Television “Landman” Skips The Facts on West Texas Wind Energy

Jeff Clark, APA President

My inbox is flooded today with emails from friends (and foes) about a scene from the show “Landman” in which Billy Bob Thornton’s character, Tommy Norris, delivers an “epic rant” against wind energy. When “big city lawyer” Rebecca Falcone (played masterfully by Kayla Wallace) asks about clean energy in the oil patch, Norris claims, “They use alternative energy, there’s nothing clean about this.”

The scene has circulated furiously around social media, being shared by fossil fuel advocates, oil executives, and even a U.S. Senator.  The problem is that it’s misinformation and, to respectfully use Tommy Norris’s vernacular, it’s total bullsh-t.

I love fiction, and I love the shows Taylor Sheridan and his team create, but many viewers struggle to separate fact from fiction. They see something on TV and assume it’s true, especially if it aligns with their preconceived ideas or beliefs. That’s how misinformation gets reinforced and becomes part of the public discourse. 

That’s a problem for fiction writers who also care about truth. The writers clearly intend for Norris to be seen as strong-willed and opinionated, perhaps even misinformed. His hostility toward clean energy is in his DNA. Even still, the televised rant of even a pretend character attacking wind turbines has become a new favorite meme for the anti-renewables crowd.

That merits a response.

As someone who admires strong female characters with powerful voices, I think it would have been wonderful if Rebecca had responded with informed counterpoints, because the facts are easy to find. In her silence, she allows Norris’ words to ring as truth, especially to uninformed viewers who may not know the political agendas of the writers, or the producers.

Because energy issues are too important to be politicized with misinformation, I’ve taken the liberty of writing a response for Ms. Falcone to deliver to Mr. Norris. I offer it to “Landman” and its writers for consideration. You can send the Emmy to my office.

Tommy:               
Do you have any idea how much diesel they have to burn to mix the concrete or make that steel? Or haul this sh-t out here, and put it together with a 450 foot crane? You want to guess how much oil it takes to lubricate that f-cking thing, or winterize it? In its 20 year lifespan, it won’t offset the carbon footprint of making it. And don’t get me started on solar panels and the lithium in your Tesla battery…

Rebecca:           
Tommy, you need to read a little, get outside your bubble, and get your information from somewhere other than AM radio and the old men at the DQ. Those wind turbines last about 25 years. They harness West Texas wind and turn it into energy, just like the first settlers did when they used wind to pump water when they got here.  

They make electricity for a state that is growing too fast to keep up with demand. I promise you the landowner getting an oil royalty check from you loves getting the royalty check from the wind farm too.  

You’re right. Wind turbines take energy to build. They’re being built in factories all over America, including up the road in Abilene where welders make these towers all day long; but on the energy required you’re wrong about the science, and you’re showing your ignorance and bias. You need to be careful with that or people will repeat what you say and look as foolish as you do. 

Tommy:
(Stammering) Well, I heard…

Rebecca:
(Confidently) I doubt you know or care what a “carbon footprint” is, but the lifecycle emissions of a typical two megawatt wind turbine, including manufacturing, transportation, and operation, take about seven to nine months of operation to offset. It’s pretty simple math and it’s well studied. Hell, a call to the National Wind Institute up the road at Texas Tech and you could have had your numbers right. It’s not that hard. 

Before you start telling me about all the things we make with oil and gas, let me set you straight. No one’s arguing with you. Oil and gas are a blessing to Texas, they’re wonderful for energy and as a feedstock to manufacture products we need. We get it. Save your bad breath. But we can add renewable energy sources to the mix to clean the air and lower electricity prices. It’s a good thing to create as much energy as we can from sources that don’t pollute, and we can even use those cleaner sources to power our oil and gas industries to help them lower their carbon footprint, just like their customers are demanding. Renewables partner well with fossil fuels.

That’s why oil companies are investing in renewable energy and even using it to power drilling, compressors, LNG terminals, and more. Hell, just down the road, Oxy is using solar to power their amazing new direct air carbon capture system, hoping to get the emissions from burning your beloved oil and gas out of our air and make oil and gas more viable in the future. And, I love my electric car and so do most people who’ve driven one, which is probably why Exxon just started drilling lithium wells in Arkansas and wants to be the leading supplier for electric vehicles by 2030. 

That doesn’t even account for all of the other Texas industries, like car manufacturers and chemical companies, who are relying on clean energy to cut their energy costs and reduce their carbon emissions. They do it because their customers demand it and Texas wins by making power available to bring those manufacturers here. These wind turbines you obsess over are helping grow manufacturing in Texas.

Finally, Tommy, recognize that not everyone has oil and gas under their feet. For a lot of folks struggling to survive, including farmers and ranchers you know all around Texas, adding some wind or solar to their operations is a blessing that brings them revenue that can ride out bad markets and drought, and helps them stay on their family land. For school districts lucky enough to get them, the new wind farm or solar farm is usually the district’s largest investment and the largest taxpayer, keeping their kids’ schools funded and, because of these turbines’ 25 year lifespan, schools can rely on the income to issue bonds for new facilities and even football stadiums. Remember how much you loved coaching football games under the Friday night lights before you became so misinformed and angry?

In a state growing as fast as Texas, we need more of everything. That includes oil and gas, and that includes renewable energy. And we win if we leverage them together to benefit consumers, our communities, our industries, and our environment. 

You don’t have to like it. I know it’s new and it’s different, and folks like you have always hated change.

I’m done preaching, but I’m telling you right now, if you don’t learn to read, get your facts straight, and control your emotions when you talk to me, then we’re going to have a very difficult time together. Work on it. Now, let’s go get a drink.

(Exits on foot to pickup truck waiting on caliche road.)