Leading Fracking Industry News Outlet Shares Its Blunt Views on Northam, “Antis,” Environmental Racism, “Yokels,” Firing of Air Board Members

Obviously, it’s no surprise that the natural gas fracking industry has utter contempt/hatred for liberals, Democrats, environmentalists, anti-pipeline activists, etc. But I *am* surprised they’d express themselves as crudely – and publicly! – as they did earlier today in Marcellus Drilling News.

A few “highlights” from their article, “Virginia Gov. Northam Replaces Regulators Before Compressor Vote,” include:

• They bizarrely see pro-business, corporate Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who was a huge proponent of the fracked-gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline, as “a far-left Democrat” – one who nonetheless “resisted calls from his nutroots base to shut both pipeline projects down.” Wait…if TMac is “far-left,” why would he not shut fracked-gas pipeline projects down? Very confusing.
• They also bizarrely believe that pro-business/corporate Democrat Ralph Northam is “another liberal Democrat,” who again – and this makes zero sense in terms of internal logic – “is not caving to the pressure” by the “nutters”/”Antis” (aka, environmentalists) to stop the pipelines. Alrighty then…
• But wait, it gets worse, as the industry magazine oopenly celebrates Northam’s firing of two Air Pollution Control Board members opposed to building a huge compressor station in the historically African-American Union Hill community of Buckingham County, VA. According to Marcellus Drilling News, Northam “canned” those two board members in order to “[send] an unmistakable signal to the board: You WILL approve this compressor station, or else.”
• Oh, and perhaps most appalling of all, the fracking folks mock the very concepts of environmental racism and environmental justice, calling it a “sleazy, racist argument that is 100% false” and aimed at bullying regulators. Wow.

So this is apparently how the fracking industry views recent developments regarding the fracked-gas pipelines in Virginia, and specifically the motive behind Northam’s dismissal of two Air Board members who were likely to vote against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s compressor station in Union Hill. As for Virginia environmentalists, their view of what Northam did the other day is very negative — namely, that the Northam administration’s objective was to ensure that Dominion’s proposed compressor station will be rammed through, and most definitely NOT blocked by regulators who actually care about the environment, at-risk communities, etc.

Again, though, what I’m most surprised about is not that this would be the view of the fracking industry as well, but that they’d express themselves so openly and “honestly,” in the sense of stating their raw, uncut, ugly views on all this. I guess they must be feeling very confident these days…even with supposed “liberal Democrat” Northam in the Virginia Governor’s Mansion.