Truthland, Refreshments, & Did I Mention Police?
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA-NY) has recently been taking Truthland out for screening in some of the far reaches of upstate and western New York. EID Marcellus was there for a showing of the movie at Buffalo State College. It was a private event and there was no connection with the school except for the location, a point made clear from the very beginning by moderator Cherie Messore. The event turned out members of the press who, I must add, did an excellent job covering it.
There was, unfortunately, also a crowd of natural gas opponents, bent on disruption, who were equipped with signs and postcards handed out at the entrance of the building by anti-energy activists. Just prior to the screening there was, for example, an altercation in the parking lot outside the building that required a police presence. Sadly, none of the articles regarding the events of the night, as good as most were, covered the reason why security was called in the first place. Or, maybe it just wasn’t covered because the whole episode served as an indictment of the tactics of these activists, which, on this evening, consisted solely of self-righteous acts of disruption – attempts to shut off debate rather than have an intelligent discussion. They put on something of a show but it surely didn’t help their cause with thinking individuals anxious to sort out the truth.
The “Man in the Tweed Jacket”
- The Man With the Tweed Jacket
Unfortunately, I was not in the parking lot during the altercation. I was, nonetheless, approached by police who asked me to assist them in locating a man wearing a tan tweed jacket. Visions of Agatha Christie, Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes mystery novels danced in my head with that one!
It turns a fellow by the name of Jim Holstun (pictured to the right) was the man they were looking for regarding the parking lot incident. Now, if you didn’t have the picture, you could be pardoned for expecting a parking lot altercation demanding a police presence probably involved a freshman student. Nope. Jim Holstun is a professor at the University of Buffalo where he is a professor in the undergraduate English department. I’m sure that’s not much of a shock to many of our readers, but it’s disturbing all the same.
Holstun lists his main interests on the University website: “neocolonialism and world literature, global communism and radicalism, feminism and marxism.” He also maintains this interesting webpage where he opines as follows (emphasis added):
My work is marxist, and I think marxist theory and political practice are more relevant now than ever, given the global dominance of the capitalist mode of production and American imperialism. During the last decade or so, I’ve moved from a new historicist approach based in post-structuralist theory to a marxist history-from-below approach based in the British marxist historians, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ernst Bloch, among others. This approach argues that theoretical consciousness is by no means the monopoly of professors, but is to be found at work in human activity as such, even (or especially) among exploited workers.
I certainly agree Jim Holstun is “theoretically conscious.” We share that opinion at least. His actions in the parking lot also tell us a lot about who he is and, sadly, it’s consistent with what he advertises. The following video where he squanders his opportunity to get answers by harrassing, interrupting and pouting over the remarks of an incredibly patient Dennis Holbrook from Norse Energy, indicate Holsun isn’t happy unless he’s disrupting because that happens to also be his world view.
Patiently Waiting for Real Questions
- Buffalo Panelists
It was clear some members of the audience were not happy with how Truthland takes a complex technology and issue and presents it in a way everyone can understand. If anyone is unhappy with the way Truthland explains the complex issue of hydraulic fracturing, then they ought to come to the screenings and ask our panelists questions. That’s the point and there’s no better opportunity.
The Buffalo screening panel was made up of Scott Cline, Dennis Holbrook and John Holko. Together these panelists have over 100 years experience in the industry and were more than happy to answer all questions regarding hydraulic fracturing. Instead, much of their time was wasted with questions such “How do you sleep at night?” This is intellectual debate? Where is the intelligent discourse one would hope to find on a college campus? Well, it apparently went out the window in a gust of self-righteous fervor by some individuals who think the only voice that should be heard in any debate is their own.
Truthland took a complex and controversial issue and made it easier to digest. Nevertheless, it sucked all the emotional hot air out of the Josh Fox filled Gasland balloon. It appears, in fact, some the activists who attended the Buffalo screening were simply upset the facts and the science don’t support the false arguments they’ve been making. They closed both their eyes and ears to what was being said because they “couldn’t handle the truth.”
One individual, for example, came to the front of the room and asked why the movie didn’t touch on the subject of methane migration, oblivious to the appearance of Dimock resident Loren Salsman at 23:33 clearly talking about methane migration issues and how the problem was fixed. There were other discussions of the issue in the movie but those were apparently missed by this viewer, who must have been preparing his remarks, such as they were, instead of concentrating on the message of Truthland. Perhaps Truthland needs to be “dumbed down” for parts of academia.
In My Backyard
Another pressing issue for the Buffalo anti-energy activists was whether or not the panelists present actually lived in shale gas development areas. You can find Dennis Holbrook’s answer to this question below. If any evidence were needed that emotions and politics drive so much of the natural gas opposition, this is it. One wonders what they thought after hearing Holbrook’s response.
How To Spin The Media
Many of you who follow our blog know I’ve been with the EID Marcellus team for just over two months now. During the Buffalo screening I was asked “Does Energy in Depth give industry presentations on how to spin the media?” I was confused on what the man was talking about as I had never been to such a “presentation,” so I made a note and later asked my colleagues about it. They directed me to an online powerpoint given by Chris Tucker.
Going slide by slide I don’t understand where Energy in Depth shows how to “spin the media” at any point. Slide 13 and those following do illustrate how the Park Foundation goes about spinning the media by donating from their deep, deep pockets and paying for studies to fit their agenda, but that is nothing more than exposing their work to the light of day. Who is threatened by that? Well, we know, don’t we and we also can’t help but notice how the opposition goes apoplectic every time we challenge their sugar daddy.
Slide 17 shows how, through donations, the Park Foundation is able to produce “studies” questioning the development of natural gas (e.g., this headline from the Philadelphia Inquirer – “Duke study finds methane in well water near fracking sites”). This is just one example of what a donation from the Park Foundation produces.
Anyone with a high school reading level can see, on Slide 19, how the industry has worked with non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) to come up with solutions to improve the process of hydraulic fracturing. If anti-gas activists think the process of hydraulic fracturing is so bad, wouldn’t it be beneficial for them to do the same, pool their efforts and come up with solutions and ways to make the process better? Instead, they seem to think their time is better used at a microphone asking guilt-assuming questions along the lines of “how do you sleep at night?”. Surely, they could do better, but that would require serious engagement and intellectual honesty, which were in short supply at Buffalo.
We always encourage people to come out to our screenings to gain new knowledge about hydraulic fracturing. We want tough questions and that’s why we bring in experts who can answer them. All we ask is some elementary respect of the kind most of us learned in kindergarten. No screening should require the police, after all. For more information on future screenings visit www.truthlandmovie.com. And, be on the lookout for that “man in the tweed jacket.” He’s looking for a fight.
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You are delusional!
So much for our request for serious debate.
Holko is as smug as he was back in 2009 in Rock Hill, New York at the dog and pony show but he still looks good after three years of lobbying which is more than one can say for other gas lobbyists.
See video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDYmtdFTdvM&feature=relmfu
Hey, is that Mike Joy up on the podium too?
Be well.
Michael was not on the podium and John is not a lobbyist. He’s an owner risking his capital on an enterprise that, as a side benefit, is making America’s dream of energy independence a reality, providing real jobs and offering inexpensive energy to the communities where he operates. I doubt you’d understand any of that, but maybe. You at least recognized John is as fit and fiesty as he ever was and that’s why he’s a hero to all of us.
Have you ever argued Tom with someone who knew that blue was red even as they bled ?
You can’t have a civil debate with a group of people who went to civil disobediance training it wont happen !
I am right you are wrong
I don’t care if you saw me run that light officer no one else did so I didn’t
I have a degree, I know It all and I am right !
The truth is well hidden behind emotion and emotion only feeds on a crowd.
Drilling will come but it would come faster if we quit supplying gas to the customers this winter.
Take away the argument to win the debate !
Time and time again we see attacks based solely on emotion – completely devoid of any sort of facts, reasonable concerns, or scientific merit. In their minds, GAS DRILLING BAD, and anything that can be used to slander it is fair game. It’s no surprise to find liberal elitists casually disregarding ethics when they believe that the ends justify the means.
http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Neighbor-says-Truthland-star-should-have-talked-to-her,175837
I had missed this article from July, but found it with a web search for truthland. The biogenic vs thermogenic methane distinction is false in regard to the question”is that methane in your well natually occuring”? Any well bore can provide a conduit for gas at various depths, whether it be biogenic gas closer to the surface, or biogenic or thermogenic gas at any layer father down. In fact, did you know that there is such a thing as biogenic shale gas? Cement shrinks and ALL cement casing will eventually fail. In fact, the failure rate is about 5% the first year. And it doesn’t really help to add more and more cement casing, because the cement on the outside of the outermost casing is always going to be prone to problems. When you see pictures of methane bubbling in creeks after gas operations near by, do you think that the methane bubbles are limited to the creeks? Methane is leaking in the woods and fields as well. Best practices, eben when applied, will never control all of this. The industry doesn’t own up to the problems they create.
You are talking about a neighbor whose well is 1.5 miles away, whose water well has been repeatedly flooded, whose problem is likely a mechanical issue and who refuses all help.
Simply because the well is 1.5 miles away does not prevent methane and the proprietary chemicals from infiltrating natural waterways and our drinking water. Your speculation as to whether the problem is “a mechanical issue” is invalid – as these problems arise in the course of drilling no matter what precautions are taken. Methane, benzene, and other carcinogenic ingredients pollute our water and there is no way around this.
“These problems arise in the course of drilling no matter what precautions are taken. Methane, benzene, and other carcinogenic ingredients pollute our water and there is no way around this.” – are you kidding? How about some facts instead of a series of unfounded assertions?
Fact: The hydraulic fracturing process pumps carcinogenic chemicals directly into the ground.
Fact: Drinking water is in the ground.
My two year old niece is smart enough not to pee in her own glass of water.
It’s a mile and half deep and the water table is only 1,000 feet at best, Marshall. Enough with your wild accusations. Produce one solid facr supporting your assertion.
Last week a photo was going around “online” from people of the NYRAD mentality, Using fear it showed a picture of an arm belonging to a young women with a rash from the elbow to the shoulder. as a parent I have seen that rash many times on myself, my children and others. seeing how it was in the upper 90′s it appeared to me and even though I am no doctor, a simple heat rash. Yet this photo had a caption that read Every time my daughter takes a shower she gets this rash. we live by a fracked well.
If these stories had a ring of truth in them they would be front and center on our TV News Channels, but there not true and not in the news. These stories and photo’s of a heat rash are just more fear propaganda meant to drum up a following. Like the claim made by the brown water jug totters from Dimock PA about how his wife and kids passed out during showers 4 years ago but yet they have chosen to remain and live in this so called environmental waste dump, even as of today makes me wonder how anyone can fall for the misrepresentation of these litigants looking to cash in on a frivolous law suit.
If you are putting forth the argument we can rely on the truth of media for all our our information, you are terribly mistaken. Please have the dignity and self-belief to find your own facts rather than relying on the media. These folks shouldn’t be forced to move or “remain and live his this so called … waste dump” because the oil and gas industry has plagued their land with contaminated water. As for a frivolous law suit, please reference the Clean Water Act before you jabber.
There is no plague of contamination – that’s the point.
I’m very confused. What solutions do the activists have to recovering this natural energy source? They profess to be “highly educated” and some are college professors. What is there solution to getting off foreign oil? Developing this natural energy source is cleaner than coal and keeps billions of dollars in this country and can be a tremendous boom to our economy but I don’t hear what there answer is other than shut it down. Doesn’t seem like a solution to me.
DUH.. Solar and Wind energy for starters! I guess your the sort of man who would inject anything into your children if you thought you’d make a buck on it! I have met many like you. Sad really. Some things don’t need answers…some things are just wrong. Like pumping unknown chemicals near watersheds. Some things need to be left just where they are until things are mmmmmm let’s just say regulated by our most important environmental policies to start? You are not fully comprehending the opposition. Check out what environmental policies H.V.H.H.F. is exempt from. That should scare you.
Some things don’t need answers? That says it all about your approach, doesn’t it?
I think the answers are in the industry’s lack of transparency with the chemicals they pump directly into the ground. There is no room for debate as to whether these proprietary chemicals contain, at least, benzene, a known carcinogen, as well as other extremely harmful chemicals.
Please see FracFocus.org and also realize there are hundreds of sources of benzene.
That is not justification for pumping it into our drinking water. By your logic, since there are hundreds of sources of radioactive waste, one should presume it’s safe to consume.
Prove someone is “pumping it into our drinking water,” Marshall. That isn’t happening and you know it.
Worst FRACKING film ever! I was on the fence till I saw this lunatic!
By lunatic, I assume you are referring to Jim Holstun?
Well done, Dennis!