This session, “The Energy Revolution: Finding Powerful Stories Everywhere,” was first offered as part of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s annual conference on Aug. 23, 2013. You keep hearing about “fracking” in western Pennsylvania and North Dakota, but can’t imagine how it would affect your community. Marilyn Geewax, a senior business editor with NPR, will help you understand how this unleashing of massive supplies of fossil fuels is changing all of our lives. The energy revolution is making U.S. manufacturing competitive again and soon could be generating millions of jobs from Maine to California. And it’s having a broad impact on the environment, tax revenues and politics. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN Every American has a stake in these changes; all journalists need to understand the basics – and to look for the local angles. Here’s what this session will help you understand: 1) Fracking – What exactly is it, and why does this drilling process generate so much oil and gas – and controversy? Get familiar with the basic terms of the debate so you feel comfortable setting out to tell a story about it. 2) Manufacturing – Economists say fracking is transforming manufacturing. Huh? Get a clearer understanding of the direct link between the drilling process and the revival of many factories. 3) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs – Many optimists say the energy revolution will help create millions of jobs. Some communities will be building bigger ports to export liquefied natural gas and others will be gaining pipeline-construction jobs. Many may be able to build new infrastructure with revenues from drilling leases. But if cheap energy makes it easier to automate, will some jobs be lost? 4) The Environment – Environmentalists are raising serious questions about water use, pollution, earthquakes, and the overall wisdom of increasing the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas. What’s at stake? 5) The Local Angle –The energy revolution is generating changes all around us – and you, as a journalist, will see the local angles once you know how to spot changes in your own community. YOUR INSTRUCTOR Marilyn Geewax is a senior business editor on NPR’s national desk and its national economics correspondent. She was the national economics correspondent for Cox Newspapers’ Washington Bureau. Before coming to Washington in 1999, she worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, first as a business reporter and then as a columnist and editorial board member. From 2001 to 2006, she taught a business journalism class as an adjunct professor at George Washington University. For more information about training for business journalists, please visit businessjournalism.org.

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

2. Geewax
Marilyn
Akron
Beacon
Journal
The
Atlanta
Journal-­‐
Cons4tu4on
Cox
Washington
Bureau
NPR

3. Geewax
Marilyn
• Currently senior business editor for NPR’s
National Desk
• She was the national economics
correspondent for Cox Newspapers’
Washington Bureau.
• Prior to 1999, worked for the Cox flagship
paper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Geewax earned a master’s degree at
Georgetown University, where she focused
on international economic affairs.
• From 2001 to 2006, Geewax taught a
business journalism class as an adjunct
professor at George Washington University.

4. What We Will Explore Today
• The Energy Revolution: Is It A Big Deal?
• So Really, What is Fracking?
• How Does This Affect Manufacturing?
• How Does The Revolution Create Jobs?
• Environmental Impact? Obstacles?
• How can you find local angles?

5. Oil and Gas Drilling Is Booming

6. Production Has Shot Up as Fracking Has Grown
EIA data

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

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

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

10. So How Does Fracking Work?
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/hydraulic-fracturing-
national

12. 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%

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

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

15. Dow Chemical Expands in Texas

16. Trucking Fleets and Railroads
Are Switching To Natural Gas

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

18. Fair To Say the Energy Sector is
Creating A Lot Of Jobs
• North Dakota is
looking great,
with 3.3 percent
unemployment.
Oil rig in Williston, N.D., by Flickr user lindsey gee

19. Booming Oil Industry Struggling
to Fill Job Openings

20. 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

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

22. Some Skeptics Say Industry Is Over-
Estimating the Potential

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

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

25. But Stories Can Be Found Almost
Everywhere, Even Mainehttp://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=178651276&m=178651245