Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, described shale critics as “extremists” engaged in “unfettered fear mongering”  at an industry conference  in Philadelphia, PA according to an AP story. Wednesday was the first day of the two day conference dubbed “Shale Gas Ingight” and sponsored by The Marcellus Shale Coalition. Former Republican Governor Tom Ridge echoed McClendon with the words “phony hysteria.”  Ridge is now a paid consultant/lobbyist for the natural gas industry.

But protestors outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center  had a friend in former Democratic Governor Ed Rendell. “The things they’re talking about are not incorrect,” he said. “They’re raising serious and legitimate issues. They express the fears of not just a few militants, but the fears of a lot of good, hard-working Pennsylvanians. About what’s going to happen to their neighborhood. About what’s going to happen to their water supply. About what’s going to happen to their waterways. Those are things that we can’t continue to ignore.”  Rendell then proceeded to lecture the energy industry for twenty minutes.

Meanwhile hundreds of protestors filled the streets outside the conference and called for a moratorium on drilling.  Activists organized a two day rally called “Shale Gas Outrage”.

PhillyNow reported that the protest marched to Gov. Corbett’s office in Center City to deliver a letter written by Kimberlie McEvoy from Butler County. She wrote that her water tests show arsenic, manganese and ammonia in her water, and that her family “can’t play outside without getting a headache or a sore throat.”  At the end of the letter, she wrote, “It’s not right to allow the gas companies to gamble with our lives.”