Jim Willis Removes Chip Northrup's Veil

MDN Editor and EID Special Correspondent Jim Willis removes the veil from Chip's Northrup's public face:

http://eidmarcellus.org/marcellus-shale/ordinary-opinions-of-james-...

Jim did a great job on this and we'll be adding some links as well. What do you think about this?  What did Jim miss, if anything?

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Permalink Reply by Area Man on March 9, 2012 at 8:31am

Oi, Jim!  ALMOST a good piece.  I frequent his site often, and I see some of the things EID puts out and they tend to be similar.  They have good bits of information and fact based paragraphs... then they completely jump ship and toss in opinion, and most of the time extreme language.  He was rolling along just fine with some understanding of an outspoken individual against shale development, but then he interjects his personal opinion that Chip supports and desires only renewable energy and will attack anything that may threaten that future.  This may or may not be true, but there is no direct evidence of such and until that point in the article all the information presented was quotes, public record, taken from bios, etc.

I despise this attack - yes, for some it may be the case, but to label all people opposed to drilling/natural gas renewable defenders to the point of attacking any cheap fuel not solar/wind/whathaveyou detracts from the message.  Especially to go on and speculate about possible deals and stock holdings, that's pushing things much too far.  If it's to be an opinion piece, so be it - then we have a battle of words between two people.  Jim has a factual response that strays into the realm of hyperbole, akin to that the supporters of gas development suffer in posts such as those by Chip.  I don't think the right tactic is to respond with "a taste of their own medicine".

 

But it does bring up a good point - can some please please PLEASE make a video of something, ANYTHING really, and post it on this forum??  I'm tired of seeing the Voodoo frackonomics link on the bottom of the page every time I go to GoMarcellusShale!  That one is a lot of hot air - and perhaps fueled by financial connections to the solar business, a hatred of rouhgnecks, or just some guys opinion.  But, simliar to Jim's write up, it takes some data and pushes it WELL past its limits into the realm of pure speculation.

 

-Area Man

Permalink Reply by Thomas J Shepstone on March 9, 2012 at 8:46am

Did you watch the video of Chip in Jim's post?  The one where he takes the condescending attitude:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvogU9q2T7E

Permalink Reply by Area Man on March 9, 2012 at 8:58am

Oh yes, trust me I am not defending him in any way.  I'm not a fan - but I'm not about to put words in his mouth either.

Permalink Reply by Thomas J Shepstone on March 9, 2012 at 9:14am

Very good.  Thanks for your thoughts!

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on March 9, 2012 at 12:09pm

Northrup sounds to me like just another CAVEr.  There are quite a few in NY.

Chip NorthrupPermalink Reply by Chip Northrup on March 11, 2012 at 3:34am

EID whines about Chip Northrup  - 

http://shaleshockmedia.org/blog/2012/03/10/frack-flaks-energy-in-de...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/78149419/Energy-in-Depth-Tom-Shepstone

Comments on their article about me below: 

"Sitting on a porch near the edge of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York sits James “Chip” Northrup, discussing what has become the preeminent issue of upstate New York–hydraulic fracturing. With green tree leaves shimmering from a summer breeze in the background, Northrup, middle aged with a soft spoken Texas drawl, introduces himself as an oil and gas industry insider, someone who worked in the industry for 30 years.  He speaks intelligently and presents himself with authority, claiming that he “has some background with the technology” of hydraulic fracturing. Mr. Northrup has become a celebrity on the anti-drilling speaking circuit and with media outlets–someone from “industry” who isn’t afraid to discuss the evils of hydraulic fracturing."

(Or the inanity of fracking shills . . .) 

"On that sunny afternoon in August 2010, Mr. Northrup, who “summers in Cooperstown” and “winters in Dallas” where he is from, shared some startling allegations. He said that contrary to what the industry will tell you, fracking shale or “tight rock” formations requires upward of 15,000 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure–the same pressure found six miles below the ocean’s surface in the Mariana Trench. According to Northrup, that’s “about 30 times the pressure of an air bomb or thermobaric bomb used in Afghanistan or Iraq.” Mr. Northrup says with one to three million gallons of fluid at that high pressure, you are effectively exploding a bomb underneath the ground–a “horizontal pipe bomb.”

As opposed to a real bomb - a real nuclear bomb

That industry and the feds used to frack shale before Halliburton invented slick water horizontal fracking: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR_UZFz97dY

"In the interview he warns that New York is geologically different from other shale drilling locations, like Texas. In Texas, underground faults are few and well documented from seismic mapping. But in New York, there are lots of naturally occurring faults or cracks that can go all the way from bedrock up to the earth’s surface, and New York is seismically active–meaning lots of earthquakes creating new faults.

Just like the geologists say NYS is - riddled with poorly mapped faults : 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81397215/Fracking-New-York-Faults

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ohio-earthquake-li...

"Northrup said that New York’s underground faults are not well mapped and odds are that a driller will hit a fault and not know it until it’s too late. "

Exactly like the USGS recently said in their letter to the DEC:

“The revised dSGEIS references the State-wide map of faults and lineaments by Isachsen  and McKendree (1977).  A more detailed mapping of lineaments in New York’s Appalachian basin was completed by EarthSat (1997) for the New York Energy Research and Development Authority.   Through an integrated analysis of lineament, geologic, geophysical, and seismic epicenter data, Jacobi (2002) concluded that there are more faults in New York’s Appalachian Basin than previously suspected, and that many of these faults are seismically active. ”

The USGS confirms all the other studies and commentaries on the subject of faulting and seismic probability.

http://data.fractracker.org/cbi/snapshot/page?concept=~01757925a6591811e19aa688dac2873f23

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81397215/Fracking-New-York-Faults

http://www.scribd.com/doc/83492110/USGS-Letter-to-DEC

"When hydraulic fracturing fluid–water and sand and chemicals–is pumped into the well to “prop open” the small fractures made in hydraulic fracturing, that fluid along with methane (natural gas) has the potential to escape into those natural faults and travel up to aquifers, eventually contaminating people’s water wells, springs and nearby lakes. He said that once hydraulic fracturing fluid gets into drinking water, it’s game over. It’s impossible to get chemical and methane contamination out of an aquifer."

Which of course, is what happened in Wyoming :

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/08/143381365/epa-report-links-fracking-to-water-pollution

And quite commonly with gas wells - they release methane into groundwater

http://www.scribd.com/doc/65577477/How-Gas-Wells-Leak

"In numerous interviews and public speaking appearances, Chip Northrup paints a bleak, nightmare scenario of what will happen if fracking is allowed to begin in upstate New York. And because he is accorded the status of expert due to his “30 years” in the oil and gas industry, well, who are we to argue?"

(they are fracking shills paid for by the gas industry, that's who . . . )

"When speaking, Chip Northrup seems to have a great deal of detailed knowledge about hydraulic fracturing. But where does that knowledge come from? Most people would agree if you have a degree in geology or the physical sciences, that would qualify you as an expert. In addition, if you have a long history of practical, hands-on experience, that also would qualify you as an expert. Chip claims to be a 30-year veteran of the oil and gas industry, so let’s examine his credentials. Chip has a bachelors degree from Brown University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. We don’t know what Chip’s undergraduate major was in, but we know that his MBA was in accounting. You typically don’t get an advanced accounting degree without first obtaining an undergraduate degree in the same field, so it’s a pretty good guess that Chip’s undergraduate degree was something other than the physical sciences–likely accounting or business. So it appears he had no college training in the physical sciences or engineering–his status as an expert on hydraulic fracturing technology does not come from academe."

Most of it based on citations from peer-reviewed-articles, white papers, industry and government studies - not PR spin from frack flaks . . .   

http://www.scribd.com/northrup49

http://my.brainshark.com/Search.aspx?slice=1&searchtext=chiptex&sortby=popular&msg=1

(father:) "Lynn Northrup’s experiments eventually led him into solar technology, spurred on by the Arab Oil Embargo and high oil prices in the early 1970s. The ever-active inventor Lynn, along with other experts he had hired at the renamed Northrup Energy, made break-through discoveries in solar technology. In the late 1970s, Lynn sold Northrup Energy to Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and the new subsidiary was called ARCO Solar. In the early 1980s, ARCO Solar was sold first to Seimens, and eventually to British Petroleum. BP Solar, still around today, has become the largest solar photovoltaic company in the world, built on the early success and innovations of Lynn’s company."

EID is quoting me verbatim from a Wiki article that I wrote :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_L._Northrup_Jr.

Re a real estate project: "In 1992, after years of lawsuits, a judge ruled in favor of the Mayhews and Northrups, ordering Sunnyvale to pay them $8.5 million. The town’s entire yearly budget at the time was $1 million. The town appealed, and in 1998 the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sunnyvale, finally settling the matter, but not before the town had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees."

Ask me about takings claims - something I know a bit about . . . more than most PR flaks in NYS

There are no valid takings claims in New York against towns regarding fracking.  

None in Dryden, none in Middlefield.  Not even close. 

"Chip also serves on the board of Otsego 2000, a non-profit group in the Cooperstown area where Chip owns a summer home. Otsego 2000 is actively attempting to stop gas drilling in New York State and Chip has written and spoken on their behalf in that effort."

Resigned from Otsego 2000's board over a year ago.  

"But one has to wonder, what exactly was the original deal with ARCO? And now with BP Solar? Do Chip and dad Lynn still own stock in that enterprise? If they do have solar investments, those investments would certainly be at risk from an abundance of natural gas from shale."

A conspiracy theory ?  To increase the price of natural gas, worldwide ?  Really ? 

EID slinks around Upstate Haven't been doing a very good job based with their BS .  

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=File:Edelstein_Slides_7-25-11_Page_04.png

Chip NorthrupPermalink Reply by Chip Northrup on March 12, 2012 at 11:10am

James "Chip" Northrup Showcased by Frack Flaks  - new link 


http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/03/10/frack-flaks-energy-in-de...

The flaks did a rather amateurish job of it, but my hit counts have soared, so here's to that. 



Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on March 11, 2012 at 6:15am

James the cat is out of the bag ! You have been exposed. see http://eidmarcellus.org/marcellus-shale/ordinary-opinions-of-james-...

 

  James one thing I could not figure out is who killed your business partner Charles Meyhew? I know his son Chuck was found guilty for wrongful death but no one was actually convinced of the murder.  Even the appeal that Chuck filled was interesting to see as Chuck had passed a lie detector test, no finger prints of Chucks was found on the suggested shotgun that was used but the finger prints of his grandson who found Charles body was. 

  I think the TV series Dallas could have been dang near based on this.  But James if you have any knowledge of what the final outcome was in the death of Charles Meyhew I'd like to know as I have found nothing , nothing at all to say anyone was convicted of his murder in criminal proceedings. 

  James I am not going to debunk all your rants here but as you well know fracking does not release thousand of pounds of pressure at once.  I have been to a fracking myself very interesting to see them throttle up the engines on the rigs to bring up pressure, watch the pressure build  until l the formation fractures.  In the horizontal run they do it in sections not the entire length just do to the fact that the pressure would not be able to be applied evenly over the distance as the weakest point in the formation along the lateral would prevent even pressure along the lateral. 

 Your rants about Wyoming lets challenge your spin http://marcellusdrilling.com/2011/12/wsj-says-epa-using-pavillion-w...

  

   I can't believe that someone that is supposed to be a environmentalist would try to impose multi family housing upon a large beautiful track of land to make a buck. Sounds rather hypocritical to me. 

 But If banning fracking could lead to lower property values and assuming one with million of dollars at the ready could scoop up low priced land knowing that the ban will be lifted could make a ton of money. A possibility or motive not discussed in the article. 

  Drill Baby Drill!

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on March 11, 2012 at 2:10pm
The Railroad Commission only has records of individuals as controlling officers of organizations conducting oil and gas operations inTexas that are regulated by the Commission.  James L. Northrup and/or Nancy Northrup are not listed as controlling officers for any past or present organizations conducting oil and gas activities that the Commission regulates.  Therefore, we have no records to provide to you as a public records request.  In addition, the link that you provided seems to indicate that James L. Northrup and Nancy Northrup are affiliated with Newport Energy Inc. located in Dallas, Texas.   There is no active operator in Texas named Newport Energy, and the inactive company was located in Bellaire, Texas.  The officers listed for that company were David and Penny Millican.  That company has been inactive as an oil and gas operator since 1988.
 
Regards,
Susan Rhyne

On January 12, 2012, the Office of the Governor of Texas (the “OOG”) received your request under the Public Information Act.  Specifically, the request was for:

 

I am searching for records that would show that a individual by the name of James L, Northrup aka James “Chip” Northrup did indeed was in fact in this position at one time as indicated at this website.

 

http://gdacc.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/d/

 

James (Chip) Northrup, Partner and investor in oil and gas projects, served on Governor of Texas’ Energy Advisory Council.

 

After reviewing our records, we have determined that the OOG has no documents responsive to your request.  You may, however, wish to contact theTexas Library and Archives Commission to obtain the information you seek.  Their website address is www.tsl.state.tx.us.

 

If you have any questions or need additional information, you may contact me at (512) 463-1788.

 

Sincerely,

Bob Davis

Assistant General Counsel

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on March 11, 2012 at 2:18pm

  When I see someone going before the public and being promoted as a expert in a field that can possibly effect my rights I get involved as we all should.  With public opinion that can make a impact upon a landowners  right to use their property the public should be dealing with a full deck. In this case it looks as though the public is being taken for a ride. 

Drill Baby Drill

Permalink Reply by Thomas J Shepstone on March 11, 2012 at 2:24pm

Billy,

You really have Chip's number!  I expect an attack on you any day now.  Notice, also, the irrationality of the responses to our article.

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on March 11, 2012 at 2:37pm

  Well the attack I hope is in the area of Oil and Gas. I mean I have not made myself out to have oil wells all the way to China,  I haven't tried to sue a city into bankruptcy  like some others we know. 

  I guess I am just a happy landowner that maintains a bit of common sense , that tries to be neighborly instead of trying to dictate to the neighborhood. 

 Drill Baby Drill , thinking about putting one of those out along the road  yea Red White and Blue a American Flag with it  yea sounds good. 

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