NEW YORK NEWSPAPER SIFTS THROUGH OLD NEWS ABOUT SHALE GAS AND TRIGGERS TEMPEST OVER IMPLICATIONS THAT NATURAL GAS HYPE TRUMPS SUBSTANCE

摘要

At least two New York Times' articles this week, suggesting that doubts about the long-term viability and economic health of shale gas production in the U.S. were being suppressed by industry and government experts, elicited varied reactions from the natural gas industry and lawmakers that range from charges of blatant bias and misrepresentation on the part of the newspaper's reporters to calls for a more rigorous review of industry data and discussion about its claims. The Times said the stories were the outcome of its efforts over the past six months to review thousands of pages of documents related to shale gas, including hundreds of industry emails, internal agency documents and reports by analysts. The reports in the New York Times indicated that skepticism exists within the Energy Information Administration (EIA) itself about its own estimates. The Times had particularly described doubts reflected in internal emails from federal regulators, especially the EIA, and gas industry officials about the costs associated with shale gas and the reliability of company reserves estimates.