The Blog

The following excerpt is from an article written by Mireya Navarroof the New York Times and published on June 11, 2012.

INSTITUTE'S GAS DRILLING REPORT LEADS TO CLAIMS OF BIAS AND CONCERN FOR A UNIVERSITY'S IMAGE

A report from a new institute at the State University at Buffalo asserting that state oversight has made natural gas drilling safer is causing tumult on campus and beyond, with critics arguing that the institute is biased toward industry and could undercut the university’s reputation.

The study, issued on May 15, said that state regulation in Pennsylvania had made drilling there far safer and that New York rules were even more likely to ensure safety once drilling gets under way in the state.

A People's Hearing on Fracking was a success on June 2 as many concerned citizens attended the event and offered remarks on hydrofracking at the Burchfield Penny Art Center on the Buffalo State campus.  The speakers provided science-based information on hydrofracking, including Chip Northup, a Texan against fracking in New York, who gave ArtVoice an interview.

A People's Hearing on Fracking brought national, state & local fracking groups together to share information, actively engaged neighbors and elected officials, brought cultural and environmental communities together, provided citizens a chance to participate in clean water activism, and gave Western New York a collective public voice on fracking.

OPINION / COMMENTARY

Reprinted with permission from Re-ENERGIZE BUFFALO for "All things GREEN: Energy, Environment and Economy"

The University at Buffalo (UB) has now entered into the controversial area of unconventional shale-gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing ('fracking') by sponsoring a newly-created "Shale Resources and Society Institute" (SRSI).

Last week, SRSI released their first study, which is entitled "Environmental Impacts During Shale Gas Drilling: Causes, Impacts and Remedies".  The authors stated strong conclusions, which were included in a UB news release (May 15, 2012), and subsequently made for some sensational newspaper headlines.  However, others who have since examined the study indicated that the authors' conclusions are biased and not supported by the data (see below).

And that's not all.   Initial examination of the background of the study's authors indicated close ties with the gas drilling industry.  Also, the UB news release claim that the report was "peer-reviewed" was incorrect.  Subsequently, UB retracted that claim in a revised press release.  Then one of the so-called peer-reviewers distanced himself from the SRSI study.  Finally, the authors did not disclose their funding sources.  All of these issues made shale gas and fracking sensitive topics at UB, as documented in a post last week.

The following excerpt is from an article written by Buck Quigley of ArtVoice and published on May 31, 2012.

Why is This Texan Against Fracking New York?

James "Chip" Northrup

He looks like the kind of guy you’d get from central casting if you were trying to make a Western movie.  A long, tall Texan with pioneer roots and the drawl to match, you quickly get the sense that while he believes in fairness, he is not an hombre to mess with.  Then again, it’s not every cowboy who spends his younger days getting degrees from Southern Methodist University and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  No, this dude didn’t spend windswept nights out on the range, yodeling around the campfire and tending cattle.

Like many successful Texas businessmen, James “Chip” Northrup spent a lot of time heavily involved in the fossil-fuel industry from 1986 to 2006.  He currently winters in Dallas, but spends summers in Cooperstown, New York.  That’s why his thoughts on the issue of high-volume, deep-well horizontal hydraulic fracturing as a way to tap natural gas in New York State carry weight.  Artvoice caught up with him at his home in the Lone Star State.