Hundreds of anti-fracking protestors rallied outside a Marcellus Shale industry conference in Philadelphia. Aubrey McClendon, the chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Co., called people concerned about the safety of their families' drinking water "extremists," even as an industry-friendly report noted that fracking could be costly to communities.

"At times, the rally had the boisterous feel of a rock concert.

'How's it going, Philadelphia?' Josh Fox, movement celebrity and maker of the film Gasland, yelled into the microphone as the crowd cheered.

As more than two dozen police officers lined Arch Street and as coat-and-tied participants at a two-day Marcellus Shale industry conference looked down from Convention Center windows, hundreds of activists held a two-hour anti-fracking rally Wednesday."

Sandy Bauers reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer September 8, 2011. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Shale gas CEO: Anti-Drilling Activists 'Extremists'" (Philadelphia Inquirer) [3]

"Report Outlines Rewards and Risks of Upstate Natural Gas Drilling" (New York Times) [4]