NPR's Marilyn Geewax presents The Fracking Revolution: Finding Energy Stories Everywhere," the free, one-hour webinar hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. For more information about free training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org

1. The Fracking Revolution:
Finding Energy Stories
Title Slide
Everywhere
Marilyn Geewax
NPR Senior Business Editor
mgeewax@npr.org
@geewaxnpr

2. What is
Fracking?
Most Americans – and
journalists – aren’t
entirely sure…
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/
americans-uninformed-aboutfracking-says-new-study-16762

3. Oil and Gas Drilling Are Booming

4. Production Has Shot Up as Fracking Has Grown
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data

5. U.S Output Is Growing as Consumption and
Imports Decline
EIA Data

6. “Saudi America” Is Becoming an Exporter of
Energy
EIA Data

7. Poll Question #1
How many stories have you
produced about fracking?
• More than five
• Between two and five
• One story
• None

8. The Change
Has Come
Quickly
EIA data
• What's Happening in Texas

9. The Permian Basin in Texas

10. The Permian Basin May
Change the Oil Game
• EIA says it’s the U.S.’s largest oil producer
• Production has increased by 93,000 barrels
per day year-over-year
• Growing consensus that potential is huge
• It may hold more than 1 billion barrels
• That may be worth $5 trillion

11. Companies Use “Hydraulic
Fracturing” For Releasing Both
Oil and Natural Gas
• The technique has been used since 1947.
• Fracking is now very common – some
estimate it has been used to stimulate a
million oil and gas wells around the world.

12. So How Does Fracking Work
For Natural Gas?
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/hydraulicfracturing-national

14. Poll Question #2:
In your community, what local
stories have taken shape
related to the new energy
industry?

15. 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%

16. Impact on Manufacturers
Will Be Huge
• Dramatically lower energy bills.
• Cheaper “feed stock” for making fertilizers
and bulk chemicals (ethylene).
• Cheaper transportation options.

17. Switch From Coal to Natural Gas
Will Help Energy-Hungry Industries
Makers Of Steel And Other Metals Will Benefit

18. Dow Chemical Expands in Texas

19. Trucking Fleets and Railroads
Are Switching To Natural Gas

20. Jobs Are Growing
BLS says energy-production workers average $35.15 an hour

21. Fair To Say the Energy Sector is
Creating A Lot Of Jobs
• North Dakota is
looking great,
with 3 percent
unemployment.
Oil rig in Williston, N.D., by Flickr user lindsey gee

22. Booming Oil Industry Struggling
to Fill Job Openings

23. What Could Go Right?
• Air quality keeps improving as fracking
increases. Emissions off 12% since 2007.
• http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/
carbon/

24. 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
• Fracking produces so much oil and gas
that prices plunge, and the energy sector
goes from boom to bust.

25. Many Worry That Fracking May Release
Methane, Harm Ground Water and Trigger
Earthquakes

26. Some Skeptics Say Industry Is OverEstimating the Potential

27. People In Many States Just Don't
Want to Live Next to Fracking

28. Easy-to-Find
Local Angles
in TX, OH, PA,
ND, LA
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/175483517/cheapnatural-gas-pumping-new-life-into-u-s-factories

29. 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

30. Additional Resources
http://www.cfr.org/energy-andenvironment/hydraulic-fracturingfracking/p31559
http://www.propublica.org/series/
fracking

31. Stories to Look for in Your
Community
Oil rig in Williston, N.D., by Flickr user Lindsey Gira
• Are any manufacturers
expanding?
• Are young people
considering energy
jobs?
• Are colleges making
adjustments in courses?

32. Stories to look for in your
community
• Are workers getting
injured or killed in these
jobs?
• What’s happening to
water and land around
you?
Photo by Flickr user Ben Schumin

33. Questions?
mgeewax@npr.org
@geewaxnpr