In Praise of the "Small People"

This is what Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon blurted out to his audience at an industry conference in Philadelphia about 300 or so homeowners and activists picketing outside:

"Remind me, what value have (sic) the protestors outside created? What jobs have they created? …it's time that we contrast what we do for a living with what they do for a living."

The protestors have legitimate concerns that processes Chesapeake Energy uses to fracture shale and recover natural gas are making people sick. There's substantial evidence of air and well water contamination by poisonous methane gas and carcinogenic chemicals. Natural gas is also plentiful, reduces dependence on foreign oil and is the least environmentally egregious of the fossil fuels.

However this column isn't about "fracking" which, as with other energy/environmental contretemps, ought to be settled based on scientific cost-benefit analysis.

It's about the impudence of McClendon's remarks. I mean, my god, they're like something out of the Victorian Age! I'm not surprised he feels this way - I've encountered way too many of the country club set who do - I'm just astonished he said it out loud.

First off, he has no idea what those protestors do for a living. There's a good chance some of them may be environmental scientists, teachers, town officials, Realtors, craftsmen, farmers, healthcare professionals, shop owners and others impacted by his company's activities. Does "creating value" - or getting to hold opinions - only hinge on generating corporate profits?

We do know what a good number of the protestors created: stable homes for their families, no small accomplishment these days. Families now fearful of the effects of fracking on their children's health and their property values.

Given what McClendon does for a living depends on the fortuitous decomposition of foliage and dinosaur parts, lax governmental natural resources and land-use policies, federal subsidies, someone else's science and a whole lot of heavy duty blue-collar toil and sweat, instead of "create" I might choose the word "exploit."

He's not the first arrogant, condescending SOB to show contempt for regular folks, and he sure won't be the last. You might recall BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg referring patronizingly to Gulf Coast residents as "the small people."

I spent a considerable portion of my career as a fly on corporate walls and I assure you there're a lot of guys like McClendon and Svanberg populating the corner offices. Oh, they speak glowingly of the virtues of "decent, hardworking Americans" in public but share a drink at their club and you'll get their real take on the middleclass. I have.

So, Mr. Big Shot, keep in mind not one cent of wealth was ever originally "created" without some grunt having dug, drilled, mined, herded, programmed, loaded, hammered, felled, netted, harvested, built, assembled or fracked and give them the respect they deserve.