StateImpact managing editor Logan Layden introduces us to new science and environment reporter Chloe Bennett-Steele.

TRANSCRIPT

LAYDEN: Chloe, welcome to the StateImpact team.

BENNETT-STEELE: Thank you. Happy to be here.

LAYDEN: I’m so excited we’re doing this kind of reporting again. What was it that drew you to this position, and tell us about your previous experience in this area.

BENNETT-STEELE: I’ve covered the environment and science for several years now. I freelanced regularly for the Dallas Morning News before getting my master’s degree from the City University of New York. And so, from there, I moved far upstate near the Canadian border, where I covered climate change for a magazine there. I wrote stories ranging from energy to biodiversity to weather, data, you name it. So although Oklahoma has very different climates and environments than New York state, the science still applies. And I grew up in north Texas, so I’m very happy to be back in this part of the country.

LAYDEN: So it’s not unfamiliar to you, this part of the country. But it is your first time living in Oklahoma. I just wonder is there anything — you’ve only been here for a few days — is there anything that you’ve noticed that has surprised you about your new home?

BENNETT-STEELE: I did a fair bit of research before taking this job and packing up and moving here. But I guess I wasn’t anticipating the population of great horned owls where I’m based. Their call is a very welcomed sound on my evening walks. And while we’re talking about look up, I’m very used to the Texas sky, but I would say that the Oklahoma sky is much more vibrant and open than I would’ve imagined.

LAYDEN: We have some of the best stargazing in the world, especially if you get up into the panhandle area. Well, you’re new here in Oklahoma, but as you look around the landscape when it comes to the oil and gas industry — its implications for climate change — the new Trump Administration’s potential policies, agriculture, mining, it goes on and on. I don’t think you’re going to run out of stories. But do you have an idea of where you want to put your focus at least early on here?

BENNETT-STEELE: I certainly will not be running out of stories. But I will be prioritizing energy stories from the fossil fuel industry to wind energy and solar and the communities and policies that are interacting with those industries. So I’ll be applying my experience covering climate to this area, and speaking with people whose lives are changing, whether that’s farmers or just average folks who see more extreme weather — more tornadoes, more storms, more flooding, more extreme heat and so on.

And we know climate change disproportionately affects people with lower incomes and people of color. So I will be looking to help them tell their stories.

And we’re entering a period of what will likely be significant rollbacks on environmental protections under President-elect Donald Trump. So that could mean more areas open for drilling for fossil fuels, or cutting back on clean energy money for the agricultural industry or regular folks who want to invest in energy efficiency or solar panels, heat pumps. The list goes on.

So listeners can generally expect to hear more stories about energy and the natural world around them. I hope to help Oklahomans better understand their environment and the policies affecting it.

LAYDEN: Such important issues that just don’t get enough coverage, so we’ll be looking forward to having you fill that gap, alongside some of the other reporters our listeners hear from each day across our statewide collaboration. Chloe, thanks a lot.

BENNETT-STEELE: You’re welcome. Thank you.