Next Frontier in Natural Gas Wars: Psy Ops

By Kate Sheppard
Natural gas extractors want to use counterinsurgency tactics to deal with these ladies. Adrian Kinloch/Flickr

It's one thing to say that Pennsylvania has become a battleground in the debate over natural gas extraction. But it's quite another to actually endorse and employ counterinsurgency tactics to fight opponents of hydraulic fracturing, the controversial process used to extract the gas from the ground. But that appears to be exactly what industry insiders called for at a recent conference.

CNBC, which obtained the audio from the event, has the report. In the audio files, recorded by an environmental campaigner from Earthworks, one industry insider suggests that those who oppose gas drilling constitute an "insurgency." Another advocates hiring former military psychological operations specialists to handle local populations.

Here's the direct quote from Range Resources communications director Matt Pitzarella, from a from session titled "Designing a Media Relations Strategy To Overcome Concerns Surrounding Hydraulic Fracturing":

"We have several former psy ops folks that work for us at Range because they're very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments," Pitzarella said. "Really all they do is spend most of their time helping folks develop local ordinances and things like that. But very much having that understanding of psy ops in the Army and in the Middle East has applied very helpfully here for us in Pennsylvania."

And here's Matt Carmichael, the manager of external affairs for Anadarko Petroleum:

"Download the U.S. Army-slash-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual, because we are dealing with an insurgency," Carmichael said. "There's a lot of good lessons in there and coming from a military background, I found the insight in that extremely remarkable."

...MORE HERE...

PEAK SHALE GAS - UK Fracking Firm Admits They Are Causing Earthquakes

According to Business Insider,

Following seismic tremors in North-West England this Spring, the firm exploring for natural shale gas in the region has admitted that the disturbances were caused by the controversial exploration process of fracking. Fracking involves cracking or fracturing rock, containing trapped shale gas, by using pressurized liquid. Shale gas is an increasingly important energy resource though there have been claims that it is worse for the environment than coal, largely due to the fracking process. [source BUSINESS INSIDER]

if I'm reading between the lines correctly, does this mean that WE HAVE REACHED PEAK SHALE GAS in the west in that the Fracking Process used to extract it is TOO DAMNED DANGEROUS as well as too expensive to be OF ANY VIABLE USE TO ANYONE (though this doesn't affect the gold extraction process which poisons third world countries where it is mined)?

Time to face reality, idiocracy, there's a big round electromagnetic Sun up there that wants to give us INEXAUSTIBLE ENERGY for millennia.

Accept this fact and Free Energy is ours for this Free Planet to truly benefit from.

'Frack Off!' 500 ft high Banner Drop Off Blackpool Tower

Uploaded by youandifilms on 12 Aug 2011

'Frack Off!' 500 ft high Banner Drop Off Blackpool Tower

Early Saturday morning (6th August 2011) anti-fracking [1] campaigners climbed 500 feet to hang two banners [2] from the iconic Blackpool Tower raising awareness about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas spreading to the UK. After successfully hanging the banners, the two climbers were sprayed with a pressure washer by Blackpool Tower workers while they were hundreds of feet above the ground. Both protesters were arrested when they descended.

Blackpool Tower is five miles east of the first fracking test well in the UK. The group is highlighting the issue and launch of an anti-fracking campaign centred around the website frack-off.org

Nathan Roberts, one of the climbers, said "There are so many things wrong with this unconventional method of gas extraction, it's hard to know where to start! It has been linked with poisoned water supplies, earthquakes, leaking gas and even radioactive contamination - and that's before you even get to the effect it will have on the climate. It's unbelievable that they think they can get away with it. We can't let this happen."

Sami Jones, another climber, said "We hear a lot about energy shortages, but really we need to be investing in researching sustainable energy sources, rather than finding tiny pockets of non-renewable gas and destroying our planet in order to get to them."

He continued, "The UK fracking industry is in its infancy. We must act now if we are to stop it in its tracks. It's bad for Lancashire, it's bad for the UK and it's bad for the planet."

Cuadrilla Resources [3] have been forced to temporarily suspend their exploratory test site at Preese Hall test well [4], near Blackpool following the outcry over two earthquakes in the vicinity. France, the states of New York and New Jersey, the Canadian province of Quebec and the Swiss canton of Fribourg have all recently banned fracking. Fracking needs to be banned in the UK.

For comments Media@frack-off.org

For more information go to http://www.frack-off.org

Notes to Journalist:

[1] Hydraulic Fracturing (or 'fracking') is a method used to free otherwise inaccessible gas trapped in rock. Wells are drilled and 'fracking fluid,' consisting of millions of gallons of water, sand and a toxic cocktail of patented chemicals, is injected into the rock under high pressure to crack it. Some of these chemicals are known carcinogens and many are never recovered (1.usa.gov/​ftCV8J).

Fracking fluid also leaches radioactive elements and toxic chemicals like arsenic out of the rocks making disposing of the fluid a big problem. Fracking in the United States has already resulted in numerous spills of these fluids. Contaminated irrigation water could affect food supplies. Geologists have found a correlation between earthquakes and Fracking (sott.net/​articles/​show/​ 232634-US-Fracking-Operations-Cause-Thousands-of-Earthquakes-in-Arkansas).[2] The banner reads "FRACKING IS COMING TO THE UK. WE CAN STOP IT. WWW.FRACK-OFF.ORG".

[3] Cuadrilla is a Shale Gas Exploration & Production Company (cuadrillaresources.com)

[4] Preese Hall Test Well 'is the second earthquake to strike Lancashire since April, and experts say it may be a result of the controversial practice, a process of drilling for natural shale gas which involves injecting water and rock-dissolving fluids underground at extremely high pressure to break apart hard shale rocks and release gas.Cuadrilla Resources, the company carrying out the fracking at Preese Hall, Weeton, close to the Fylde coast, said it had suspended operations to examine data collected by the British Geological Survey before deciding whether it was safe to resume. Neither quake was large enough to cause any structural damage' (guardian.co.uk/​uk/​2011/​jun/​01/​ blackpool-earthquake-tremors-gas-drilling)

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