Bought and Paid For

The Fort Worth Public Library has had a name change. It is now the Fort Worth Library.

Just another way the public has been removed. From the pics Don Young shared, maybe they should have named it the Chesapeake Library.

(the photo shows one of the Chesapeake Energy exhibits in the former Fort Worth Public Library, extolling their Barnett Shale drilling operations)

Don't miss Don's essay in the Fort Worth Weekly. Trust us, you can't afford to miss it.

In his Aug. 26 Fort Worth Weekly report, "The Big Takeover," Peter Gorman wrote about all the bad publicity that natural gas extractors have been getting lately. But the industry isn't worried: It has found other ways to generate good PR. Consider the following Fort Worth institutions and organizations that have recently partnered with or received funding from Big Gas:

The Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau (Chesapeake Energy), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (XTO Energy, Devon Energy, Enron Oil & Gas, Exxon Mobil, Encana Oil & Gas, etc.), the Fort Worth Independent School District (Quicksilver, Chesapeake, etc.) Texas Christian University (Chesapeake), the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (Chesapeake), Mayfest (Chesapeake), United Way of Tarrant County (Chesapeake), and the Fort Worth Zoo (Chesapeake).

The complete list is a lot longer, and I think it would surprise a lot of people.
Many of these organizations violate their own mission statements by accepting such money.

You need look no further than city hall to see how much silence can be bought with dirty dollars.