Why does New York have to be so different and our Governor, Andrew Cuomo, so indecisive? Is he really that fearful of radical environmentalists who refuse to accede to any reason? Yes, they’re part of his constituency, but…

Let’s assume that when the music stops Governor Cuomo is holding the hot potato. The Governor is going to make the decision about whether shale development can go forward in New York state. Notwithstanding the pyrotechnic protest on display here, the decision to go…

A new Department of Energy study finds, to no surprise from those who know anything about the process, that hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” does not generate pathways to ground water supplies.

Those individuals who hate fossil fuels and want to stop all shale drilling because of their irrational beliefs are, to be kind, logic-challenged. Witness their claim/belief that fracking fluid (99.5% water and sand, 0.5% chemicals) pumped a mile or more below the surface will magically…

Hurricane Sandy was a powerful demonstration of the importance of natural gas resources to urban America and, more specifically, the potential of natural gas cogeneration to keep the lights on during natural disasters.

Hurricane Sandy was one of the costliest natural disasters to ever strike the United States. For many Americans, it was an almost surreal experience to see the usually bustling streets of New York City made dark and silent by floods and high winds. While the normally…

“Imagine” is one of the world’s great songs, but the inheritors of that tune have misused it in a vain attempt to insert themselves into the fracking debate.

John Lennon’s 1971 song Imagine is rated as the seventh most popular song of all time. Described as “the most influential song of our century” it is a phenomenally good melody combined with a set of vapid lyrics that was well-suited to its times. It was produced with the help of Yoko Ono, Lennon said, although one wonders if his…

The Cabot Picnic is Northeastern Pennsylvania’s premier event when it comes to the natural gas industry and what this business has meant to the livelihoods of families and the region as a whole.

There’s no natural gas event quite like the Cabot Picnic. It routinely attracts thousands of visitors in a county that is supposedly devastated by what happened in Dimock and all the “industrialization.” It is four hours of celebration for what natural gas development has done for Susquehanna…

The Green Party 1% types live in a fantasy world of utopian energy policy, while China, which has been polluting the earth, takes a turn toward the rational simply because it must to save itself. Meanwhile, we put up with Josh Fox, who is little more than a science fiction character.

Way before environmentalists started worrying about CO2 (“Hot Air” is the term carbon traders used to refer to CO2 by the way, hence the name of my blog), literally everyone worried about the far more…

Gasland Part II is a sham documentary that, given its lack of credibility, doesn’t belong on television, but there it is on HBO and the reason has a lot to do with who Josh Fox knows and what they want from him.

When Gasland Part II is exposed as “science denial” by a serious environmentalist who’s convinced it’s ”not fitting as an educational documentary or journalism” and worried it will damage the cause, you know Josh Fox’s extended 15 minutes of fame is over. The only question is…

DRBC claims about the Delaware River providing water for 15-17 million people are more exaggerated than the claims of Mark Twain’s death before the real event and expose an agenda to keep the Upper Delaware region in perpetual “pastoral poverty.”

The DRBC has been prattling on for several years about about how the Delaware River is the water supply for 15 million people. That’s its excuse for dismissing any concerns residents of the Upper Delaware might have its onerous “special…

The fact human brains are hard-wired for superstition gives fracking opponents a leg up at the outset in the natural gas debate, but facts and good storytelling can overcome that initial advantage, with persistence.

I ain’t superstitious, black cat just cross my trail. – Howlin’ Wolf (actually Willie Dixon)

I talked, in my last post, about how anti-gas activists use the power of storytelling and an out-of-date energy narrative to create uncertainty about the safety of natural…

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is an agency without a conscience. A review of its budget for July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 reveals the agency has not only stolen the property rights of Pennsylvania landowners but is also letting anti-gas agencies direct its activities and is rewarding New York State for its obstructionist activities.

The DRBC budget provides incredible insights into why this agency is so dysfunctional and acting so totally contrary to Pennsylvania’s…

Divestment, as a form of indoctrination seems to be replacing education and discussion at many American universities these days and it isn’t pretty, nor does it conform with the traditional objectives of university for a liberal education that teaches one to think, not what to think.

I recently stumbled across an open letter to American universities with the audacity to ask of them one thing: education. The letter, “Don’t Divest, Educate—An Open Letter to American Universities” is…

Fractivist storytelling about natural gas is at the heart of their periodic successes at selling gloom and doom, but short-selling America and American abilities has never proven profitable for long and it won’t this time either.

As usual, I looked at the morning paper with mild dread. And, there it was, in giant print: “Fracking Linked to Black Plague.” So it’s finally happened I thought. Then everything went into slow motion. My daughter, who lives in Boston, appeared out of nowhere…

Gasland Part II is a farce, even a fraud, and both it and the original focus around lies about natural gas flaming in unusual places, one where the cause had earlier been determined to have nothing to do with gas drilling and the other being an outright fraud.



Earlier this week, HBO premiered Gasland Part II. A few months ago I was one of about 20 farmers and landowners who traveled to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and was refused entrance to the…

The shale gas debate has involved an awful lot of distortion by activists determined to impose their ideologies on others, raising a very real concern over whether or not truth even matters anymore, at least to the media.

Does truth matter?

If I say the sky is pink, will people believe me? Would they look out the window to check? Would I be called a liar or would they say that’s his view?

If I said three out of six airplanes crash, would they say that’s his assumption…

The debate over hydrocarbons versus renewables is, far too often, conducted as if it were playground shouting match. We need more reasoned discussion that doesn’t start from the premise of hoping to eliminate one or the other.

Everyone is aware of the impacts and costs of oil, gas and coal. Some are aware of the myriad of products and services they provide beyond power generation and perhaps plastic. A few are aware of the true financial costs per Kw/hr of nuclear energy.

Then…

Governor Cuomo is following, not leading, in the battle over natural gas and he’s taking our land in the process. It’s time to start acting on behalf of upstate New York State rather than the shrill condescending voices of those who would use the gas without developing it.

When I was a small boy growing up on Leroy Street in the City of Binghamton, I spent the long hot summers on the farm of my best friend’s family. The farm was 400+ acres in Brookdale, Pennsylvania. The property to…

Nick Grealy offers some perspective on what the shale gas battle is ultimately all about – our kids and their future. If we are truly concerned about worldwide health then we’d be doing everything we could to shift from coal to natural gas both here and everywhere.

If the April 2011 EIA report on World Shale Gas resources was, as I described at the time “Shale Gas’ WOW moment,” this year’s model serves the same purpose for shale oil, and advances to be more of a multiple expletive…

Mary Esch, a more than decent reporter from Associated Press (AP) did an infuriating thing earlier this week, treating Vera Scroggins, a foul-mouthed zealot and xenophobe with zero credibility as if she was some endearing grandmother figure speaking truth to power in a quixotic quest to halt fracking. Esch knows better, or should.

AP just ran a story by Mary Esch that portrays Vera Scroggins in what can only be described as flattering tones. This happens very regularly, unfortunately,…

Independence Day has a special meaning these days as a result of the activities of George Mitchell, the pioneer inventor who gave us hydraulic fracturing and the very real potential to be free of American0hating countries holding us hostage over oil. This week we celebrated our Independence Day. Our nation continues to remain independent and free. There are so many great men and women that have contributed to this fact. Here is just one man that has extended Americas greatness. It is energy…

Pennsylvania public parks and state forests are managed by the Commonwealth’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, on the verge of being self-funded with income from natural gas development.

Most people would view this as good news: The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) is within striking distance of becoming self-funding. Only $30 million (out of a $136.5 million budget) comes out of Pennsylvania taxpayer pockets – just 22%. We’d call a…