Fracking process a tough sell?

TO HEAR AUBREY McClendon tell it, protesters opposed to the hydraulic-fracturing process used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania might just be winning the public-relations battle.

McClendon, chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy, praised his industry yesterday for creating jobs and tax revenue while lambasting protesters outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center as dangerous environmental "extremists" hooked on a "fantasy world" of green-energy choices and no use for fossil fuel.

McClendon's complaints dominated his speech to the Shale Gas Insight 2011 convention.

Hundreds of protesters lined both sides of Arch Street outside the center, waving signs promoting solar and wind energy while accusing the natural-gas industry of poisoning water tables near drill sites through the controversial practice known as "fracking." They demanded a moratorium on the process.

In fracking, millions of gallons of water are pumped into the ground with sand and chemicals to break up rock and release gas.

Protesters portrayed Gov. Corbett as a puppet of the industry.

Corbett, elected last year with the help of $835,720 in campaign contributions from the natural-gas industry, has opposed efforts to implement an extraction tax on natural gas in the state.

McClendon did not mention in his speech the hospitable nature of Pennsylvania's government, including many members of the state General Assembly, toward the natural-gas industry.

Corbett was scheduled to address the convention today.

Chesapeake Energy is the state's most active natural-gas driller, McClendon said. He insisted that the protests create no value for Pennsylvania residents.

"Very simply, they want no drilling," said McClendon, dismissing claims of ground-water pollution caused by fracking. "That's fine, I guess, if you don't need heat in your homes, electricity in your office of factory, if you don't need a job to go to or if you don't need to put food on your plate."

McClendon spoke during a lunch break, followed by a forum on the industry and public relations.

Attendees for that and other forums stopped to peer through the center's windows at the protest just outside. Some took pictures while others pointed and joked.

Inside the forum, industry leaders said the protesters have an advantage in a simple message of fracking opposition while it takes them 10 to 15 minutes to explain adequately how the process works.