From Cowtown to Boomtown

CNNMoney.com has a pretty evenhanded article about the natural gas boom here in Cowtown:.

Welcome to Texas's newest boomtown, a city of 686,000 that just happens to sit on top of a giant natural gas field known as the Barnett Shale. With demand for natural gas rising... exploration companies have kicked off a drilling frenzy in Fort Worth.

The upside is palpable around town. Once-struggling oilmen and big landowners are suddenly flush with gas money, while thousands of average homeowners are now collecting modest monthly royalty checks...."It's created a new wealth in our city," declares Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief. "It's inoculated our economy. We find ourselves being an island in a sea of recession around us."

But the downside is palpable, too, especially in battles over the siting of almost a thousand (so far) natural gas wells - many of them incongruously close to parks, churches, and homes. The incursion of large-scale drilling into the city's daily life has raised questions not only about environmental and safety risks, but also the eyesores, noise and truck-traffic that gas exploration generates.

But of more interest to me was the profile of Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy the article linked to.

Mr. McCLendon, who is worth more than $3,000,000,000.00 is not one to shy away from a fight. When Jodi Rell, governor of Connecticut accused Chesapeake of "unconscionable fleecing of U.S. citizens" Mr. McClendon fired off a public, five-page rebuttal that basically called the governor a liar.

If Cowtown residents think a few yard signs will make energy companies like Chesapeake go away, they greatly underestimate the determination of people like Aubrey McClendon.