Early this morning, the two of us, together with Tom, had an opportunity to witness Governor Tom Corbett get in a kayak at Narrowsburg to paddle down the Delaware River.  He launched from the Pennsylvania Fish Commission access just below the Narrowsburg bridge and, of course, a small group of natural gas opponents were there to greet him.  However, there was also a determined group of natural gas advocates.  We were there to capture it all.

Tom also treated us to a follow up drive-by of Josh Fox’s claimed home (actually his father’s second home) and lo and behold, we met the Fox himself in his den.  It was only two cars passing on a narrow country lane, but we couldn’t mistake the nerdy glasses or smirky grin.  No words were exchanged, only a friendly wave, but it provided a fitting end to another anti-climatic day of anti-gas bloviating.Corbett arrived a little after 8 am and got in the river a few minutes later, seemingly taking no notice of the band of antis on the other side of the river.  A handful more greeted him from the Pennsylvania side and another half-dozen followed his flotilla with one of their own.  They had signs urging Pennsylvania to pay its DRBC dues, as if Pennsylvania should give up its leverage to other states who refuse to vote on regulations, and similar inane messages.

The pro-natural gas side was represented by the Northern Wayne Property Owners Alliance (NWPOA):

NWPOA Gas Supporters

Curt Coccodrilli was among the group and did a great job talking with TV 13 and the Times Herald Record.

It was wonderful to see Governor Corbett enjoying the beautiful Delaware River, which he also kayaked last year.  This is, obviously, a man who appreciates the natural beauty of the area and understands natural gas development will do nothing to detract from it.  He also displayed a confidence that stood in sharp contrast to the squeaky voices of the small band of malcontents who came from places as far away as Langhorn, Pennsylvania to protest.  There was no one there from the NWPOA who did not appreciate Governor Tom Corbett coming to the area and experiencing it all first hand.

Governor Tom Corbett on Delaware

The natural gas opponents who were there tried a bit of chanting, but the NWPOA contingent did a little bit of its own.

The whole thing involved maybe 15 minutes of activity and ended with the excitement of a C-Span program, as the anti-natural gas folks demonstrated how completely irrelevant they are.

Tom, to make up for the let down, took us on a side trip to Milanville to see Josh Fox’s supposed home (he spends more of his time in New York City, of course).  We thought he might be up for the weekend to be part of the protest and, sure enough, shortly after we passed his house we ran into him on the one lane road where his father’s cabin is located.  He courteously pulled over to let us pass and we gave each other a friendly wave as he smiled back with that goofy grin he loves to deploy.  Once again it was all anti-climatic, but at least we got to see the Fox in his den.  That was perhaps the most exciting part of the day.