What a shame, a lifetime spent building a reputation of integrity just to flush it away whoring for a gas company.

Hope he sticks around long enough to see the consequences of his actions.

Seasons sage shills shale -- sufferin' succotash!

Does this mean he'll "drink our milkshake?"

“This is not a corporate promotion or public relations initiative,’’ said Julie H. Wilson, Vice President of Corporate Development at Chesapeake.

There's no need to be so defensive, Julie. We believe you, really we do.

Lobbyist have bought off our government now their buying off the media. Hello corruption-goodbye democracy.

Goddammit Tracy, this is really disappointing.

But I guess they money was big enough, eh?

If Troy and Nolan can shill for foundation repair, hearing aids, beef, and whatever, then why shouldn't Tracy shill for shale? As our President and his advisers (and Phil Gramm, McCain's eco adviser) always tell us, let the market rule! Let the free market, capitalistic system determine what is best for us. We are sure to get the best shale market in the country. By the way, where do I get some of this shale? Sounds like a good deal, Tracy.

The problem here is the long lasting ecological impact of the drilling and the loss of private property rights, especially pipeline construction. Chesapeake, through their pipeline company Texas Midstream, is threating homeowners with eminent domain.

I'll bet you never see any Barnett Shale pictures like theses in his coverage:

http://txsharon.blogspot.com/2008/07/pictures-of-barnett-shale-pollution-in.html

The problem is not necessarily that he's "shilling for the shale," but that he's leading this project under the guise that it will be fair and balanced reporting. While Rowlett says in the press release that he's going to allow dissenting opinions, I wonder if an unbiased, truly informational presentation is possible given the Chesapeake overlor... sponsorship.

yeah and their infomercial...I mean "reporting" special on Saturday mornings is fair and balanced. that's sad that tracy is willing to tarnish is reputation and whore himself out for an oil, er, gas company. whats worse is that its disguised as reporting and unbiased.

How about we wait for the program to come out before pre-judging it?

And BTW, I'm all for demanding these companies be good stewards of the land and respect people's property rights. What kills me are these NIMBY's who whine about high gas and energy prices but don't want any drilling to occur at all in their neighborhood.

Something about "can't have it both ways" comes to mind when I hear this.

Gravypan
Evidently you've never been manipulated by a gas or oil company. Have you owned land in west Texas and they tell you their going to clean the mess up and don't. They ruin water wells because they don't pump water they use deep enough into the ground.
You can't get them to correct their wrongs because they've bought the Texas Rail Road Comm.
I'm all for doing what they do but their on this PR kick because they do illegal and immoral things.
Your eyes should've been opened when houses were exploding and it took a WFAA investigation to get the gas company and TRRC to admit something was wrong.

Can you imagine the excitement, the heart-pounding coverage? We take you now live to the Jumping Jack Flash #1 for an on-the-scene report of how natural gas is transforming North Texas. Next thing you know, Verne Lundquist will be back to do the play-by-play of the shirts against the skins at the company picnic.