EARTHblog

A Chesapeake Energy drilling rig working in Oklahoma hit a shallow pocket of gas on Thursday causing a blowout which burned the rig to the ground. Jim Gipson, Director - Media Relations for Chesapeake, told the media one story but told a concerned Denton citizen a completely different story. Both stories can't be true.

Surprise, surprise! You've been hoodwinked.

The gas produced in the Eagle Ford Shale has been singled out to be converted to LNG and exported, according to NGI's Shale Daily which is available only to subscribers (trial subscriptions are available).

Eagle Ford Production Targeted for LNG Export published by NGI's Shale Daily: December 19, 2011 The latest proposal by Cheniere Energy Inc. singles out the Eagle Ford Shale as a source of gas to be liquefied.

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Cheniere's Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC is developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at one of Cheniere's existing sites that was previously permitted for a regasification terminal. The site is in San Patricio County, TX. The Eagle Ford is about 60 miles northwest of Corpus Christi, Cheniere noted.

Last week I posted an analysis on Bluedaze of the recently released Global Insight report from IHS. The report paints a picture of “inflationary pressures which will rocket through the U.S. economy as a consequence of higher natural gas prices.” Exporting domestic natural gas will create more demand which will cause higher natural gas prices.

A particularly potent virus that first surfaced in Texas during the 1990s and spread to epidemic proportions in over thirty U.S. States has now become a worldwide pandemic.

The virus spreads person-to-person but there are cases where people in remote, isolated areas contract it with no exposure. Once you have contracted the virus, you will have it for life. Getting inoculated is the only protection.

The name for this virus, “Fracking Insurgency,” was made public for the first time on October 31, 2011. Audio of the announcement is available online.

As you know by now, the Big Gas Mafia held a much ballyhooed media/PR conference to get their fracking story straight to combat all the bad press and their failure to convince the American public that they can frack safely. I paid to attend that conference and wore my name badge the entire time.

Transparency was a big theme–hiding/spinning wrongdoings just escalates the public distrust. Yet here they are with the media equivalent of a spill — admissions that they’re using and encourage use of military tactics against American citizens. Yet, rather than owning it and admitting wrongdoing and addressing the problem they are instead trying to divert and obfuscate.

I've spent most of the day talking to reporters about the PSYOPS story that broke yesterday and has now gone viral. This is the most fun version of the story.

I'm not a good note taker which is why I thought I would record parts of the conference. After the first panel, I decided to record the entire thing.  And Matt Pitzarella of Range Resources and Matt Carmichael of Anadarko  got caught with their pants down -- recommending using military tactics on communities.

Their attempts to spin out of the mess they created has been tragicomic.

This past weekend,  The Texas Tribune, the nonprofit news site that enjoys a higher profile in the journalism world (than it would otherwise) thanks to its partnership with The New York Times, held a lecture-and-networking event on the University of Texas campus in Austin.

I was invited to appear on a panel after the showing of the documentary Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for an Energy Future.

I knew the film depicted natural gas drilling in the Haynesville Shale as an economic miracle for folks in north Louisiana and East Texas, with barely a mention of environmental health risks. I said yes, received an enthusiastic confirmation letter requesting my bio, which I sent in, a request to sign the “Talent Agreement,” and a list of the panel members.

When I choose a banker, I want one with enough savvy that he would never say the following:

“Call me naïve, but I’m inclined to trust the industry to be good stewards of this land until they prove me otherwise.”

Naïve? Nah, that’s a profound lack of judgment and ignorance of the historical abuses of the oil and gas industry.

Yesterday, just before I left to speak at the Dallas Drilling Task Force public meeting, I received an email from the ABCAlliance. The contents of that email changed what I planned to say to the task force.

Here's what I said: I am Sharon Wilson. I live at XXX. I lived for sixteen years in Wise County where fracking the Barnett Shale was born. I worked in the oil and gas industry for twelve years. I now work for EARTHWORKS' Oil and Gas Accountability Project. I work with the people who are impacted by natural gas extraction.

How many of you have read Flowback: How the Texas Natural Gas Boom Affects Health and Safety? [Shockingly, not many hands went up and my question was met with looks of bewilderment.] I hope all of you will read it because it documents what has happened to families and communities in the Barnett Shale. It includes letters of concern from scientists, doctors and toxicologists.

I planned to tell you some stories from Flowback. But just I received an email that changed my plan. I receive emails like this all the time. Here is What Happened Today in Argyle, Texas.

From the email: