Chesapeake Energy, Barnett Shale & Their Spokepeople

Everytime I blog about anything that makes reference to Cheseapeake Energy and the Barnett Shale, I notice a big jump in blog readers from Oklahoma City, home of Chesapeake Energy.

Twice now a blogging has gotten a long-winded, off-point comment from an obvious Chesapeake person, employed to try and counter people's perfectly valid personal points of view. I got a new one today, again from someone anonymously calling him/herself B. Others, too, have gotten similar comments from this B person, regarding what they wrote about Barnett Shale.

This is an effort worthy of Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi Propaganda machine. Throw up a bunch of smoke, while personally attacking the object of your disdain, attack a bunch of straw men. And totally ignore the issue the person is raising or the point the person is making.

Don Young sent out an Urgent Alert letting people know that Chesapeake Energy had found a loophole in Fort Worth's rules that is allowing them to attempt to drill on the fringe of Tandy Hills Park, a nature preserve. Don Young does not believe it wise to drill in an urban setting, particularly near a nature preserve. It is Don Young's right to hold whatever opinion he wants about anything, and verbalize it anyway he wants. America is not Nazi Germany.

The Chesapeake Energy propaganda shill ignores what Don Young's actual issue is and, instead, like a good Nazi, attacks Don Young. Despite the Chesapeake Energy shill's insinuation, I have not heard Don Young say he is against drilling for oil offshore, or in Alaska. I have not heard Don Young say he is against developing alternative energy sources. I have not heard Don Young say he is against nuclear power. I have not heard Don Young say he is against conservation.

The reason Chesapeake Energy is losing in the battle for hearts and minds, in this urban zone, is precisely because of this type heavy-handed, thought control, disrespectful way of addressing people's perfectly valid concerns. That and their embarrassingly over the top advertising campaign. Which appears to be halted.

I've already lived less than a 1000 feet way from a Chesapeake Energy operation. It was not pleasant. I don't want to see one near my favorite place to hike. It is my belief that drilling in an urban zone should be an energy policy of last resort, after offshore, ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico, rural shale and all possible means of alternative energy generation have been exhausted. Then, maybe, start drilling in densely populated zones. But, until remote ANWR is tapped, it is my opinion, which I am intitled to, this being America, not Nazi Germany, that no drilling rig should be allowed anywhere near Tandy Hills Park. Or any other urban park.

Now below, the anonymous shill work from the Joseph Goebbels wannabe who calls him/herself B-----

I wonder how much it costs Don Young to fill up his Conastoga Wagon? Because if he’s driving an automobile, or using electricity to cool his home, or plugging in his computer to write a blog … if he’s doing anything that uses any produced energy, then Don Young defines hypocrisy.

It really is that plain and simple. I’ll get back to Don in a moment, but first, let’s take a look at the general hypocrisy of America’s energy policy.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton vetoed legislation to drill for oil in the Alaskan Arctic. If that bill had been signed, 1 million barrels of American oil – 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel – would be on the market today.

With all that extra American oil available, we would not be suffering from skyrocketing fuel and grocery prices today. Supply and demand. The greater the supply, the cheaper the cost.

But Clinton vetoed the bill and all that Alaskan oil remains untouched … right beneath the surface of our own feet. And out of our current 100 United States Senators, 72 of them have voted to keep that estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market.

“Not here,” those 72 Senators said with their votes. “Not here.”

But that hasn’t stopped the politicians from hijacking a microphone to complain about skyrocketing prices at the pump.

It’s time to pull the plug on the hypocrites. Because, as columnist George Will astutely pointed out a few weeks ago, “Don’t drill here seems to be our national energy policy.”

That sounds familiar, kind of like the loud minority of so-called “activists” who oppose development of the Barnett Shale. “Don’t drill here,” they say, even though the technologies of natural gas drilling and production are incredibly safe and unobtrusive. Even as our nation is in desperate need of affordable, clean, efficient energy … and it rests right beneath our Texas dirt, waiting to be produced. Even though this vast resource provides not just a tremendous boost to the Fort Worth economy, but a viable means of meeting America’s energy needs with less reliance on foreign oil.

And our reliance on foreign oil is a critical and growing problem. It’s not going away and it’s only going to get worse.

T. Boone Pickens recently pointed out to Congress that America is spending $700 billion per year for foreign oil. That’s more than the Iraq war is costing us! And with new demand for oil from nations like China and India, the price tag is only going to go up … until we do something about it, something for ourselves.

And there is a way out of this mess. In his testimony, Pickens told Congress that if we converted America’s transportation fuel from gasoline to natural gas, we’d cut our dependence on foreign cabals by 38 percent. Get a calculator – 38 percent of $700 billion – we’d save $266 billion every year, just like that.

But there’s more good news. According to the prestigious scientists at the Colorado School of Mines, we have a 120-year supply of natural gas right here in North America, right under our feet. And natural gas is, by far, the cleanest burning fossil fuel known to man. It’s affordable, it’s clean, and it’s available right here at home.

Right here, at home in Fort Worth … right under our own feet.

But, “Not Here,” says Don Young. “Not Here,” say a small minority of “Not Anywhere Naysayers.”

But they still drive their cars. They still complain about the price of food that was shipped to their local grocer in gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. They still turn on the air conditioner or the stove at home.

And they still plug in their computers to declare “Not Here” in their blogs and emails.
Which brings us back to Don Young … and hypocrisy.

Don, if you were Amish, I’d understand. Because as New York Times reporter Peter Applebome wrote, the Amish “… live what they espouse.” They use no produced energy.

So, Don, if I see you around town in a horse-drawn wagon, I’ll wave and offer a note of respect.

But as long as you keep plugging in that computer to destroy America’s efforts to lessen our dependence on foreign oil … well, you’re just another “Not Here Hypocrite” that, frankly, isn’t worth the energy it takes to listen to you.