Public Opinion

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    Oil Company Uses IBM’s Watson to Beat Anti-Frackers on Twitter

    We found this story fascinating. A “big oil company” was tired of being trashed by anti fossil fuelers–especially in social media circles. So they’re fighting back by using insights gleaned from IBM’s Watson super computer. Watson is able to analyze millions of tweets (messages on the Twitter social media platform) to determine which messages are likely to be popular, or “go viral” in the parlance of social media. And that foreknowledge lets the oil company respond to, and in some cases preempt it, with its own messaging on Twitter…
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    Survey: O&G Workers Love the Industry, but Not Their Company

    We spotted some interesting survey results from a survey conducted by the UK-based recruiting firm Petroplan. The survey polled more than 1,500 oil and gas professionals asking them about their attitudes toward our beloved industry. Respondents came from 107 countries and territories worldwide. Over 60% of those surveyed said they would be “very” or “extremely” likely to recommend a career in the oil and gas industry to others. However, their commitment to the particular company they work for, i.e. “company loyalty,” is low. Some 56% said they’d change jobs “given the right circumstances.” Here’s a high level overview of the survey results…
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    57% of Pennsylvania’s CPAs Favor a Marcellus Tax – Surprised?

    Each year the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) conducts a poll of its membership. Last year PA accounts answered the question “How should PA close the state budget gap?” by indicating the state should privatize liquor sales – 69%, by instituting a Marcellus Shale severance tax – 67%, and by legalizing pot smoking – 27% (see PA Accountants Love Marcellus Severance Tax (and Smoking Pot)). This year’s PICPA poll results have just been published. Perhaps it was our criticism and poking fun at the absurdity of the question last year–but this year the question changed. This is the question they asked this year of PA accountants: “Pennsylvania faces a structural budget deficit estimated at nearly $2 billion. Which of the following should the state use to close the deficit?” The #1 preferred solution for PA’s accountants? A Marcellus Shale severance tax–57% favor it. As we said last year, does anyone else find it suspicious that the people who would have to manage and file reams of tax forms on a severance tax (generating lots of billable hours) are in favor of such a tax? Can anyone say, conflict of interest? Why do we care a wit about what CPAs think about taxes and budget deficits? They’re the ones who helped create it!…
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    Industry Navel Gazing – Survey, Opinions of What’s Ahead in 2016

    MDN spotted a couple of “what’s coming in 2016” reports. One report shares conclusions from a survey of 100 oil and gas company CFOs (Chief Financial Officers, or “the money guys”) conducted in September/November last year. What do industry money people say is coming in 2016? Read it below. The second report was just issued by Moody’s Investors Service. Several Moody’s analysts offer their predictions about what lies ahead for the oil and gas industry this year. We call these kinds of reports “industry naval gazing” as they tend to be focused on our specific piece of the energy industry (oil and gas) to the exclusion of the complex world that exists outside of our own industry. Still, such reports have their place and can often shed light on what may lay ahead on the road we will all travel on the way to 2017…
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    Sham Study: Folks Won’t Visit Public Parks with Fracking Nearby

    unscientificSo four anti-drillers are sitting at a bar…no wait–that’s another story. Four anti-drilling activists who teach at three different colleges–University of Florida, Florida State University, and North Carolina State University (none of them nowhere near the Marcellus/Utica Shale)–got together and concocted a sham study that used an ONLINE survey of 225 people (i.e. unscientific) in the Marcellus/Utica region who visit public parks. Based on the GIGO survey results, the researchers say one-third of Appalachian folks ain’t a goin’ to no park with frackin’ nearby, nosiree. Of course, it’s likely they wouldn’t even know whether or not there is fracking nearby since you typically can’t tell from more than a few hundred feet away where a well is being drilled. We wonder if the researchers also asked the same 225 if they would fly in to or out of an airport with fracking nearby? If that’s your criteria for whether or not to do something, whether there’s fracking nearby, you won’t be using Pittsburgh International Airport where some 47 wells are being drilled as we write this…
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    More on that RMU Poll that Shows PA Residents Love Fracking

    Yesterday MDN highlighted a Robert Morris University poll on fracking (see Poll: 56% of Americans & 74% of Pennsylvanians Support Fracking). We mentioned at the time that only a few media outlets were reporting the results for this poll which had been conducted in early May. RMU themselves hadn’t reported it on their own website, even though other polls taken since (in June!) were listed. Apparently our chiding worked, because after our story RMU did posted an update on the poll on their website with this headline: “Fracking Enjoys Strong Support from Pennsylvanians”…
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    Poll: 56% of Americans & 74% of Pennsylvanians Support Fracking

    It seems to us that we’ve finally reached the tipping point in this country where most people have made up their minds about fracking–and they support it. Robert Morris University’s Polling Institute recently conducted a new national poll on fracking and released the results to select PA media outlets. RMU hasn’t yet published the results on their website. (The poll was completed in early May, but the results are only now leaking out. Why are they hiding this?) The results we have, from several Pennsylvania news sources, show that a strong majority of citizens in the U.S. support fracking (56%). In Pennsylvania, 74% of those polled support shale fracking. We’d really like to see the crosstabs–the exact questions asked and the breakout, by demographic categories, of how people responded. Until that’s available, we have a couple of news reports to share the good news…
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    Poll: PA Voters Want AG Kathleen Kane to Resign

    We have a second poll to share with you today from Robert Morris University, conducted in early June, this one on the topic of Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling and law-breaking Attorney General, Kathleen Kane. We won’t recount the laundry list of Kane’s persecution of the drilling industry in the state. We’ll only remind you that a grand jury is rumored to have found that she lied under oath–a little offense called perjury (see PA Grand Jury Finds Anti-Drilling AG Kathleen Kane Lied Under Oath). In a desperate attempt to hold on to power, Kane hired Lanny Davis to represent her in court. Lanny was Bill Clinton’s attack dog lawyer, hired to represent him after he lied under oath about getting BJs in the Oval Office. The depressing news coming from the RMU poll is that half of the residents of Pennsylvania don’t know about the “controversies” surrounding Kane–the fact that she lied under oath, etc. But of the other half who do know about it, two-thirds of them think she should resign–now…
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    Poll: Majority of Voters in VA, WV, NC Favor Atlantic Coast Pipeline

    The Consumer Energy Alliance, a non-partisan group providing consumers with sound, unbiased information on U.S. and global energy issues, recently published the results of a scientific poll of residents in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia that has major implications for pipelines and infrastructure work in the Marcellus/Utica. The poll found majorities of voters in NC, VA and WV have heard about Dominion’s $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–and they support it. Voters overwhelmingly believe pipelines are the safest means to transport natural gas. More than 80% of the voters surveyed said energy will be a significant factor in how they vote. This is really good news for the shale industry. Seems we’re constantly bludgeoned in the northeast when it comes to pipeline projects (NY, MA, NH, et al). But not in the southeast. Voters there have their heads screwed on straight and can tell the difference between the truth and lie–and they know that pipelines like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will be good for their region. Of course, voters in the southeast tend to be Republican/Conservative and sure enough, the results show that a large majority of those identifying as Republicans and/or Conservatives support pipelines, whereas a majority of Democrats/Liberals don’t. Pipelines, like drilling, are a partisan issue. It shouldn’t be that way! These issues should be decided on the science–but science was thrown out the window a long time ago. Drilling and pipelines–indeed your attitude on the use of fossil fuels–is largely determined by your political philosophy. Below we have a summary of the poll, along with the details (crosstabs), for those who want to dig into the nitty gritty…
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    Poll: 70% of Lycoming County Residents Against Wolf Severance Tax

    It’s certainly not statistically significant, but it’s important nonetheless. The *Williamsport Sun-Gazette* (Lycoming County, PA) launched a poll last week that, as of this morning, is still open. It asks the question, “What do you think of Gov. Wolf’s plans to institute a severance tax for natural gas drilling industries in Pennsylvania??” In order to divide the opposition against this insane idea, the poll has three potential responses, two of them are against the severance tax and one response is in favor. As of this morning, if you add the two “against the tax” responses together, 30% think Wolf’s severance tax is a good idea and an overpowering majority, 70%, thinks its not a good idea. Head on over to //www.sungazette.com/page/polls.detail/id/413/ and vote now, before they close the poll. Here’s how the results looked as of this morning…
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    Gallup Poll on Fracking Shows it to be a Partisan/Political Issue

    Gallup is out with a nationwide poll that asks this question: Do you favor or oppose hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” as a means of increasing the production of natural gas and oil in the U.S.? The headline that news organizations are reporting is that across all age groups and party affiliations, it’s a 40/40 split–40% favor fracking and 40% oppose it. If you dig a little deeper, you find this should be the real headline: Republicans favor fracking, Democrats oppose it. If you dig deeper still, you’ll find those who have grown a brain (50+ years old) are in favor of fracking, while inexperienced (and frankly dumber) young people oppose it. That about sums up the poll numbers (see them below). At least, those are the poll numbers shared by Gallup. They don’t bother to share the cross-tabs–the underlying details of the poll. We’d love to see it broken out by region–or by state. Did Gallup weight the poll with people from New England or California and under-represent places like Texas and North Dakota? We don’t know. Therefore we don’t know how truly reflective this poll is of “average” American opinion…
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    Majority of PA Voters DON’T Support a New Severance Tax Right Now

    The results of a recent poll conducted of PA voters, paid for by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, is (in our opinion) being misreported. The headlines, which all seem to quote a single story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, claim that a “majority” of PA voters support slapping a new tax on shale drillers. That’s not how we read the results…
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    Majority of “Scientists” Oppose Fracking, According to Pew Research

    A new survey out by the Pew Research Center says a majority of “scientists” have a negative view of fracking. The survey says 66% of “scientists” surveyed (that is, members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS) are against the use of fracking for oil and gas, while 31% are in favor of fracking. The same survey says 51% of American adults are against the use of fracking and 39% are in favor of it. The clear implication, the thing Pew and anti-drillers want you to take away from this, is that “scientists” are impartial and, frankly, smarter than the average person. And by gaw, if a scientist believes fracking is evil, you should too (you dope). The only problem is, what if the scientist is against fracking not because of the science, but because of a personal political/philosophical viewpoint? Is their opinion still “better” and “more worthy” and “more informed” than the average person’s?…
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    Report: PA’s Youth Not Impressed with Marcellus Industry

    A little over a week ago The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published the third report in a series of studies commissioned on the Marcellus Shale and its impact on the state (see New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools). The Center has just published a fourth report. Titled “Youth Perspectives on Marcellus Shale Gas Development: Community Change and Future Prospects” (full copy embedded below), the new report tackles the topic of youth attitudes toward the industry. In a quick pass, it seems PA’s youth are not all that impressed with the industry and what it has to offer them. They don’t like the traffic and noise and believe in some places shale drilling has detracted from the natural beauty of the countryside and harmed wildlife…
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    Poll: Majority of NYers Support Cuomo’s Frack Ban – Or Do They?

    Results of a new statewide poll for New York were released yesterday by Siena College. Siena provides one of the leading polls of political issues and politicians in the state. We’ve covered their polls many times. The media coverage of this latest poll is a meme that Siena themselves are pushing: there is “overwhelming support” for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ban on fracking in the state–both Upstate and Downstate. That’s the meme, that’s the template/narrative they want you to believe. However, when we look at the poll numbers, we find a lot that Andrew Cuomo should be VERY concerned about. For example, how does he launch a legitimate campaign for president when nearly half of all New Yorkers (40%) either have an “unfavorable” opinion or indicate they have “no opinion” of him? Nearly half! There’s no way you win a national election when the voters in your own state don’t like you. Let’s dig in to the numbers and see what the real story of this poll tells us…
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    Q Poll: Majority of New Yorkers Support Cuomo’s Frack Ban

    If we New Yorkers are ever to one day see shale drilling and fracking in the Empire State, we must face the truth squarely in the face. We must be willing to admit to ourselves what the facts are (relative to the PR war we are in) and move on from there. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted shortly after Gov. Cuomo’s ignominious decision to ban fracking throws a bucket of cold water in our collective faces and is a wake-up call for those of us who support drilling (which is the correct and righteous position on this issue). The poll, conducted statewide, shows that NY state voters approve of Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking by a margin of 55% to 25% who oppose his decision. Republicans, sadly, support his decision by 42% with 40% opposed, and Democrats are simply in lock-step mode (they don’t think for themselves anymore, too much hassle): they support the man-child’s decision by 67% to 11% against the decision. Not one single party, gender, age or regional group had a majority that disapproved of Cuomo’s decision to ban fracking. That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news…
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