Parsley Energy CEO Calls for “Shale New Deal” Targeted at Teens
Speaking yesterday at the NAPE (North American Property Expo) Summit in Houston, Parsley Energy CEO Matt Gallagher warned that the oil and gas industry MUST do a better job of convincing today’s teenagers, Generation Z, that the O&G industry is necessary and good–not evil and rotten. How? Gallagher says by tackling three issues: perception, pollution and profits. He calls this the “Shale New Deal.” Is Gallagher on to something? Maybe!
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A new Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) poll released today shows a befuddling result. F&M keeps tabs on a variety of political issues in the Keystone State. The latest poll’s findings on the issue of fracking raise some red flags for us. The results are mixed. The poll surveyed 628 registered voters over six days in January. It found 48% of voters support shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania, compared with 44% who oppose it. Pretty thin margin. However, 48% of those same voters favor a ban on all fracking in the state, versus 39% who oppose a ban. Can anyone say schizophrenia?
Yesterday the American Petroleum Institute (API) launched “
One of the most liberal governors in America, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, continues his campaign to kill the Marcellus Shale by slapping a severance tax on top of an already-high impact tax. He’s now getting a little help from his lib friends at the polling unit at Franklin & Marshall College. When asked a misleading question, a recent poll of 627 PA residents found 69% of them “strongly” or “somewhat” favor Wolf’s Santa Claus promises in his “Restore PA” plan–if it’s funded by a severance tax on Marcellus Shale.
Would you feel better if a driller building a shale well pad near your home was “green certified”? Meaning the company has been reviewed and certified by an independent agency for evidence that company adheres to strict environmental standards as it drills. Researchers at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs set out to answer that question–and they found public opinion of shale drilling would greatly improve if such a “green certification” were in place.
Pssst. Don’t tell anyone, but somebody has figured out how to get a pipeline built in New England. Keep it quiet–just between us, K? Time after time we’ve seen worthy, sensible natural gas pipeline projects proposed for New England. And time after time they’ve been shot down by radical Big Green groups and sleazy politicians (like MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren and MA AG Maura Healey) who are in the pockets of Big Green. Instead of building a pipeline from the Marcellus to New England–a few hundred miles–those same sleazy politicians would rather have Russian LNG imported to avert annual energy crises (see 
We spotted an article last week about how pipeline companies are changing the way they do business, in order to stay in business. The article refers to a “charm offensive” pipeline companies are now engaged in, in an attempt to get pipeline projects approved. Several of the examples used come from the Marcellus/Utica region, including Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA pipeline in Ohio. What is the “charm offensive?” We’d sum it up this way: better communication earlier in the process with landowners, and spreading more cash around in the communities where the pipeline will travel. The companies are also getting better at organizing supporters, by building contact databases and encouraging letter writing and email campaigns, and calls to regulators. It’s been slow in coming, but finally our side is taking a few cues from the other side…
You might think people who are not leased and live close to shale drilling activity, that is, those with the most “impacts” from that activity, would be the ones most opposed to it. However, you would be wrong. That’s according to a new study just published by the ultra liberal Oregon State University. A study appearing in monthly peer reviewed academic journal Risk Analysis titled, “The Effect of Geographic Proximity to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development on Public Support for Hydraulic Fracturing,” finds that the closer you live to shale drilling, even those who are not leased, the more supportive of it they are. Why is that? Because they understand it–they’re more familiar with it. MDN has spoken to residents in Susquehanna County, PA who live close to drilling yet are not, themselves, drilled on/under. Their opinion? Sure they’d like it if they got money. After all, they incur the impacts (trucks, noise, lights, dust), but don’t directly benefit with money in their pockets. Yet, when asked if they had a choice and could wave a magic wand so there never would have been drilling, the answer is swift and universal: NO! They still prefer nearby drilling, because it benefits their neighbors and, to some degree, the community at large via tax revenue and charitable contributions. Here’s news of a study that proves the closer you are to drilling, the more you like it…
This is how it works in biased, fake news land: You make up unspecific, wide-open questions that nobody really understands, and then biased, liberal media outlets interpret the “data” the way they want–to fit the predetermined media narrative. That’s what has just happened with meaningless poll questions from Franklin & Marshall College with respect to natural gas drilling in PA. We read through the questions they asked and thought, “What do some of these questions even mean?” The average citizen being asked these questions will assume and “read into” the questions what they *think* (but aren’t sure) is being asked, and answer the questions accordingly. In the end, it’s nonsensical. Meaningless. Fake. Then the lib machine kicks in to “report” that PA citizens, while still supporting drilling by a razor thin margin, actually think Marcellus drilling is bad for the environment. The latest media narrative is born: PA citizens are turning against gas drilling…
Sometimes it’s hard not to grow weary fighting against Big Green and their seemingly endless sources of funding (and a sympathetic mainstream media) when it comes to the issue of fracking. The very word itself, fracking, is a moniker slapped on the industry as a way of implying there’s something dirty and vulgar about what we do. We can’t tell you how many times readers have lectured us to not use that word–fracking. But the word is now entrenched in the public psyche, so we use it. How do we effectively counter the wrong/false statements and arguments used by Big Green and their supporters? Simply using facts and science, to counter the emotional puking that comes from Big Green, is not enough. The United Kingdom is now entering a phase long past here in the U.S. The U.K. is just now beginning to drill and frack its very first wells. There are more than 300 anti-fracking groups in the U.K. and an almost endless barrage of negative press about fracking in the country. The head of communications recently granted an interview to PR Week about how they are countering the opposition there. It’s an excellent interview and gives us some ideas about how we might counter the opposition on this side of the pond…
Each year the consultants at Deloitte conduct a survey of oil and gas industry professionals. Last year the survey showed o&g execs believed we were already in the midst of a recovery for the industry (see 
An overwhelming majority of voters in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York support energy delivery of transportation fuels and the use of natural gas infrastructure – including the approval and construction of more pipelines in the region, according to a new poll from Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA). The CEA calls itself the “voice of the energy consumer.” CEA provides consumers with sound, unbiased information on U.S. and global energy issues. The scientific poll conducted by CEA of voters in the four states found that energy issues will affect how 86% of them vote in the next election. It also found 58% approve of “expanding pipelines to deliver transportation fuels for consumers and markets.” And you thought voters in New England and New York were all brain-dead leftists. Huh. Turns out the media is covering up the strong support that exists for pipelines and other energy infrastructure. Hello Gov. Cuomo! Are you reading this? Here’s a summary of the poll, along with the detailed poll results…
Did you watch the Superbowl on Sunday? What’s that? You didn’t?! Admission: We did not watch. We decided to “take a knee” this year and skip the Superbowl. You know, take a knee–like loser Colin Kaepernick, backup quarterback for the San Franciso 49ers. Every time he plays in a game he kneels when the National Anthem is played–in an act of obscene disrespect for our country. The NFL needs to get its house in order and we won’t watch until it takes care of papered jerks like Kaepernick. At any rate, we’re guessing a great many MDN readers did, in fact, watch (we won’t hold it against you). If you watched, you may have seen a 30-second commercial from the American Petroleum Institute called Power Past Impossible–an effort to highlight how natural gas and oil provide enormous value to Americans’ everyday lives. If you didn’t see it, or want to watch it again, we have it below…