Barnett Shale money has permeated every level of our cities, counties and state and left the public impaired, unable to discern the peril in their daily lives According to Learning to Love Big Gas, infusions of Big Gas Cash include but are not limited to:
- The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau (Chesapeake Energy)
- The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (XTO Energy, Devon Energy, Enron Oil & Gas, Exxon Mobil, Encana Oil & Gas, etc.)
- The Fort Worth Independent School District (Quicksilver, Chesapeake, etc.)
- Texas Christian University (Chesapeake)
- The Botanical Research Institute of Texas (Chesapeake)
- Mayfest (Chesapeake)
- United Way of Tarrant County (Chesapeake)
- The Fort Worth Zoo (Chesapeake)
The Big Takeover is complete!
Many of these organizations violate their own mission statements by accepting such money. They moan about the economy and the challenges of fund raising and then point to the good work they do. All of them have wide-ranging influence in the community. And that’s the problem. When corporations push their money across the boardroom tables, what they’re buying is silence – and it’s deafening. Lips remain sealed that need to speak up. Facts that deserve telling go untold. Conflicts of interest go unreported. Filling board chairs with gas drilling executives ensures that conflicts of interest are kept quiet. You need look no further than city hall to see how much silence can be bought with dirty dollars.
The most outrageous example is the Fort Worth Public Library that now has a display showing a pristine model of a Chesapeake Energy drilling operation. Missing from the display are the deadly chemical spills and the dead cattle, the fires and explosions, the disposal wells and associated contamination, the landfarms, the earthquakes, the flaring and venting, the blowouts that force people to leave their homes, the increased air pollution and water contamination, the noise and…well I could go on and on…
The display is a lie! And the library in Fort Worth that is supposed to be about educating people is guilty of supporting that lie.
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.
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this is an important post, and it links to an important article revealing exactly how the gas industry is eroding democracy in the guise of benevolence, while really they're buying guarantees to their own corrupt brand of outlaw freedom!
what makes this information so vital is that this is not just happening in fort worth or in texas. it's being repeated here in bradford county, pa on the marcellus shale. the 'benefactors' seem quite pleased, but what they're giving away is everyone's america… or what's left of it once the drillers buy it out from under us.
This bribery money is cheap for them. Why, they spill more than that before they get to the second course!! And you're correct, O&G is taking over our country! What is it going to take to fix it?
I've noticed that Chesapeake's environmental record is approaching the level of Encana's. They will need lots more PR and bribery $$$$$.