Title Slide The Energy Revolution: Finding Powerful Stories
Everywhere Marilyn Geewax
NPR Senior Business Editor [email protected]
@geewaxnpr
Geewax Marilyn
Akron Beacon Journal
The Atlanta Journal-‐Cons4tu4on
Cox Washington Bureau
NPR
Geewax Marilyn
• Currently senior business editor for NPR’s National Desk
• She was the national economics correspondent for Cox Newspapers’ Washington Bureau.
• Prior to 1999, worked for the Cox flagship paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Geewax earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University, where she focused on international economic affairs.
• From 2001 to 2006, Geewax taught a business journalism class as an adjunct professor at George Washington University.
What We Will Explore Today
• The Energy Revolution: Is It A Big Deal? • So Really, What is Fracking? • How Does This Affect Manufacturing? • How Does The Revolution Create Jobs? • Environmental Impact? Obstacles? • How can you find local angles?
Oil and Gas Drilling Is Booming
Production Has Shot Up as Fracking Has Grown EIA data
U.S Output Is Growing as Consumption and Imports Decline
EIA Data
“Saudi America” Is Becoming an Exporter of Energy
EIA Data
The Change Has Come
Quickly EIA data
• What's Happening in Texas
So How Does Fracking Work?
1) You need a lot of water 2) And you need a lot of steel pipe to drill
down as far as 10,000 feet. Let this ProPublica illustration explain… http://www.propublica.org/special/hydraulic-fracturing-
national
Natural Gas Consumption By End Users
EIA Data
Electric power Industrial Residential Commercial Lease and plant fuel Transportation (pipeline & vehicle fuel) & other
36% 28% 16% 11% 5 % 3%
Impact on Manufacturers Will Be Huge
• Dramatically lower energy bills. • Cheaper “feed stock” for making fertilizers
and bulk chemicals (ethylene). • Cheaper transportation options.
Switch From Coal to Natural Gas Will Help Energy-Hungry Industries
Makers Of Steel And Other Metals Will Benefit
Dow Chemical Expands in Texas
Trucking Fleets and Railroads Are Switching To Natural Gas
Jobs Are Growing BLS says energy-production workers average $35.15 an hour
Fair To Say the Energy Sector is Creating A Lot Of Jobs
• North Dakota is looking great, with 3.3 percent unemployment.
Oil rig in Williston, N.D., by Flickr user lindsey gee
Booming Oil Industry Struggling to Fill Job Openings
What Could Go Wrong?
• Environmental Impact Is Just Too Negative • Not As Much Gas And Oil As We Thought • People Just Don’t Want It • Other Countries Produce So Much, It Gets
Too Cheap
Many Worry That Fracking May Release Methane, Harm Ground Water and Trigger
Earthquakes
Some Skeptics Say Industry Is Over-Estimating the Potential
People In Many States Just Don't Want to Live Next to Fracking
Easy-to-Find Local Angles in TX, OH, PA,
ND, LA http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175483517/cheap-natural-gas-pumping-new-life-into-u-s-factories
But Stories Can Be Found Almost Everywhere, Even Maine
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=178651276&m=178651245
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