Gas Driller Halts Distribution of Coloring Book Aimed at US Kids, Colbert Takes on Fracking

Last week, Talisman Energy, a Calgary-based natural gas drilling company announced that they have halted plans to distribute a coloring book targeted at US kids. Want to see it for yourself? Check out the full coloring book here.

via the Post-Gazette:

"Talisman Terry's Energy Adventure" was a 24-page booklet that explained natural gas drilling in kid-friendly fashion and could be downloaded from the... company's website. It had been distributed at community fairs in northeastern Pennsylvania through the company's Good Neighbor program. Talisman Terry's message is overt and unapologetic: drilling for natural gas in formations like the Marcellus Shale is smart, safe and American.

"We're going to take our company's focus to where it should be," said Natalie Cox, spokesperson for Talisman Energy USA, to Fox News. "We're not going to continue to dispute the intent of a children's coloring book. There's two sides to every story, but it's not something that we're going to be disputing . . . it's an activity book for young children."

The Post-Gazette reported on the coloring book last month, and the book's rosy view of the controversial industry was lambasted by critics as dishonest propaganda.

He takes it all on -- the flammable water, the struggle in New York to keep fracking banned (and the Governor's using his recently-earned goodwill in liberal circles for his role in the marriage equality passage to hedge against fallout from removal of the ban), the dangers of fracking, the recklessness of the companies involved in the practice, and, of course, the industry's cynical efforts to win the hearts and minds of kids by distributing a propaganda-laden coloring book.