George P. Ahearn, Phd
Co-founder and Former President and CEO
GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc.…
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The Southwest Florida Conservancy is wrongly engaged in fracking politics and George Ahearn takes them to task for a scare tactic Naples Daily News op-ed.
The President and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Rob Moher, wrote to the Naples Daily News on February 12 to again strike fear into our citizens about the urgency of a fracking ban bill. He accompanied his op-ed with a litany of imagined risks of the process and damages to our ecosystem and fresh water supply that has never occurred over its years of use.
Moher stands by as we dump oceans of nutrient laden fresh water into the Gulf each year, irrigate thousands of golf courses in this state every day. Yet, he expects us to believe a few well stimulation jobs will damage our ecosystem and kill tourism. The only thing that will affect our tourism is a hurricane, and Irma did that last year.
First producing oil well in Florida in Sunniland Oil Field.
This constant barrage of toxic rhetoric, platitudes, and fear mongering, has been going on for years since the Hughes Drilling Company drilled an exploratory well for Collier Resources some 4 years ago that the Conservancy said was “fracked.” They never found any chemicals in the aquifer, and even bungled a well they drilled in an effort to show that surface spills at the site contaminated the ground water. The screw-up cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and they never found any fracking chemicals.
The Conservancy never gives both sides of this issue and invites speakers, sponsored by radical environmental groups, to scare us about the “evils” of fossil fuels and fracturing and then ask their members for more money to support their lobbying efforts in Tallahassee. They obviously don’t care or want you to hear about the science of this process.
The U.S. will produce 10.3 million bbls/day of oil this year; more than half is produced using the fracking /horizontal drilling process. All of our shale gas production is extracted that way. It is, in fact, time to stop calling this unconventional production or stimulation. No one has died as a result of poisoning from hydraulic fracturing, nor is there any credible evidence of the eco-damage or water contamination that Mr. Moher speculates about.
As someone who has done research in this area, and worked with engineers who design frac jobs, and understands the science, I am fed up with the false information and drama that is fed to the public by the media about this. Countless junk science articles are published each year funded by advocate groups, only to be debunked by credible researchers who know the science.
I know of no benefits that have come to states that have passed fracking bans. New York citizens often pay 3-5X more for their electric power compared to their sister state Pennsylvania, which now has a booming shale economy, and millions for the state treasury plus more jobs. Shortages of natural gas this winter for New England residents have caused spot gas prices in that area to literally rise to the highest in the world. All because New York will not permit connecting gas pipeline construction to deliver the required capacity.
I am tired of this one-sided debate, it’s time for our legislators and the state and industry officials to come forward. A Conservancy should bring both sides of this issue to the table, and not make this solely another “save-the -planet” issue. Jobs, the economy, property and mineral rights, should also be considered. Why this false sense of urgency about a fracking ban when we continue to contaminate the Gulf, ignore our red-tide problem, and tolerate the enormous algae blooms in our estuaries, lakes, and rivers? And let’s stop conflating this with off-shore drilling rigs.
George P. Ahearn was the co-founder and President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. from its inception in 1993 until he left in 2005. Prior to that time, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of the Hall Chemical Company, a maker of specialty metal-based chemicals from 1988-1992. Mr. Ahearn was employed for 28 years by Exxon Corporation and Exxon Chemical from 1960-1988, holding various executive positions in research and the business.
see compendium of peer-review studies showing harms and risks of drilling/fracking and do you consider this “junk science” since it does not agree with you:
concernedhealthny.org/compendium/
and come meet my friends and neighbors who have to haul water out of the creeks and ponds and pick up water or have water delivered since they lost their water and their water wells got impacted and contaminated by gas drilling and come see their proof and the DEP tests and determination letters showing the impacts.
Cabot Oil and Gas doesn’t have over 500 DEP Violations which includes casing failures and spills for nothing or is
Pa DEP also “junk science” since they don’t agree with you
and since you own a Chemical company and worked for the Oil and Gas Industry and have not admitted to being harmed or impacted by their practices or live next to drill rigs and gas sites and infrastructure, can you say you are bias free.
Florida is doing all they can to protect themselves from harm from fossil fuels, which we have hundreds if not thousands of harmful incidents.
Florida opened four solar power plants this year
and moving away from fossil fuels
and legislators are in committee passing legislation for a ban.
Shale companies benefit from shale development but the majority of the people do not…
my county of Susquehanna is still one of the poorest counties in the State even with 10 years of gas drilling.
The compendium is a joke, Vera and your 500 violations is nearly as ludicrous as they’re redundant and heavily geared to technicalities, etc.
Written first by “Physicians Against Fracking” who later changed their call handle to Concerned Physicians of NY,
A group consisting of Dr.s mostly in title not related to the medical health field under the supervision of anti gas activist Sandra Stiengrabber..
Knowledge is power! who can forget the corruption of NY by environmentalist groups who even Hillary R. Clinton stated was financed by Russia’s Vladimir Putin to advance Gazprom
Vera sounded off on the Bob Josepth show radio 1290 today saying Vic Furman is misleading the public about the increase in their electric bill. Vera stated her son is a Binghamton resident who’s electric rate is $0.06 a KWH. It didn’t take callers long to call in and correct her, one even suggesting that her son must be on assistance because he pays $0.115 a KWH. But this is not my point. The rates are increasing because of delivery charges and the lack of natural gas in NY as reported on WBNGTV12 ACTION NEWS, NOT LANDOWNERS! due to a lack of pipelines. But this just goes to show Vera’s ignorance is bliss, Other callers called in as well disagreeing with Vera and her claim this was pro-gas landowners making up a story to pat their agenda. NICE TRY VERA, you fool no one.
If your NYSEG bill has doubled or trippled please black out your name and address on the bill if you want to, or not, but send a photo of that bill to vlfamf@aol.com and in the subject line please write :
My outrageous bill. I would also like to have what you use for primary heat, for instance I heat with wood only
Vic, I said 7 cents for my son and 12 cents for me on my bill in fracked Susquehanna County and my son is in Binghamton NY.
I just called Nyseg and here is their number to verify what I am saying: 1-800-572-1111
and it’s true what I said on the air:
Nyseg in Binghamton , NY is charging today 4.5 cents for electric supply and 3.9 cents for delivery , so it’s about 8 cents a KWH ; one cent more than I said.
check it out yourselves; and the other callers admitted they did not look to see what their bills actually say.
Rate is per KWH.
nice try Vic….
and can look on this page to find rates in NY:
https://ebiz1.nyseg.com/cusweb/opcosupplyprice.aspx
Of course they are, now, Vera, as the crisis is past for the moment. Do you not understand spot pricing and the impact on overall bills?
the Nyseg prices for the consumer have been steady like the prices I quote for the past year…..
Vera, you have to add up all of the charges. Nysegs charge is just for the delivery 11.5 cents per KW if you add up all 7 charges on the bill, my January bill came to 16.1 cents per Killowatt hour. NYSEG also dropped the discount for off -peak or ” Night rate”. I heat my water on night rate which used to be 9 to 10 cents per KW cheaper. last year it was 3 cents cheaper. this year it is the same cost. My December bill in comparison was 11.5 cents per KWH total. I wish I could run a line over from Penelec.