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Response to my fracking op ed in the Statesman

By

Dear Readers,

I hope you are as entertained by this as I am.

Fracking

Re: Aug. 12 commentary, “Why fracking is not as safe as you think.”

It is one thing for a newspaper like the Statesman to print various viewpoints on important subjects of the day. This is, after all, what op-ed pages are for. It seems quite another thing for a newspaper to print the half-truths and outright falsehoods spread by well-known radical activists like Sharon Wilson without informing the readers of exactly who she is.

Wilson has, for those unaware, been a tool in North Texas for an anti-development group that calls itself “OGAP,” the Oil & Gas Accountability Project. To OGAP, the word “accountability” basically means that you don’t drill for oil or natural gas anywhere, anytime, because their clear goal is to shut down the single largest prosperity-driving industry in the state of Texas.

David Blackmon
Managing Director
Strategic Communications Group
Houston
SOURCE

I’m trying to boil Blackmon’s complaints down to the bone. If we wade through the ad hominem attacks, he does not dispute anything of substance despite his statement about “half-truths and outright falsehoods.” Okay, so what are they exactly? Maybe he forgot to address those because there aren’t any.

The other complaint seems to be that the Statesman did not tell people who I am. Only they did.

Quid pro quo

To quote Caterpiller in Alice in Wonderland: “Who are you?”

Thanks to Frackorporation we can answer Caterpiller’s question about David Blackmon. See: Energy-in-Depth (EID): The “GAS”roots AND
Diagram: Energy-In-Depth: The “Dots”

David Blackmon
Date added:July 5, 2012
Submission Type:New Hire
Current employer:FTI Consulting, Inc.
Current title/position:Managing Director
Industry:Energy
Position level:Director
Previous Employer:El Paso Corp.
Previous title/position:Director of Government Affairs
Duties/responsibilities:David Blackmon has joined the Energy & Natural Resources team of FTI Consulting as a Managing Director in the firm’s Houston office. David brings more than 30 years of experience in the energy business, deep government and public affairs expertise, and diverse project management experience. David will also be the first member of FTI’s Strategic Communications team in the Houston office.
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/potmsearch/detail/submission/904271/David_Blackmon

But Caterpiller asks again: “Who are you?”

FTI consulting “DOT”.  FTI Consulting essentially runs EID.
http://www.fticonsulting.com/global2/professionals/david-blackmon.aspx

David Blackmon
Managing Director

Tel: (I’m nicer than they are so I won’t list their phone number and email.)
Fax:
Email:
David Blackmon is a managing director in the FTI Consulting Strategic Communications practice and is based in Houston.
Experience

Throughout his 33 year career in the oil and gas industry, Mr. Blackmon has led industry-wide efforts to develop and implement strategies to address key issues at the local, state and federal level.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting in 2012, Mr. Blackmon served for five years as Director of Government Affairs for EP Energy, LLC.

Prior to joining El Paso, Mr. Blackmon was Manager for Shell E&P North America’s internal and external communications.  Before Shell, he was at Burlington Resources for 18 years where he became their Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs. He has also had previous stops at companies like Tesoro Petroleum, Hughes Texas Petroleum Ltd, and Coastal States Oil and Gas Co.

Maybe Mr. Blackmon chats with Brian Kennedy

Brian Kennedy
Senior Managing Director
Tel:
Fax:
Email:

http://www.fticonsulting.com/global2/professionals/brian-kennedy.aspx

Since joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Kennedy has played a key role in developing comprehensive communications programs for clients such as Shell Oil Company, Halliburton, Range Resources and the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

Kennedy, Brian  Communications Director former Rep. Richard Pombo R-CA  http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-new-power-players-20101115
Kennedy, Brian  Energy In Depth (EID)   Press Contact   http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Energy_in_Depth#Personnel
Kennedy, Brian  FD Americas Public Affairs      Senior Managing Director        http://www.fd.com/en/homepage/PeopleProfile.aspx?UserID=4351ce8d-92f0-4e2a-b679-bfe13871cf79    Senior Managing Director in FD Americas’ Public Affairs Practice and the Energy Sector Leader.
Kennedy, Brian  FTI Consulting  Senior Managing Director – Strategic Communications     http://www.fticonsulting-fr.com/global/professionals/brian-kennedy.aspx Senior Managing Director in FD Americas’ Public Affairs Practice and the Energy Sector Leader.
Kennedy, Brian  House Of Representatives        ex-House Committee on Natural Resources aides   http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Responsible_Resources#Personnel
Kennedy, Brian  Institute for Energy Research   Co-Founder – DC Office  http://www.fticonsulting-fr.com/global/professionals/brian-kennedy.aspx co-founder of the Washington, D.C. office of the Institute for Energy Research, a not-for-profit think tank.
Kennedy, Brian  Staff   John Boehner    http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-new-power-players-20101115
Kennedy, Brian  former Rep. Richard Pombo R-CA  Communications Director http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-new-power-players-20101115

There’s more… It’s a sinkhole.

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

Comments

  1. Dory says

    WHOOO-HOOO….
    “Of course it is,’ said the Duchess, who seemed ready to agree to everything
    that Alice said; ‘there’s a large mustard-mine near here. And the moral
    of that is– “The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.”
    ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

  3. Judy Muskauski says

    WOW!!!!! This was a real eye opener and LOVE the info and links. You ladies make an unstoppable and extremely compatibal team~!!!

  4. Robert Finne says

    David Blackmon also occupies a seat on the board of the Consumer Energy Alliance. An AstroTurf group that shills for any oil or gas company that can afford the price of admission.

    “According to Salon.com, which obtained over 300 emails of personal messages between lobbyists and Canadian officials, the CEA is part of a sophisticated public affairs strategy designed to manipulate the U.S. political system by deluging the media with messaging favorable to the tar-sands industry; to persuade key state and federal legislators to act in the extractive industries’ favor; and to defeat any attempt to regulate the carbon emissions emanating from gasoline and diesel used by U.S. vehicles.”

    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Consumer_Energy_Alliance

  5. DEB says

    I get it! It’s do as I say and not as I do.

    I don’t see you hiding behind any curtains, but “OOPSIES”, Mr. Blackmon sure doesn’t disclose his ties.

    Shame, shame, shame on him.

  6. Dory says

    Let’s play some more CONNECT THE DOTS 🙂

    Consumer Energy Alliance
    HBW Resources
    Energy Industry Front Group
    http://www.desmogblog.com/consumer-energy-alliance-front-group-exposed-tyee-and-salon
    The CEA was created in the late 2000s by Michael Whatley, a founding partner of a Washington, D.C.-based Republican lobbying group HBW Resources that has close ties to the Alberta, Canada tar sands industry

    Secure Our Fuels
    Consumer Energy Alliance
    Energy Industry Front Group
    http://www.secureourfuels.org/running-on-empty/

    Secure Our Fuels
    Dittus Communications
    Domain Owner
    http://www.whois.com/whois/secureourfuels.org

    *****>>>>>Dittus Communications is owned by FTI Consulting….. <<<<<*****

    Whatley, Michael
    Consumer Energy Alliance
    Executive Vice President
    http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelwhatley/

    Whatley, Michael
    Secure Our Fuels
    Policy Contact
    http://www.secureourfuels.org/contact/

    Whatley, Michael
    Townhall.com
    Columnist http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelwhatley/
    Michael Whatley is Executive Vice President of the Consumer Energy Alliance. Previously, Mr. Whatley served as the Chief of Staff for Senator Elizabeth Dole; Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of Energy, and Counsel to the Senate Republican Conference. Mr. Whatley also served as a Senior Policy Coordinator and Counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign and transition teams. Prior to his public service in Washington, Mr. Whatley served as a law clerk for the Honorable Robert D. Potter, Senior United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. He holds a JD and Masters Degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters Degree in Religion from Wake Forest University and a Bachelors Degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

      • Dory says

        deeper than hell, actually…. and more tangled… imagine taking 30 kittys, get them high on catnip, toss them into a yarn shop overnight. In the morning, start trying to untangle the yarn and you’ll have an idea how “connected” – and this is just a tiny part, because there is also the Wall Street connections via loans and investments etc.

        • TXsharon says

          I have a new book: Big Oil & Their Bankers… It’s not a new book and I bought it for a specific purpose but still it is interesting.

  7. Anonymous says

    From what I know this dude Blackmon is a bad dude indeed. After all, he was trained in one of the industry’s best cess pools, Burlington, now owned by COP.

  8. luc says

    U.S. oil production dropped in the 90s and the U.S. created 23 million new jobs at the same time.

    Associated Press “Seasonally adjusted U.S. oil production dropped steadily from February 1986 until three years ago. But starting in March 1986, inflation-adjusted gas prices fell below the $2-a-gallon mark and stayed there for most of the rest of the 1980s and 1990s.”