-dollar deals to the itinerant pipeline worker risking life and limb, and from the traveling exotic dancer following the trail of money to those who worry that our planet is on a path to destruction. Meet the people cashing in and those just trying to get by as the world around them is turned upside down. "A beautiful ride filled with levity, even as it delivers troubling forecasts for the future" - The Atlantic 2021 Webby Award Honoree, Podcast Documentary

Share Wild West Texas | Chapter 8

Sign up to save your podcasts

Wild West Texas | Chapter 8

Wild West Texas | Chapter 8

More shows like Boomtown

In The Dark

Mike Drop

TRUE

American Scandal

What Is Happening Here | Canadaland Investigates

The Dropout

Campus Files

Gangster House

The Shawn Ryan Show

The Baron of Botox

American Skyjacker: The Final Flight of Martin McNally

In the Red Clay

American Coyote

The Red Note

La Nota Roja

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

Fox Hunter

Raven

The World Beneath

Bonaparte

The Agent

Standoff

In the Land of Lies

Bone Valley

Elizabeth the First

Devil Town

The Paddlefish Caviar Heist

Operation Morning Light

The Cost of Happiness: Tony Hsieh

Noble

How It All Went South

Crook County