I saw you out in front of the Pittsburgh Convention Center yesterday protesting Marcellus shale development. I could see that you are passionate and dedicated to protecting the environment. Even though I was walking into the Center, and you were standing outside, it struck me that we really should talk. You see shale development is likely the best thing to happen to the United States since we landed a man on the moon, and I want to tell you why.
Cheap fuel from shale is going to underpin the rebirth of the US economy making us competitive in world markets for the first time in a long time. We will finally reduce our oil imports from the Middle East and our trade imablance. We will bring manufacturing jobs back to our country. We will make things again because we have cheap fuel and feedstocks. Your generation will have jobs and opportunities as good as your parents did, maybe better. You fear that corporations are going to pollute the water and air just make a profit and appease their Wall Street stockholders. I know that this is what you learn in school, and read in the newspapers, but it just isn't going to happen.
Look, I was like you once. I went to school to become an environmental engineer because I really cared about the making a positive difference in the world. When I joined a major oil company after I graduated, my professor told me that I had "Sold Out". But it wasn't like that at all. The company I worked for cared a lot about doing things right and leaving the communities it operated in better off than they were before. They did that by taking responsibility to meet every regulation and requirement, and then some, even back in the dark ages of the 1980s.
I don't think my experience was unique, so I want to use this blog to talk to you about what really goes on inside energy companies, and how they make a fantastic, positive contribution to your quality of life. I also want to improve your energy literacy because I'm a Mom and this debate matters greatly to future generations. So please, put down the drums, sheets with slogans, and the gas masks, and come into the tent with me. I want to show you around.
Till next time,
Energy Mom
New York City, New York
Cheap fuel from shale is going to underpin the rebirth of the US economy making us competitive in world markets for the first time in a long time. We will finally reduce our oil imports from the Middle East and our trade imablance. We will bring manufacturing jobs back to our country. We will make things again because we have cheap fuel and feedstocks. Your generation will have jobs and opportunities as good as your parents did, maybe better. You fear that corporations are going to pollute the water and air just make a profit and appease their Wall Street stockholders. I know that this is what you learn in school, and read in the newspapers, but it just isn't going to happen.
Look, I was like you once. I went to school to become an environmental engineer because I really cared about the making a positive difference in the world. When I joined a major oil company after I graduated, my professor told me that I had "Sold Out". But it wasn't like that at all. The company I worked for cared a lot about doing things right and leaving the communities it operated in better off than they were before. They did that by taking responsibility to meet every regulation and requirement, and then some, even back in the dark ages of the 1980s.
I don't think my experience was unique, so I want to use this blog to talk to you about what really goes on inside energy companies, and how they make a fantastic, positive contribution to your quality of life. I also want to improve your energy literacy because I'm a Mom and this debate matters greatly to future generations. So please, put down the drums, sheets with slogans, and the gas masks, and come into the tent with me. I want to show you around.
Till next time,
Energy Mom
New York City, New York
