When he said “just like America”, I began to think.

In the last three years, I have been fortunate to spend time in both Greece and Spain. These are beautiful and stimulating cultures, and are valuable sources for understanding other views of the world. I can’t speak more than a few phrases of each language, but I can learn by talking (in English) with locals. In these countries there are plenty of opportunities, since people tend to be friendly and enthusiastic conversationalists.

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Marcellus related media items have made for good discussion as I visited with townships and counties in the region over the last several weeks. It wasn’t so much the quantity that was different but the sources.

I am a graduate of Cornell University, much to my mother’s relief and surprise, and was glad to see a brief overview of the opposing research that exists relative to the environmental impact of fracing and other sources of energy. After offering many comments on this topic in online discussions, I get a headache whenever I hear or read “peer reviewed”. So here is a nice item in The Cornell Daily Sun by Bob Hackett entitled Two Cents: To Frack or Not to Frack. It brings some powerful research folks together for Q&A, so you can consider both sides.

Last month the National Review stopped by TerrAqua Resource Management’s facility in Williamsport for a tour and chat. Author Kevin D. Williamson was on an extended tour of Marcellus operations and wanted some insight on water recycling. Kevin’s article entitled The Truth about Facking offers some good points while pushing a couple of hot buttons. I read the National Review, well actually I read my father-in-law’s National Review. I found his treatment of the industry to be fair and I liked how he described my views. Simple and clear. I have gotten some interesting and useful phone calls and emails from across the nation as a result.

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This chart is the author’s personal opinion on who people choose to trust for news and truth, and who has the most ethical, moral, and/or legal responsibility to be accurate.

I’ve been working long enough that young people think I’m wise. Secretly, I think they mean old and just want to be nice about it. But these are gifted people, with a bright future and we have some interesting discussions. Broad but predictable range of topics – religion, environment, healthcare, politics, and the list goes on.

Over the holidays, I had a couple of interesting discussions on news, truth, and trust. These chats matched up with some free time that let me look at the relationship of news, truth, and trust a bit differently.

The primary role of media is news not truth. They mark the date of an event, and that establishes chronology. You hear on television and radio. “At 11:00 this morning…”. A book or published research attempts to offer truth, by reaching for cause and effect after the event happened. You read it. “We found measurable amounts of…”. Trust, I feel, is established by where you are and what you’re surrounded by.

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T. Boone Pickens during a roundtable discussion at Williamsport, PA’s Community Arts Center

I’ve met some notable folks. Former Presidents, pro ball players, cultural icons, radicals, and rich people to name a few categories. I found them to be similar to most of the successful folks I know well. Each of these folks admitted to a bit of extra luck in their life. They each could tell a version of “in the right spot at the right time” story.

There was a consistency to these people that I find interesting and admirable. In some form, each was a leader with a relentless commitment to a vision. The vision was built on a series of objectives and that is where most of the luck occurred. But none the less they agreed to take risk, not get scared, and not give up. That is what I admire.

I and about a thousand other people got a dose of leadership at the Community Arts Center on September 30th. Boone Pickens has his “plan”. But that night he spoke of his vision to make our country better, told us the objectives needed to make this change, and what role citizens play in this.

Citizens have to start thinking about energy. Get your family, friends, business, and vendors thinking about energy. How do you use it? Where does it come from? Who do you give your energy money to? How can you use less energy? If you don’t want to use less energy, what sources of energy will you embrace? Wind, solar, natural gas, coal, nuclear sources are the portfolio. What is your choice? Hard to choose if you don’t give it some thought.

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The early part of my career was spent in the field of economic development. For 20 years, I was focused on retaining and creating jobs, and building communities. This work annealed me and fortunately led me to being part of Larson Design Group. I retain a strong understanding of how important job creation is for the health of a region.

Since 2009, I have been involved in a discussion about long-term job creation from Marcellus development. We understand what is happening now. We have an idea as to what part of this activity will continue over the next decade or so. But our discussion has been focused on what will happen that is a result of but separate from Marcellus development. This is looking forward to see economic benefits that are permanent compared to exploration. I haven’t shared these thoughts publicly for fear of setting expectations that are unrealistic or unbelievable. I don’t want to be viewed as a “spin-master” either. That space is full.

On July 3rd, Andy Maykuth of the Philadelphia Inquirer did us a favor. In his article, he gives us a look at the permanence of Marcellus. You might want to read Andy’s work “Intriguing possibility for Pa.’s excess shale gas” Let’s look at three job-creating opportunities that match Andy’s view, and could assure long-term, permanent benefit from Marcellus development:

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