This Week In Energy: EV Ship Sinks, PBS Documentary, Layoffs and Mining

This Week In Energy

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This Week In Energy: EV Ship Sinks, PBS Documentary, Layoffs and Mining

Plus BBQ tips all episode long from experts in industry.

Content Creation & Admin

Jun 08, 2025

Transcript

Here are the special guests, energy experts and community leaders for This Week In Energy June 8:

Tom Shepstone of Shepstone Management Company and publisher of the Substack page - Energy Security Freedom - joins host Jason Spiess to discuss the Top Five News Stories of the Week.

A cargo ship transporting 3,000 cars was abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday after a massive fire broke out. As of Friday, the ship was still burning. The blaze may have been fueled by the vehicles’ lithium-ion batteries, which are notoriously difficult to extinguish once ignited.

The ship, named Morning Midas, was reportedly carrying 3,000 cars on a journey from Yantai, China to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Of those vehicles, about 750 were fully electric or partial hybrids, powered at least in part by large lithium‑ion batteries that can short‑circuit and ignite extremely hot fires. Although the exact cause has yet to be determined, the Morning Midas crew reported smoke rising from the deck around midnight on Tuesday.

Click here for Tom’s Substack Page

Warren Martin, Kansas Strong, gives an update on all the recent events and activities involving the Kansas energy industry as well as a discussion on how Martin is changing the conversation with PBS, Dennis Quaid and Glenn Beck.

Kansas Strong's innovative approach to energy education has garnered national attention, leading to a feature on the PBS show Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid. The segment, filmed recently, will highlight Kansas Strong's efforts to change the conversation around oil and natural gas by showcasing their educational and outreach programs.

The episode is set to air in June, bringing Kansas Strong's message to a broader audience.

“They came and flew into Kansas. They did a film here for two days and put together a show that is finished,” Martin said. “What we've been doing in our state for the eight and a half years that I've been here. PBS kind of picked up on that, or Dennis Quaid's team picked up on that.”

Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid is an educational series that produces short-form documentaries on a variety of topics, aiming to inform and inspire viewers. The program has featured numerous organizations and initiatives, shedding light on stories that might otherwise go unnoticed. Kansas Strong's inclusion in this series underscores the organization's impact and the broader relevance of its mission.

“I saw the preview for it on Friday, and it's going to be released in June. It's going to go out to over 100 PBS stations around the country,” Martin said. “The main day that it'll air on PBS stations is going to be June 23rd.”

Click here for Kansas Strong website

Joe Sinnott, Witting Partners, The Energy Detox Podcast talks conflict management in the workplace. Many energy professionals are getting laid off, going through changes and Sinnott has some advice for all parties involved.

When companies undergo layoffs, the process typically involves strategic workforce reductions aimed at cutting costs, restructuring, or adapting to market shifts. Internally, layoffs disrupt workflows, strain morale, and often lead to increased workloads for remaining employees. Key knowledge and talent may be lost, requiring internal teams to adjust responsibilities, realign goals, and rebuild trust in leadership. Communication and change management become critical during this period to maintain stability and productivity.

At the same time, layoffs can serve as a catalyst for innovation. Many former employees—facing uncertainty—leverage their skills, industry knowledge, and networks to launch their own businesses. These newly formed startups often emerge from gaps or inefficiencies identified during their previous roles, leading to fresh solutions, agile business models, and competitive market entries.

Click here for Witting Partners Website

Johanna Wolfson, co-founder of Azolla Ventures, about their unique philanthropic-backed VC model tackling the tough problem of sustainable mining for the clean energy transition.

David Roberts
So we are here to talk about mining, but what tell us your life story and how did you end up where you are and where are you? What is it that Azolla does?
Johanna Wolfson
So, I'm with Azolla Ventures. I'm a co-founder there and we are bringing a different way of investing forward in climate tech. What makes us unique is we are impact-first investors. That's not because we're such great people — though we like to believe that — it's really because we aggregate philanthropic tax-exempt capital as the heart and soul of our fund and that lets us take on outsized risk relative to what other venture funds can and really should do. And it requires that we're impact-first in our mindset and methodology and deployment of capital. And so, we're out after big swings in climate and taking on pretty meaningful risks.
Most often, that means science and engineering risks. That can also mean market and other sorts of risk. But we've gotten to do some interesting things along the way. And the way I got here was, I'm a scientist by training, physical chemistry, and came to think that all the amazing science getting done in lab benches around the world didn't have the right way out. That's not an original thought, but I really wanted to do something about that and wanted to spend my career on it. And so, found my way through working at initially an industry lab, then spent some time at the Department of Energy in D.C., getting to know what government can and can't do, and decided to work on the capital problem for early-stage companies and probably wouldn't have been that compelled to go to an investment firm for its own sake.
But the idea to build something different in terms of what types of things we could do and invest in, and bring a different model forward, was super compelling. So, we've been at it for coming up on eight years now.

Click here for the Volts Podcast Page

You'll get real good barbecue from this ingenious smoker!

Plus Stephan Kershisnik, owner, DAPL BBQ talks about how obtaining a piece of the DAPL pipeline and turning it into a BBQ smoker has created a good weekend job.

This Week In Energy will air across 22 radio stations this weekend and drop on podcast Saturday morning.

This Week In Energy is a weekly newsmagazine radio podcast which qualifies for FCC mandated Public Affairs time. This Week In Energy addresses issues of public interest, such as safety, education, poverty, environment, mental health, and/or employment. Published files and recordings of interviews available as public files to increase accessibility to the public and to ensure the security of information.

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