FLASHBACK: Fmr. Dem. Pa. Gov. Ed Rendell on the NYT claims: If the goal of your report about natural gas drilling was to gratuitously frighten Pennsylvanians, then congratulations on a job well done. If it was to deliver an evenhanded examination of the critical balance that must be achieved between job creation, energy independence and environmental protection in regions with large natural gas deposits, then it was a mighty swing and a miss. … [Fmr. PADEP sec. John Hanger and I] strongly disagree that there is lax regulation and oversight of gas drilling there. (New York Times, 3/5/11)

• Hickenlooper said news reports on fracking — including recent articles in The New York Times — were full of misinformation and distortions of facts, causing a public mistrust and paranoia about the industry. “This is all hyperbole and anxiety being expressed … and no science here,” he said. (Platts, 8/2/11)

• “Everybody in this room understands that hydraulic fracturing doesn’t connect to the groundwater,” said the Democrat and former petroleum geologist. “It’s almost inconceivable that we would ever contaminate, through the fracking process, the groundwater.” He blamed inaccuracies and misinformation in the media – he named The New York Times three times – for public anxiety about fracking. (Durango Herald, 8/2/11)

• Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told an audience at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association Energy Epicenter in Denver that groundwater sampling before and after hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of shale gas deposits was needed to allay public “paranoia.” … He dismissed a recent damning report on fracking in The New York Times as a baseless article meant to excite the public with “hyperbole.” Some state environmental agencies and energy companies say that, if done correctly, fracking poses little threat to the environment. (UPI, 8/3/11)

• Hickenlooper said the concerns over fracking were overblown and not based on science. (Denver Post, 8/3/11)

• “It’s almost inconceivable” that so-called fracking fluids affect groundwater because they are released far below the level of the water, Hickenlooper told a Colorado Oil and Gas Association conference in Denver. (Associated Press, 8/2/11)

• Colorado governor says fracking doesn’t contaminate ground water: Gov. John Hickenlooper today dismissed the fears of activists and community members concerned that the natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing can contaminate groundwater supplies. (Washington Independent,8/3/11)

• “Everyone in this room understands that hydraulic fracturing doesn’t connect to groundwater, that it’s almost inconceivable that groundwater will be contaminated,” said Hickenlooper, who worked as a petroleum geologist in Colorado in the 1980s. (Denver Business Journal, 8/2/11)

• Hickenlooper says it’s “almost inconceivable” that the fluids are contaminating water wells. (Northern Colorado 5, 8/2/11)