Thomas J Shepstone's Blog (1,194)

There Ought To Be A Law (Continued)

Two more prominent anti-shale activists turn out to be natural gas users!

This is the third in our There Ought To Be A Law series of posts.  We documented, in the first piece, the fact Tony Ingraffea, Mayor Matt Ryan and Josh Fox all used natural gas to heat their homes or offices.  …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 24, 2012 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Vic Wants His Neighbor Back, If He'd Just Get the Facts

Vic Furman wants his neighbor back and urges getting the natural gas facts:

"Together we stood, when snows fell so heavy, and then we would work together to remove that heavy white stuff. We then relaxed over hot chocolate, sometimes sharing a glass of ginger brandy. We were friends! Together, we faced the challenges of raising children, as our children became best friends who would skin their knees in the fields and fall from trees in the forest, we would wipe the abrasions clean,…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 23, 2012 at 5:57am — No Comments

The Sun Also Rises for Josh Fox, But Not on Command, Time for Him to Get A Grip

The sun also rises for Josh Fox, but not on command. Time to get a grip, Josh!

They say that 82.3 percent of statistics are made up on the spot. Watching the video released by Gasland star Josh Fox this week – cleverly titled “The Sky is Pink” — one wonders whether that figure might be in need of a slight upward adjustment.

Set aside the distracting, out-of-focus camerawork and characteristically creepy, overwrought narration, and the argument that Josh and his team attempt to…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 21, 2012 at 10:57pm — No Comments

Loose Cannon Gets His Facts Wrong on Franklin Forks

Most of us have heard or, perhaps, used the term “loose cannon on the deck.” Meant to describe an individual prone to bounce around firing at will – a threat to friend and foe alike – it is also an apt term for some of our opponents from Luzerne County who seem determined to misrepresent what happened in Dimock and now what’s happening (actually, not happening) in Franklin Forks. Remember when you visited one of those historic forts as a child and they fired a cannon for you? It was only…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 21, 2012 at 11:03am — No Comments

Not Even the Wizards of Scare Can Stop the Shale Gas Revolution

In Otsego County, it’s four years into the shale revolution already. Nationally we’re watching the reversal of dependence on foreign oil (and natural gas). Internationally, power relationships are shifting as historic (and unfriendly) producers are no longer in the drivers seat. Now, even Ireland has a shot at energy independence.

The anti’s concentrate on politics and silly gimmicks, assuming their scare tactics are permanently rooted in the public consciousness. That’s a bad…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 21, 2012 at 4:38am — No Comments

Strange Marcellus Shale Rumblings in New York State

The New York Times floated something of trial balloon from the Cuomo administration last week, publishing a piece suggesting the governor may soon release the details of a plan that would allow some of the state’s landowners the opportunity to finally produce their minerals, while leaving other folks out.

Needless to say, it got a lot of attention – with some supporters seeing it as evidence that New York may be finally ready to proceed with Marcellus development. Others, of course,…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 19, 2012 at 5:02am — No Comments

The DRBC Is A Seinfeld Episode About Nothing

We all remember the show Seinfeld, don’t we? When the show was proposed by the producers it was meant to be the show about nothing. I began working with EID – Marcellus back in August of last year. My first big project was to keep an eye on decisions being made by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and I even made the long drive to Trenton for an uneventful meeting. It turns out this assignment was a lot easier than I thought it would be, simply because nothing, absolutely nothing,…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 17, 2012 at 2:36pm — No Comments

Women "Silent No More" on Value of Natural Gas to Upstate

Last week, the Women’s Energy Leadership Coalition, a new group formed to speak about the value of shale gas development to upstate New York quality of life, went to Albany to show strong support for natural gas exploration. Both men and women took the trip up to tell their representatives the people of upstate are ready for natural gas. It was an inspiring and productive day, jam packed with activities, and the opportunity to be heard by the individuals paid to represent these…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 16, 2012 at 4:33am — No Comments

Park Foundation Is More Politics Than Charity

Recently, the River Reporter, a notoriously anti-natural gas publication but, I hasten to add, a newspaper that has always been fair to me, ran an editorial challenging our raising of the Park Foundation?s influence on the natural gas debate.   They laid out their case nicely, but missed the point completely when they said ?The Park Foundation Conspiracy, in the end, boils down to nothing more than the fact that the Park Foundation funds opponents of hydro-fracking, while EID supports…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 16, 2012 at 1:46am — No Comments

Chip Northrup Flips Out and Pulteney Passes on Moratorium

Scott Cline says:

"Regular readers of this blog will recall I previously pointed out that anti-natural gas spokespeople masquerading as experts is a rampant problem. It was the same story last night as the Town of Pulteney, Steuben County, New York was poised to vote on a proposed moratorium on natural gas development (one based on the Park Foundation funded Slottje model). I have a summer cottage in the town on Keuka Lake and have been following this issue since it was first raised.…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 15, 2012 at 2:15am — No Comments

Jim Willis Reports on Shelly's Journey - He's Known Her 20+ Years

It was MDN’s pleasure to attend a screening of the newly released Truthland movie this week at the Susquehanna Valley High School in Conklin, New York. Truthland is a short film, about 34 minutes in length, that takes as its mission the debunking of Josh Fox’s well-known movie Gasland.

The star of Truthland is a Pennsylvania woman by the name of Shelly. She and her husband Phil and their children live on a farm in northeastern Pennsylvania—land that’s been in Phil’s family for the…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 15, 2012 at 1:52am — No Comments

UB Study: The Numbers Don't Lie

Let’s say, hypothetically, that a deep-pocketed organization was financially underwriting the bulk of activities associated with a campaign to stop oil and gas development in America, including organizing and orchestrating research projects designed to attack 65 years of history, science and experience with respect to the safe use of hydraulic fracturing.

Now let’s stop pretending and recognize that everything we’ve described above is, in fact, happening, and the organization…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 13, 2012 at 1:34pm — No Comments

John Williams Tells How He Learned the Truth About the Gas Industry

John Williams tells how he came to know the truth about the gas industry.

"My first experience with a natural gas company goes back to between 2005 and 2006. A landman approached me about signing a lease. I looked at what he was proposing, which, at first, sounded quite interesting. But, after reading over the lease, I decided it wasn’t for me. I was then again approached in 2007 with leasing at a higher price. This is when I thought it was time to do a little more research on what…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 13, 2012 at 6:11am — No Comments

Truthland, the Gasland Antidote Arrives!

Like many who grew up in the Upper Delaware River valley, the mere mention of Gasland has grated on me like Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. It’s not just the facts he got wrong or the truth he distorted. You expect that sort of thing from Josh Fox and it didn’t take long for Energy In Depth and several others to correct the record on the flaming Colorado faucet, Dunkard Creek and the rain rot present on some of the animals pictured. No, what was so offensive was the sheer…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on June 12, 2012 at 9:27am — 1 Comment

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