Gasland’s Josh Fox Can’t Be Bothered with Facts

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  June 23rd at 01:11 PM  | 

Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox, he of the burning water tap, loves to scare people with the provocative word “fracking” and misleading images and claims of its potential to damage the environment, specifically groundwater. To wit, this screenshot of a cute little animated .gif at Fox’s website gaslandthemovie.com. It clearly depicts fractures from a horizontal gas well invading a freshwater aquifer. Scary! Now, consider the detail | Read More »

Energy Policy *IS* Grassroots Politics

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  June 18th at 05:00 PM  | 

Compare and contrast these maps. First, the “undervote” by county in the recent Pennsylvania Democratic Presidential primary. The numbers in each county represent the proportion of voters in a Democratic primary who selected “no candidate” rather than vote for the incumbent, Barack Obama. Now, the distribution map of the Marcellus Shale:

‘TruthLand’, the Movie

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  June 13th at 09:38 PM  | 

Josh Fox’s Oscar®-nominated documentary “GasLand” introduced us to scary images of burning water taps, supposedly the result of gas well fracking gone bad. It was such a successful piece of anti-development propaganda that HBO greenlighted a sequel, “GasLand 2″, due out this fall. A new documentary, “TruthLand“, is an attempt to counter Josh Fox’s distortions. It is the tale of Shelly, a teacher, dairy farmer and | Read More »

Drilling Rigs in Pennsylvania! Hide the Womenfolk!

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 17th at 03:30 PM  | 

Democratic State Rep. Michael Sturla is apparently not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Speaking of the impact of the Marcellus Shale drilling boom on Pennsylvania, Sturla said: “Also, aside from building roads so their trucks can get to drill sites and doing a little stream work to mitigate damage from their road building, exactly what are all those things the drillers are doing for | Read More »

The New York Times Says Shale Gas is a Giant Ponzi Scheme. Erm, No.

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  June 28th at 11:59 PM  | 

The New York Times really hates natural gas. Just in the last year, the Times has run scaremongering articles on the dangers of hydrofracking and Gasland-inspired tales of groundwater contamination in the “shale plays”, the unconventional sources of natural gas that have redefined domestic gas supply withing the last decade. On Sunday, the paper drifted into unfamiliar and inhospitable territory: petroleum economics. The Times published | Read More »

Energy Expert Robert Kennedy, Jr. Opposes Natural Gas Drilling in New York State

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  August 15th at 11:31 AM  | 

Noted energy expert, environmental Luddite and hypocrite Robert Kennedy, Jr., aims to stymie natural gas drilling in New York State by hyping unrealistic and irrational fears of environmental contamination. At issue is the method used to stimulate production in gas wells known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. Truth be told, Kennedy and the greenies would find something objectionable in anything an energy company would propose. | Read More »