Inquirer misses New York Times investigation of inflated natural gas projections

Article fails to mention recent investigation that found "industry estimates might overstate the amount of gas that companies can affordably get out of the ground"?

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Inquirer misses New York Times investigation of inflated natural gas projections

POSTED: Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 4:56 PM
Filed Under: Marcellus Shale | Media

How did today’s front page Philadelphia Inquirer story by Andrew Maykuth on the promise of natural gas drilling (“Penn State report even more bullish on Marcellus Shale”) fail to mention the recent groundbreaking New York Times investigation that found “industry estimates might overstate the amount of gas that companies can affordably get out of the ground”?

Or, that “gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells”?

The Inquirer did note that the “study is likely to generate considerable controversy. Anti-drilling activists said past Penn State reports overstated the jobs created by gas development and failed to count the cost of potential environmental problems of drilling.”

But the documents uncovered by The New York Times constitute a factual basis for the activists’ concern, and The Inquirer should have reported it. Indeed, I’m not sure they’ve ever reported on the Times’ natural gas findings.

Reporting is an iterative and incremental process, strengthened by important, already-available information. This is true even when that information was first reported by another (behemoth) outlet. In Pennsylvania we are undergoing fast and potentially risky changes to our landscape, water supply and economy. Readers deserve the most and best information they can get.

Posted by Daniel Denvir @ 4:56 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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