Gas industry's Ponzi scheme, Targeting children will pro-drilling ad campaign

[RDA - Responsible Drilling Alliance]

Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush

 

From the New York Times, by Ian Urbina 

 

Natural gas companies have been placing enormous bets on the wells they are drilling, saying they will deliver big profits and provide a vast new source of energy for the United States. But the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells.

In the e-mails, energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves. Many of these e-mails also suggest a view that is in stark contrast to more bullish public comments made by the industry, in much the same way that insiders have raised doubts about previous financial bubbles.

“Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company, wrote to a contractor in a February e-mail. “Reminds you of dot-coms.”

“The word in the world of independents is that the shale plays are just giant Ponzi schemes and the economics just do not work,” an analyst from IHS Drilling Data, an energy research company, wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 28, 2009.

Company data for more than 10,000 wells in three major shale gas formations raise further questions about the industry’s prospects. There is undoubtedly a vast amount of gas in the formations. The question remains how affordably it can be extracted.

The data show that while there are some very active wells, they are often surrounded by vast zones of less-productive wells that in some cases cost more to drill and operate than the gas they produce is worth. Also, the amount of gas produced by many of the successful wells is falling much faster than initially predicted by energy companies, making it more difficult for them to turn a profit over the long run.

If the industry does not live up to expectations, the impact will be felt widely. Federal and state lawmakers are considering drastically increasing subsidies for the natural gas business in the hope that it will provide low-cost energy for decades to come.

But if natural gas ultimately proves more expensive to extract from the ground than has been predicted, landowners, investors and lenders could see their investments falter, while consumers will pay a price in higher electricity and home heating bills.

There are implications for the environment, too. The technology used to get gas flowing out of the ground — called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking — can require over a million gallons of water per well, and some of that water must be disposed of because it becomes contaminated by the process. If shale gas wells fade faster than expected, energy companies will have to drill more wells or hydrofrack them more often, resulting in more toxic waste.

The e-mails were obtained through open-records requests or provided to The New York Times by industry consultants and analysts who say they believe that the public perception of shale gas does not match reality; names and identifying information were redacted to protect these people, who were not authorized to communicate publicly. In the e-mails, some people within the industry voice grave concerns.

Full article, as published in the in the New York Times on Sunday, June 26th is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/us/26gas.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

 

Color Me Fracked

As more Pennsylvanians grow both wary and weary of the gas industry’s ceaseless advertising and PR campaign; gas drillers are now targeting children, in hopes of generating a new fan club. Talisman Energy has created a “Good Neighbor Coloring Book” featuring Talisman Terry the Friendly Fracosaurus. In the book, the height of a drill rig is compared to the Statue of Liberty, a space shuttle, and a California Redwood tree. Referring to well pad construction, the friendly Fracosaurus tells kids, …”the dirt is saved so that it can be used later on to reclaim the land. This means it will look the same as before…”

Chesapeake’s ad campaign aimed at children features Chesapeake Charlie, an orange-tinged beagle whose coloring book takes youngsters through the entire life cycle of what the company calls a "clean-burning, affordable, abundant and American fuel." Charlie is a patriotic beagle who wears an American flag patch on the side of his jumpsuit.
The Talisman web site invites visitors to, “Download a copy of Talisman Terry today and start coloring while you and your family learn about this exciting adventure that is taking place…!” 

 

Reporting from the Pine Creek Valley

 

by Marcellus Refugee

 

I went on a kayak mission down the Pine Creek yesterday. Objective - experience more of the valley before it is obliterated and simultaneously prove that I still have enough stamina to do so without requiring medical intervention.

I inspected the remains of the coffer damn that blew out during last month’s high water.  As I suspected, there is a coating of fine sediment and larger stone strewn across the creek bottom for yards downstream of this stupidity. Any macro invertebrates (aquatic bugs) who were unfortunate enough to be living on the creek bottom in that area are suffocated, dead and gone. The damage is blatant and obvious. These bugs are the base of the aquatic food chain in the creek. How stupid is the state of PA to allow this to occur? Where are the multi-million dollar fines?

Do we have any updates on the status of the dam rebuild? I could not tell what they are trying to do with the site, as the crews were all in church praying for forgiveness for their sins against God's creation. Forget the warning buoys. I did. Nobody is telling them what to do, how dare they try to redirect kayak traffic?

Unlike the dam crew, the seismic stooges are godless barbarians who insist on violating the Sabbath and anything else. Flagging is everywhere below Jersey Mills and their orange-vest-clad crews wandering about in the woods. My favorite is the helicopter shuttling back and forth across the valley delivering fresh bundles of geophones to all the good Marcellus girls and boys. Listen to that all day and, Million-Mom-March be dammed, you are going to feel like skeet shooting.

The Pine Creek. The Pine Creek! They are treating it like the Passaic River. God bless King Philip, Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, and Geronimo. No longer a romantic abstraction, if you know this valley, you can feel what they felt as they lived through the same kind of ecological holocaust and cultural genocide.

This is not economic progress, this is an infantile regression, a society that throws tantrums in pursuit of immediate gratification and leaves a trail of dirty, non-biodegradable Pampers in it's wake. 

 

What do you say to the black bear that crossed the creek a few feet in front of my kayak or to the adult bald eagle that swooped down above our heads? Sorry dudes, this is Manifest Destiny Chapter 2 - the Fossil Fuel Years.