Fracking industry executive says 90% of Americans are ‘nuts’

Monday, January 30, 2012

From a column by Lyle Hopkins in The Capital Times:

Wall Street and CEO culture in America is out of touch, arrogant, condescending, and those are probably their good qualities. Recent examples run the gamut, from snooty finance employees sipping champagne while mocking Wall Street protesters to a sign posted in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange proudly stating “we are the 1%.” It’s clear that our titans of industry are in dire need of an attitude adjustment.

One of the worst offenders is the energy industry. Case in point, the CEO for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association reportedly said of fracking opponents: “These nuts make up about 90 percent of our population, so we can’t really call them nuts any more. They’re the mainstream.”

Lyle Hopkins is an energy and security analyst at the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute. He is also a former intelligence officer for the U.S. Air Force and led a 150-person watch center providing threat warning information to national leadership. He has a masters degree in Environmental Management and Sustainability from Harvard. This column was provided by the American Forum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization.