American Scandal: Deepwater Horizon - Choosing Profits Over the Planet | Episode 5

Date: November 18, 2025
Host: Lindsay Graham
Guest: Zach Goldbaum (host of Lawless Planet)

Episode Overview

In the finale of American Scandal’s Deepwater Horizon series, host Lindsay Graham speaks with journalist and podcaster Zach Goldbaum about environmental crime, corporate accountability, and the lasting legacy of the BP oil spill. Goldbaum—whose own podcast Lawless Planet explores crimes against the environment—offers a behind-the-scenes look at why disasters like Deepwater Horizon seem inevitable and how both the oil industry and government share blame. The episode ranges from personal accounts of activism to systemic failures, offering a candid examination of how environmental destruction too often escapes meaningful legal consequence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. True Crime as a Lens for Environmental Issues

• Trojan Horse for the Climate Crisis
  Goldbaum discusses how framing environmental destruction as true crime helps personalize the issue, making abstract climate problems more relatable through human stories.

  “We sort of use true crime as a Trojan horse to talk about big environmental and climate issues.” – Zach Goldbaum [03:43]

• Activists such as Sheree Foigland, whose personal connection to oil rig tragedies sparked direct action, provide the needed emotional narrative to connect listeners to the stakes of climate-related crime.

2. Victims vs. Villains: The Problem with Corporate Accountability

• Villains Without Faces
  The show contends with the difficulty of villainizing corporations—entities without individual faces—while actual people suffer and activists get criminalized.

  “We have a really hard time as a society looking at corporate crime as crime at all.” – Zach Goldbaum [05:38]

• Goldbaum draws parallels to stories where companies, not individuals, are the orchestrators of harm, yet rarely face criminal repercussions.

3. The Criminalization of Activism

• Disproportionate Punishment
  Goldbaum recounts cases where environmental protesters are prosecuted as terrorists, while corporate executives evade similar scrutiny for disasters with far-reaching impacts.

  “These two young women... sabotaging pipeline infrastructure... ultimately they were treated like terrorists. They got terrorism charges when they were ultimately sentenced.” – Zach Goldbaum [07:44]

• The “green scare” era is referenced, where the FBI labeled environmentalists as major domestic threats.

4. Investigating Corporate Environmental Crime

• Connecting Culpability to Decision-Makers
  Goldbaum emphasizes the importance of “naming names” and tracing harm to individual decision-makers, not just anonymous institutions.

  “We really try to draw that clear connection between the actions of executives and the managers of these projects and the victims.” – Zach Goldbaum [10:23]

• He describes global cases such as Shell’s involvement in the execution of the Ogoni Nine in Nigeria.

5. Petrochemical Power and Repeat Offenses

• Private Empires
  The oil industry’s immense profits and influence run unchecked, allowing companies to author legislation and skirt regulation.

  “When you become a private empire, you are given free reign to commit crimes.” – Zach Goldbaum [12:39]

• Even after catastrophic incidents, the pattern of cost-cutting and risk persists (e.g., BP’s current cost-cutting mirroring pre-Deepwater behavior).

6. The Deepwater Horizon Disaster—An Avoidable Tragedy?

• Never Fully Reckoned
  Both host and guest agree that America never truly processed the disaster or changed its ways, despite immense damage.

  “A lot of the same behaviors that BP was exhibiting in the lead up to the disaster are happening right now.” – Zach Goldbaum [16:29]

• BP’s continued risky practices—including seeking new Gulf drilling approval—signal another disaster is likely.

7. Whistleblowers Ignored, Investigators Thwarted

• Scott West and Suppressed Accountability
  EPA investigator Scott West, who labeled BP a “serial environmental criminal,” uncovered dire conditions ignored by leadership. Maintenance was so poor staff were told to avoid carrying metal items for fear of rupturing pipes.

  “Workers were told not to have keys, their pants, because if a piece of metal bumped the pipeline, it could rupture the pipe. It was that fragile.” – Zach Goldbaum [20:53]

• When West tried to pursue criminal cases, superiors and political pressure forced a settlement with BP, avoiding personal accountability for executives.

  “If I’d been allowed to pursue the case without interference, nobody would know the name Deepwater Horizon today.” – Scott West (reported by Zach Goldbaum) [23:58]

8. Complicity and Coziness: Government and Oil

• Failings of Regulation
  The episode critiques the intertwined interests of government, military, and the fossil fuel industry.

  “These oil companies, truthfully, are the backbone of the economy…so there simply isn’t the pressure to do more.” – Zach Goldbaum [27:10]

9. What Would Justice Look Like?

• Putting Executives on Trial
  Goldbaum argues executives like Tony Hayward and John Brown should have faced trial, not just fines, for disasters under their watch.

  “The buck should stop with the leaders of these companies. It shouldn’t have just been a financial settlement.” – Zach Goldbaum [30:33]

10. The Green Transition Isn’t Immune

• Renewable Energy’s Shadows
  The need for electrification brings its own ethical crises, such as exploitative cobalt mining in the Congo, potentially replicating fossil fuel-era abuses.

  “If we’re just sort of moving the exact same system from the fossil fuel economy to the green economy, we’re going to run into a lot of the same problems.” – Zach Goldbaum [31:53]

11. Climate Optimism Amid Ongoing Challenges

• Hope from the Frontlines
  Despite bleak trends, those most engaged in the fight for environmental justice remain optimistic—encouraging persistence and resisting despair.

  “Every time I talk to people who have … sacrificed a lot… they still find reasons to be hopeful. And I think that’s really, really encouraging.” – Zach Goldbaum [33:58]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We often describe these events as accidents and not choices made by people.” – Zach Goldbaum [05:38]
• “White collar crime may be less visible, but that doesn’t mean they don’t cause harm.” – Zach Goldbaum [05:38]
• “BP had basically never done [pipeline cleaning], maybe they did it 14 years earlier in Alaska.” – Zach Goldbaum [20:53]
• “I think the climate movement at large has been unsuccessful… yet those people keep at it… they still find reasons to be hopeful.” – Zach Goldbaum [33:58]

Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:43 | Goldbaum explains Lawless Planet’s origin & true crime framing | | 05:38 | The difficulty in prosecuting corporate crime | | 07:44 | The criminalization of environmental activism | | 10:23 | How the show investigates and assigns blame | | 12:39 | Why oil companies are repeat perpetrators | | 16:29 | Why Deepwater wasn’t reckoned with & BP’s current tactics | | 18:36 | Introducing EPA investigator Scott West; BP’s safety issues | | 20:53 | Gripping anecdote: fragile pipelines in Alaska | | 23:58 | Scott West on interference and lost opportunity for justice | | 27:10 | Government’s regulatory failures and complicity | | 30:33 | What real criminal accountability would look like | | 31:53 | The ethical challenges of the green transition | | 33:58 | Optimism from those on the front lines |

Flow & Tone

This conversation is measured yet passionate, with both host and guest sharing concern, frustration, and occasional dry wit around corporate and governmental inertia. Goldbaum is clear-eyed but hopeful, deftly shifting between tragic anecdotes and systemic critique.

For listeners and non-listeners alike, this episode serves as a compelling reminder that environmental “accidents” are often the result of choices, and that justice—for people and planet—demands demanding more from both corporations and governments.