RuPaul Charles is probably feeling a little fortunate that he gets to stay out of the public eye this week. The beloved host of reality competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race is facing some controversy from a small segment of his fanbase after the casual revelation that he leases some of his Wyoming land to energy companies. 

Over the last ten days, the United States’ chief energy competitors Russia and Saudi Arabia, launched a two-pronged assault designed to destabilize the thriving US oil and gas industry. Russia is attempting to flood the market with shale oil and natural gas. Saudi Arabia is pumping out cheap crude. And the United States, awash in all of them, is preparing a strategy to stay out in front. 

In the days leading up to Super Tuesday, the majority of the Democratic field can only agree on one issue. Time and time again, the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have scored easy political points by decrying the oil and gas industry’s role in climate change. Perhaps no other issue facing the United States today is as volatile or as misunderstood as the debate raging around oil and gas extraction. 

The United States Department of Interior reports that during fiscal year 2019, the US produced one billion barrels of oil on federal public lands for the first time in history.