Posted on 09/10/2014 12:48:45 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Who stands to benefit if Denton bans fracking?
Those behind the petition drive say it will benefit the Denton residents because they won’t have to worry about wells being fracked less than 300 feet away from their homes, which is what happened to several neighborhoods in South Denton.
Economist Ray Perryman said the result will be millions of dollars and jobs lost for Denton, costing the city up to $251.4 million over 10 years.
Being the oil capital of the country and one of top producers of oil and gas worldwide, the stakes will be high when Denton voters cast their ballot on Nov. 4.
It could lead other cities to follow suit.
But who else benefits?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his state-owned Gazprom Bank?
That’s what Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dated Sept. 8. He makes no specific mention of Denton’s petition drive or the upcoming referendum on fracking.
Instead Porter focuses on Gazprom’s hiring of two former U.S. senators, Trent Lott, R-Miss., and John Breaux, D-La., as lobbyists. This occurred despite Gazprom being under U.S. sanctions for Russia’s alleged role in shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which killed 283 people, Porter said.
“I am greatly concerned that a blacklisted, government-owned Russian bank is able to continue its campaign to weaken the American oil and gas industry and to hire two former United States senators to exert pressure on American policymakers,” Porter wrote in his letter.
He goes on to say that Gazprom has paid public relations firms such as Ketchum millions of dollars damage the natural gas industry in Europe and America.
“It is reasonable to assume that their intention is to increase their market share of natural gas production and distribution as Russia is the second largest producer of natural gas in the world,” Porter said.
America is the number one producer, in part because of hydraulic fracking techniques that debuted in the Barnett Shale. And Texas produces one third of U.S. natural gas, which makes this personal for Porter and the Texas Railroad Commission.
Russia has an agenda, Porter said, to fund anti-fracking efforts, support environmental groups and place misinformation in the public, including the Gasland films, which he called deceitful.
“Gazprom’s effort, with the assistance of the Kremlin and Ketchum, has already resulted in the ban of hydraulic fracturing in many EU countries, and now, they have their sights set on the U.S.,” Porter said.
He called on Kerry to close the loopholes in the U.S. sanctions that allow Gazprom to interfere in U.S. policy and politics.
Fellow Texas Railroad Commission Barry Smitherman did raise the question of whether Russia’s influence was behind the movement in Denton.
In a letter to the Denton City Council in July, Smitherman said the secretary general of NATO accused Russia of working with environmental groups to ban fracking, increasing Europe’s dependence on imports from Russia.
“It would therefore appear that not all efforts to ban hydraulic fracturing are grounded in environmental concerns,” Smitherman wrote. “With this in mind, I trust you all will determine whether funding and manpower behind this effort to ban hydraulic fracturing in Denton is coming from out-of-state sources or from those who would profit from the imposition of such a ban.”
The effort has gotten support from national environmental groups and left-leaning political groups such as Move On who would have made it clear they want to have a victory in Texas.
At a marathon Denton City Council meeting in July, several supporters of the frack ban laughed at the idea that Russia could be behind their grassroots effort.
Many energy experts say the U.S. should move quickly to increase exports of natural gas so countries have alternative sources, especially in the winter. But building export facilities to liquefy natural gas so it can be shipped overseas costs billions of dollars and requires lengthy federal review.
The Dallas Business Journal has reached out to Porter seeking clarification on whether he thinks Moscow is directly involved in Denton politics and what proof exists.
Check back for updates.
That's not what I said, as far as foreigners trying to undermine America's competitiveness, it's not JUST Putin, and ALWAYS IS Obama. Focus there.
And yeah, Obama is a foreigner.
Putin’s authoritarian government owns and runs the entire Russian energy sector, as well as all banking and most media. Conversely, the US energy sector, banks and most media are not run by the government. Putin’s Russia is far more fascist than the USA. Obama only wishes he had the kind of control over the US economy as Putin has over Russia’s.
What are the 5 biggest differences between National Socialism and Putin's Socialism?
You’re gettin’ into horse manure territory now, Todd.
Why won’t a single Putinista answer that question?
Because Putin is on a mission from God, and against the EU, Barack Obama, George Soros, and the Nazis.
That was in June, but in July I see several article talking about more bans.
http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/analysis/germanys-angst-hydraulic-fracturing-emissions-reduction-targets/
JULY 14, 2014
Last week, Germany’s energy and environment ministers announced that they were considering a ban on shale oil and gas drilling. Barbara Hendricks, minister for the environment, went so far as to say that these would be the “strictest regulations [Germany has] ever set” and that “there will be no fracking for economic purposes in Germany in the near future.”
http://online.wsj.com/articles/germany-bans-fracking-1404763231
July 8, 2014
“There will be no fracking for economic purposes in Germany in the near future,” German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks announced at a press conference on Friday. Under her proposal, developed jointly with fellow Social Democrat and Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel, most forms of hydraulic fracking—the process of extracting gas by injecting water and sand mixed with a small amount of chemical additives into rocks deep underground—will be prohibited until 2021.
http://www.realclearenergy.org/charticles/2014/07/10/germany_indsutry_headed_for_no-growth_107899.html
July 10, 2014
Fracking has cut gas prices in half in this country while the German government has just decided to ban the technology at least until 2021.
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