Exposed: City of Denton's Drilling Ban Leaders Exposed For Helping Spread FALSE Information on Hydraulic Fracturing
Far-left activists UNT Philosophy Professor Adam Briggle and a Washington DC-based special interest group (Earthworks)'s outside paid political operative Sharon Wilson are two of the main individuals behind the effort to ban drilling in the City of Denton. Briggle and Wilson have direct connections to a Russian Government TV entity (RT TV) broadcast out of Moscow. RT TV is an Anti-American propaganda arm and has been exposed for spreading FALSE information about natural gas shale development in North Texas and is constantly attacking American energy independence.
Sample of Far-Left activist and UNT Philosophy Professor Adam Briggle's interviews/columns with Moscow broadcast and Russian government financed RT TV/Website:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XvnGtSlF_0
http://rt.com/op-edge/fracking-benefits-texas-campaign-872/
Sample of Far-Left activist Earthworks outside paid political operative Sharon Wilson's interviews/columns with Moscow broadcast and Russian government financed RT TV/Website:
http://103.5.149.34/op-edge/anti-fracking-activist-texas-461/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZO7pci-w9E
Does Vladimir Putin Want Denton To Ban Fracking?
Those behind the petition drive say it will benefit the Denton residents because they won’t have to worry about wells being fracked less than 300 feet away from their homes, which is what happened to several neighborhoods in South Denton.
Economist Ray Perryman said the result will be millions of dollars and jobs lost for Denton, costing the city up to $251.4 million over 10 years.
Being the oil capital of the country and one of top producers of oil and gas worldwide,the stakes will be high when Denton voters cast their ballot on Nov. 4.
It could lead other cities to follow suit.
But who else benefits?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his state-owned Gazprom Bank?
That’s what Texas Railroad CommissionerDavid Porter said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dated Sept. 8. He makes no specific mention of Denton’s petition drive or the upcoming referendum on fracking.
Instead Porter focuses on Gazprom’s hiring of two former U.S. senators, Trent Lott, R-Miss., and John Breaux, D-La., as lobbyists. This occurred despite Gazprom being under U.S. sanctions for Russia’s alleged role in shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which killed 283 people, Porter said.
“I am greatly concerned that a blacklisted, government-owned Russian bank is able to continue its campaign to weaken the American oil and gas industry and to hire two former United States senators to exert pressure on American policymakers,” Porter wrote in his letter.
He goes on to say that Gazprom has paid public relations firms such as Ketchum millions of dollars damage the natural gas industry in Europe and America.
“It is reasonable to assume that their intention is to increase their market share of natural gas production and distribution as Russia is the second largest producer of natural gas in the world,” Porter said.
America is the number one producer, in part because of hydraulic fracking techniques that debuted in the Barnett Shale. And Texas produces one third of U.S. natural gas, which makes this personal for Porter and the Texas Railroad Commission.
Russia has an agenda, Porter said, to fund anti-fracking efforts, support environmental groups and place misinformation in the public, including the Gasland films, which he called deceitful.
“Gazprom’s effort, with the assistance of the Kremlin and Ketchum, has already resulted in the ban of hydraulic fracturing in many EU countries, and now, they have their sights set on the U.S.,” Porter said.
He called on Kerry to close the loopholes in the U.S. sanctions that allow Gazprom to interfere in U.S. policy and politics.
In an emailed response to the DBJ, Porter's spokeswoman Mary Bell said the commissioner's comments in the letter are not specific to Denton.
"Gazprom is spending tens of millions of dollars -- that we know of -- to eliminate competition globally. It's likely they've influenced much of the overall anti-hydraulic fracturing movement's message," Bell said.
Fellow Texas Railroad Commission Barry Smitherman did raise the question of whether Russia’s influence was behind the movement in Denton.
In a letter to the Denton City Council in July, Smitherman said the secretary general of NATO accused Russia of working with environmental groups to ban fracking, increasing Europe’s dependence on imports from Russia.
“It would therefore appear that not all efforts to ban hydraulic fracturing are grounded in environmental concerns,” Smitherman wrote. “With this in mind, I trust you all will determine whether funding and manpower behind this effort to ban hydraulic fracturing in Denton is coming from out-of-state sources or from those who would profit from the imposition of such a ban.”
The effort has gotten support from national environmental groups and left-leaning political groups such as Move On who would have made it clear they want to have a victory in Texas.
At a marathon Denton City Council meeting in July, several supporters of the frack ban laughed at the idea that Russia could be behind their grassroots effort.
Many energy experts say the U.S. should move quickly to increase exports of natural gas so countries have alternative sources, especially in the winter. But building export facilities to liquefy natural gas so it can be shipped overseas costs billions of dollars and requires lengthy federal review.
(Texas Railroad Commissioner) Porter Exposes Putin Plot to Hurt Texas Economy: Underhanded Anti-Hydraulic Fracturing Campaign Designed to Drive Dollars from US to Russia
09/08/2014
AUSTIN – Commissioner David Porter of the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) sent a letter today to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry questioning the extent to which the State Department is enforcing its sanction against a rogue Russian oil and gas cartel, and protecting U.S. interests.
“Gazprom Bank is currently under U.S. sanctions as a result of Russia’s role in shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which resulted in the death of 283 passengers, 15 crew members, and at least one American citizen,” said Porter in his letter. “I am greatly concerned that a blacklisted, government owned, Russian bank is able to continue its campaign to weaken the American oil and gas industry and to hire two former United States Senators to exert pressure on American policymakers.”
In his letter, Commissioner Porter explains that Gazprom has secured contracts worth tens of millions of dollars with several international public relations and lobbying firms of ill repute such as Ketchum Inc., in an effort to damage and shut down the natural gas industry in Europe and the United States to increase Russian market share of natural gas production and distribution.
Components of their campaign include funding anti-hydraulic fracturing environmental organizations, placing misinformation in the public, and even mass media propaganda — namely their assistance with the distribution of Gasland, an incredibly deceitful film about hydraulic fracturing in America.
Commissioner Porter added, “Gazprom’s effort, with the assistance of the Kremlin and Ketchum, has already resulted in the ban of hydraulic fracturing in many EU countries, and now, they have their sights set on the U.S.”
The Commissioner is in the process of developing a solution to assuage the Russian onslaught to Texas industry, including encouraging Congress to streamline the permitting process to build LNG plants in Texas and to allow oil exports.
The RRC is the chief energy regulator for the state of Texas, having primary regulatory jurisdiction over the oil and natural gas industry, as well as pipelines, natural gas utilities, the propane industry, and coal and uranium surface mining operations. The agency works to ensure fair and consistent energy regulation in Texas so businesses can safely, efficiently, and economically produce the energy that is needed to power Texans and the Texas economy.
View the original article here.
July 30, 2014, UNITED STATES SENATE REPORT confirms: Foreign Money Is Infused in FAR-LEFT Environmental Movement
From a July 30, 2014 US Senate Report from the Committee on Environment and Public Works Minority Staff Report:
"Therein lies the importance of this report and the reason the Committee is dedicated to unraveling the puzzle presented by the questionable funding tactics of the far-left environmental community. Through a series of case studies, this report exposes the most politically active donors, explains how they use loopholes in the tax law to funnel tax deductible contributions to far-left environmental activist, and details how those activists turn the “investments” into political results. Moreover, the report uncovers the shocking lengths wealthy liberal donors are willing to take to hide their involvement in the scheme.Finally, the report shines a light on the alarming reality that unknown foreign investors are financing the environmental movement, using the shady Sea Change Foundation as cover."
View the original article here.
RT TV is spreading communism world-wide
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)
"… The creation of Russia Today was a part of a larger PR effort by the Russian government intended to improve the image of Russia abroad. RT was conceived by former media minister Mikhail Lesin, and Vladimir Putin's press spokesperson Aleksei Gromov. At the time of RT's founding, RIA Novosti director Svetlana Mironyuk stated: "Unfortunately, at the level of mass consciousness in the West, Russia is associated with three words: communism, snow and poverty," and added "We would like to present a more complete picture of life in our country." It is registered as anautonomous nonprofit organization funded by the federal budget of Russia through the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.
… Vladimir Putin visited the new Russia Today broadcasting centre in June 2013 and stated "When we designed this project back in 2005 we intended introducing another strong player on the international scene, a player that wouldn’t just provide an unbiased coverage of the events in Russia but also try, let me stress, I mean – try to break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams.... We wanted to bring an absolutely independent news channel to the news arena. Certainly the channel is funded by the government, so it cannot help but reflect the Russian government’s official position on the events in our country and in the rest of the world one way or another. But I’d like to underline again that we never intended this channel, RT, as any kind of apologetics for the Russian political line, whether domestic or foreign."
… Since its foundation in 2005, RT has been widely accused as being a mouthpiece of the Kremlin. In an interview with US government-owned external broadcaster Voice of America, the Russian-Israeli blogger Anton Nosik (ru) said the creation of Russia Today "smacks of Soviet-style propagandacampaigns." Pascal Bonnamour, the head of the European department of Reporters Without Borders, called the newly announced network "another step of the state to control information." In 2009, Luke Harding (then the Moscow based, Russia correspondent of The Guardian) described Russia Today's advertising campaign in the United Kingdom as an "ambitious attempt to create a new post-Soviet global propaganda empire." An article in the Christian Science Monitor wrote that Russia Today reported on the good job Putin was doing in the world and next to nothing on things like the conflict in Chechnya or the murder of government critics.
… James Kirchick in The New Republic accused the network of "often virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian leaders." Ed Lucas wrote in The Economist (quoted in Al Jazeera English) that the core of RT was "anti-Westernism." Julia Ioffe wrote "Often, it seemed that Russia Today was just a way to stick it to the U.S. from behind the façade of legitimate newsgathering." Shaun Walker wrote in The Independent that RT "has made a name for itself as a strident critic of US policy." Allesandra Stanley in The New York Times wrote that RT is "like the Voice of America, only with more money and a zesty anti-American slant." David Weigel writes that RT goes
… An 2013 article in Der Spiegel noted that RT is the most successful foreign broadcaster in many American cities and that RT "uses a chaotic mixture of conspiracy theories and crude propaganda", referring to a program which linked the Boston Marathon bombings to a US government conspiracy. further than merely creating distrust of the United States government, to saying, in effect: "You can trust the Russians more than you can trust those bastards."
