out of time for him. tomorrow night, serena williams with music from j balvin. "nightline" is next. thanks fr watching, good night! this is "nightline." >> tonighto allegations from the lawyer for the rust movie armorer. >> we think that could have happened, that somebody tried to sabotage this set. >> provide nothing evidence, and one former crew member speaking out. >> i've never worked on a show where i thought i was going to die on set. >> why he quit the day before the deadly shooting. plus climate crisis on the ground in india. >> this is wild. cracks in the earth and smoke coming up all around. oh my god, look. oh, it smells so bad. >> activists trying to force change with the coal industry. >> when i had the kids, you know, you kind of -- you say

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how did a live round make its way onto the set of the alec baldwin movie "rust"? that question at the heart of the investigation. now a former crew member is speaking out and raising questions about a set he says was unsafe. here's abc's kaylee hartung. >> helena hump chins was a marvelously talented cinematographer. she had a unique eye for composition, for lighting. she was also just a really kind person. >> reporter: tonight, the head of the camera department on the set of the movie "rust," lane looper, is remembering his friend. >> a breath of fresh air in a human being. silence on a workplace he says was rife with safety issues. >> i've never worked on a show where i thought that i was either going to die on set or on the drive home. i had to draw a line in the hand. and i had to leave it. >> reporter: the night before that fatal shooting, looper emailed production managers a resignation letter, citing

delays in pay, complaints about housing, and safety concerns. writing in my 10 years as camera assistant, i've never worked on a show that cares so little for the safety of its crew. alleging lax covid policies and adding, during the filming of gunfights on this job, things are often played fast and loose. you walk off the set. and just hours later, you learn of the shooting. how did you learn of it? >> we got a text message that said, we're going to shut down for the day. i remember getting a text message from the "a" camera dolly grip, ross. what's going on over there? he said, the absolute worst thing came true. >> reporter: two weeks ago the shooting that rocked hollywood. a prop gun in the hands of actor alec baldwin discharged, killing the film's cinematographer, helena hutchins, injuring its director, joel souza. >> the actual projectile that was fired has been recovered from the shoulder of mr. souza. >> reporter: officials say without baldwin knowing, the

weapon, a colt .45 revolver, was loaded with a bullet. >> i mean, i didn't believe it. at first. >> reporter: tonight, more questions about what happened that day, whether safety concerns were ignored, and how live ammunition could have ended up on that set and in that prop gun. the attorney for the 24-year-old armorer, hanna gutierrez reid, even suggesting, without evidence, that the shooting may have been the result of sabotage. >> we're afraid that could have been what happened here, that somebody intended to sabotage this set with a live round intentionally placed in a box of dummies. we know hanna did not put the live rounds in that box. we know the live rounds shouldn't have been in that box. but they were. >> reporter: over the weekend, an emotional alec baldwin, who's also a producer on the western film, speaking out for the first time since the tragedy saying, he's talking to police daily. >> you met with the family? >> helena, her name is helena. if you're spending this time waiting for us, you should know her name.

>> helena hutchins. i met with her husband, matthew, and her son. he is in shock. has a 9-year-old son. we're in constant contact with him because we're very worried about his family. >> reporter: this photo shows the cast and crew filming inside the church before that fatal filming occurred. the star and producer alec baldwin in the middle. the crew, including cinematographer, helena hutchins surrounding him. baldwin discharged that web, striking hutchins and souza. >> we need an ambulance at bonanza creek ranch right now. >> reporter: in a search warrant the film's director, souza, told investigators baldwin was practicing a cross-draw, pointing the revolver toward the camera lens. souza was behind that camera, looking over hutchins' shoulder, when he says he heard what sounded like a whip, then loud pop. authorities say the firearm was one of three prop guns set up by the armorer the day of the shooting, 24-year-old hanna gutierrez-reed, seen here in pictures released by "the daily

mail," responsible for all weapons on set. "rust" was only her second film as head armorer. >> she knows what she's doing. she knows the business, she knows the safety rules, show very professional. >> reporter: jason ebobowles isr turn. >> she spun it, showed every round to mr. halls, that was the protocol. he would check it, supposed to check every round. he took the firearm, then mr. halls had custody of that firearm. >> reporter: in an affidavit from investigators, assistant director dave halls explains when gutierrez-reed showed him the firearm, he could only remember seeing three rounds. he told detectives he should have checked all of them, but didn't. and yet the affidavit states halls handed the gun to baldwin on set and indicated it was safe to use. abc news has learned that halls was fired after an incident on a different movie setback in 2019 when another prop gun unexpectedly discharged,

injuring a crew member. halls' lawyer on fox news challenging detectives' statements recorded in that affidavit about what happened on the "rust" set. >> in the affidavits, it states that my client grabbed the gun off of a prop cart and handed it to baldwin. that absolutely did not happen. >> reporter: and saying that checking the gun was not his responsibility. redirecting blame towards the armorer. gutierrez-reed. >> the armorer brought the firearm into the scene. the armorer is responsible to make sure the firearm is safe. my client didn't point the firearm at anyone, and my client didn't pull the trigger. >> reporter: today lane looper, head of the film's camera department, saying dave halls contributed to an environment on set that was often rushed. >> safety wasn't really, like, in the schedule. you know? having a safety meeting, being aware of what we were doing. that wasn't part of the schedule. it was all, you know, just get it done. get it done as quickly as we can. >> layne looper had a lot of complaints about what was

happening on that set, but the most important from a legal perspectives tthat he was complaining andrned about the use of weapons on the set and said that they were fast and loose with their safety procedures. that's a real potential problem for the producers of this film. >> reporter: in a collective statement, the producers of "rust" call louper's allegations patently false, adding he had nothing to do with or knowledge of safety protocols or budgets. safety is always the number one priority on our films and it's truly awful to see someone using this tragedy for personal gain. and other crew members paint a different picture than louper. overnight, alec baldwin reposting comments by the film's costume designer, who says concerns were heard and addressed and we had several safety meetings, sometimes multiple per day. this week over 200 cinematographers vowing to no longer work on projects that use functional firearms on set, writing, we won't sit back and

wait for the industry t change, calling hutchins' death senseless, negligent, and avoidable. >> i don't think there's any question that this is going to lead lower-budget films to think long and hard about, what can we do and what can't we do safely? >> we play make-believe for a living. we're literally living someone's dream, you know? the stakes are never supposed to be that high. >> because a live round of ammunition should never be on a movie set? >> there should never be a bullet on set. ever since then i've had this, you know, strange feeling, like every day i was going to work i was unwittingly playing a game of russian roulette. and i haven't quite gotten over that, and i don't think i'm going to. >> our thanks to kaylee. up next, india's challenge, to lift much of its population

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♪ india pledged this week that by 2030, half of its energy will come from renewable resources. but the country's rapid development has mostly been powered by the world's dirtiest fuel. can india go green when so many of its people are simply struggling to survive? abc's james longman is there as part of abc's "climate crisis: saving tomorrow."

>> reporter: this is a village in jareh, the coal belt of eastern india. sapna and her daughter are welcoming me into their home. >> hello, namaste, i'm james. >> reporter: they want to show me something. >> she's going to pour the water on the floor. >> reporter: she pulls out the container of cold water to demonstrate her dangerous problem. >> wow, my god, that's really hot. you can see the steam coming off of it. >> reporter: the floor is hot because of an abandoned mine beneath our feet, where colburns for 24 hours a day. >> it's true, you can't sit on it, it's too hot, right? >> reporter: that's not even her biggest concern. there's a more immediate danger here all around this place. hot smoke filled with co2. sulfuric acid, and other noxious fumes billow up from the ground. take a look at this, this is wild. cracks in the earth, smoke coming up all around. oh my god, look.

whoa, that smells so bad. >> reporter: like in the u.s., coal is a major part of india's economy. the difference is, coal is india's backbone, political and economic life resolve around it. mining is not an old problem in india, it's a modern one and it's going to be a future one. india is a country of 1.3 billion people. 50% live on just $3 a day. to lift millions out of poverty, india is now developing at an unprecedented rate, but coal, the world's dirtiest fuel, is driving it. carbon emissions and climate change threatening our planet. the pressure is on for india to change. but it may not be so simple. >> the larger population is still not really conscious about climate change. they don't believe that they are polluting, because for them, the most important concept is, where am i going to get my next meal from? >> reporter: that's certainly

the case for ganesh pal. he lives above the coal mine and works on a job which relies on the mines here. >> reporter: even though the mining companies offered to move him and his family, he says the facilities there are poor. it's a painful tradeoff. according to medical experts, the people who live here have a 30% higher chance of developing lung disease and other infections as compared to the rest of the country. coal india is the biggest coal company and the largest employer, supporting millions of families. the process of extracting coal is grueling work. so what were all those people doing there? >> the processors? they are segregating larger blocks. >> oh, i see.

so they do that with their bare hands? >> yeah. >> reporter: those who work here, like the supervisor, know change must come. >> are you going to build a solar plant here? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> reporter: and the sun could be india's largest untapped resource. i'm on the roof of one of delhi's 286 metro stations. i wanted to show you this. a huge solar panel plant, essentially, generating power for this station. so all the electricity, the escalators, the power in the building, all comes from this. but the sun's power can't work if there's too much air everyone suffers from it here, and even india's most famous monument, the t achlt jchaj mah

>> you can see the haze, that is air pollution. but everything that is being pumped into the air is being absorbed by that building. this is it, my goodness. how many times have you been here? >> i've lost count. >> reporter: historian rana gives me a tour. she tells me the pollution in the air has led to the discoloration of the taj's white marble. >> i see, so when there's sulfur dioxide in the air, it reacts with the iron that's already in this marble? >> yes, exactly.

>> reporter: to the north, india's capital, new delhi. one of the most polluted cities in the world. is this a good day in delhi? >> yeah, i think so. usually i smell the air. i don't smell too much pollution today. >> reporter: sa rabbani tells me a bad day means she can't see the building across the street. >> a wall, an opaque wall. >> reporter: she's part of the growing middle class, part of an actors group pressuring the indian government to keep its green promises. >> what is it about the planet that gets you fired up? >> when i had the kids. you say you're going to do everything you can to protect them. we just felt -- i had to do something. there's a lot of guilt, because what about the child who is begging on the road? what chance do they have of even surviving? they're in fear of their lives. getting out of the cycle of poverty, you know. so it's very different for different people. >> reporter: i find her 7-year-old son, sahil, playing

computer games. unfortunately, he was a pro at wearing masks even before the pandemic hit. >> what does it mike you feel in your chest when you breathe in bad air? >> it makes me feel less -- i just feel like i'm breathing smoke. >> reporter: he's joined his mom at protests. >> i feel like this is a case in which it is the responsibility of the elite to fight. for one thing, we make more pollution. for the other, we're capable of fighting. >> reporter: new delhi's serious pollution problem has already forced some moves to clean energy. you can't come to india without getting on a rickshaw. these are electric rickshaws. millions now on the road. they really help with air pollution. drivers like naraj can power their livelihoods with batteries that can be charged at home, and they last several days.

>> it feels like, in india, they've made electric rickshaws the more convenient and cheaper option. it's not even a conscious decision to help the environment, and it shouldn't be. for him, it should make sense for his livelihood. this is a balancing act. development without environmental harm. climate policies without worsening already extreme poverty. india's challenge will be to turn these new green responsibilities into exciting opportunities. and given this is a country famed for its engineering, creativity, and entrepreneurial skill, india has the potential to go from arch-polluter to climate-savior. >> our thanks to james. up next, the first, an election contest across the country. once upon a time there was a reindeer named tiptoe who was scared to fly. fly? ahhh, maybe next year. so her friends gave her the greatest gift of all.

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♪ finally tonight, the virginia governor's race got most of the headlines. but it was the lieutenant governor who made history. winston steeles, the first woman

of color elected to the office. in dearborn, michigan, habdula amud, elected mayor. in boston, michelle wu. wu's parents immigrated from taiwan. she's the first woman, the first person of color, elect the city's mayor. history. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.