The folks of South of 5 and 20 are a little upset. Seems they are taking offense at all the sniping coming from environmenalists directed at the "gas industry". If you live in any area of the Marcellus Shale you know what they are talking about and recognize the frustration. But who exactly is the nebulous and ever suspicious "gas industry"?
The pro-energy, pro-jobs, pro-prosperity point of view is always represented as "the gas industry." What the "mainstream" media, which does not do well with economics, is missing is that the "gas industry," as they understand it, does not exist. Unlike coercive government programs, the "gas industry" would not exist if every man, woman, child and reporter didn't choose to consume energy on a daily basis. The "gas industry" is really nothing but a willing servant, doing the demanding bidding of the common man. But the "gas industry" is much easier to demonize than, say, Mrs. Smith's fifth grade class, which can study environmentalism in a nice warm classroom in January in the Finger Lakes, instead of shivering in a crude shelter in the woods, hoping to survive until spring.
Wait a second, I am the "gas industry", too? Well now I am angry! But just for fun, I would like to up the ante just a bit. What if we were to find out that the money used to finance all this industry outrage were coming from far left, philanthropic organizations and individuals like the Sandlers, or the Heinz Endowments, or George Soros?
Who are the multi-million dollar foundations and activists, nonprofits, media groups and academics that are attacking the natural gas industry and its safe, effective hydraulic fracturing process? Who spreads myths and lies about a business that has created thousands of jobs and has delivered energy extracted from U.S. lands to millions of Americans, reducing our dependence on foreign countries?
“Environmentalist groups and activists want you to believe that they — and by extension the land, water and air that we all treasure and want to protect — are endangered because so-called ‘big’ fossil-fuel companies allegedly have a huge advantage in spending on lobbying and messaging,” said Chesser, who is also a senior fellow for the Commonwealth Foundation. “Our report shows that ‘Big Green’ also play a big money game — often built on lies and distortions, which unlike energy, are useless to the public and harmful to the issues debate.”
Paul Chesser and Mark Newgent have put together some very interesting pieces of this puzzle in a 12 page policy brief entitled "The Great Frack Attack: The War on Natural Gas". It's only 12 pages and provides some very interesting reading. More from the ATI Press Release:
Among its revelations the report, titled “The Great Frack Attack: The War on Natural Gas,” exposes efforts by the Sandler-funded ProPublica, which to date has dedicated 120 articles in an assault on natural gas and hydraulic fracturing. Former subprime mortgage lenders Herb and Marion Sandler, who have joined George Soros in support of Center for American Progress and many other leftist groups, poured more than $9 million into ProPublica to help launch it on its mission. Herb Sandler serves as chairman of its board of directors.
Also examined in the report are the funding activities of the Heinz Endowments, overseen by liberal icon Teresa Heinz Kerry, which recently expanded its anti-gas funding dramatically. Among the Heinz grants were thousands of dollars for “outreach and organizing” and to “characterize pollution impacts” from drilling in the Marcellus Shale region. Another large Heinz grant went to a University of Pittsburgh public health center run by alarmist Conrad Volz, who left his position in April after several errors were found in a report where the natural gas industry was falsely accused of dumping carcinogenic agents into drinking water supplies.
The Oscar-nominated movie “Gasland,” activist groups Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future and PennEnvironment, and dozens of other national and state groups come under scrutiny in the report as well.
Thanks to the Instapundit, I happened across Alykhan Velshi, whose ad campaign is premised on the notion that oil exports ultimately underwrite the values of those states that produce them. "'Conflict oil' funds 'dictatorhship' and 'terrorism' and results in 'women stoned to death'.
For the first time in my lifetime, we do have a choice about satiating our energy needs. The reality of the world makes it a very easy choice for me. Drill Here, Drill Now!
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