Gaige Davila is a freelance journalist and an inaugural Ida B. Wells Society Investigative Reporting Fellow.

Learn more about Gaige in this Q&A.

Please describe your reporting project.

This is a two-part investigation into how liquefied natural gas export plants actually impact communities versus the benefits they promised for said communities. The first part focuses on plants in Freeport, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The second part examines elected officials being lobbied by an LNG project developing in my hometown of Port Isabel, Texas.

What made you apply to this program?

I needed more experience in investigative journalism techniques after I started doing a few stories using records and data. I had no formal training in journalism before the fellowship and had plateaued in teaching myself the skills.

What is the most impactful investigative reporting tool/trick you learned through this fellowship?

Learning AI tools and how to talk to/interview people to get difficult information was extremely helpful.

Why was it important to pursue/publish this story idea and what impact do you see it having?

I’m hoping that people will see that there is a running pattern with LNG facilities: They benefit the communities they’re in very little, they are environmentally damaging, they accelerate climate change and the money they make will not be reflected in the communities they’re in.

Why is investigative journalism important to you?

It’s the only hope we have in informing the people who will change the world.