US Chamber of Commerce launches national shale energy campaign

News
July 26, 2012
WASHINGTON
By Nick Snow 
OGJ Washington Editor
 
The US Chamber of Commerce launched an advocacy campaign called Shale Works for US to show the general public how shale development can provide economic benefits to states, counties, and communities.
 
Karen A. Harbert, president of the US Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, said the benefits are widespread.
 
“Shale energy is in 20 states,” Harbert said. “It potentially could provide economic benefits for another 100 years.”
 
The campaign was launched during July in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York, with more states to follow, she said.
 
During a July 26 event at chamber headquarters, Samuel Denisco, vice-president of government affairs at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, said shale plays generate revenue for towns decimated when manufacturing declined during the 1960s and 1970s.
 
Harbert expects the Shale Works for US will be a long-term campaign to showcase economic benefits, job creation, and energy security.
 
“We’d like a debate. We’re ready to take the critics on,” she said. “But it has to be based on facts and well-done analysis. We can’t give way to fear-mongering.”
 
Denisco agreed, saying, “Facts, not rhetoric, should make the difference.”