Fracking: Inventer and Inducer

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(1) Schumpeter | The father of Fracking; Few businesspeople have done as much to change the world as George Mitchell. Economist, Aug 3, 2013
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... rge-mitchell-father
(obituary)

Quote: "But the pessimists [on America] are ignoring a mighty force pushing in the opposite direction: America’s extraordinary capacity to reinvent itself. * * * George Mitchell, who died on July 26th, was a one-man refutation of the declinist hypothesis.

Note:
(a) "THE United States has of late been in a slough of despond."
(i) slough (n): "a place of deep mud or mire"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slough

Take notice the homonym meaning "the cast-off skin of a snake" (also found in the same Web page) is pronounced differently.
(ii) despond (n): "DESPONDENCY"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despond
(b)
(i) George P Mitchell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_P._Mitchell
(1919-2013; section 1.1 Early life: how his father got the surname)
(ii) Cynthia and George P Mitchell '40. Texas A&M Foundation, undated
http://giving.tamu.edu/faculty/a ... 0Professorship.aspx
(photo)

(c) Galveston, Texas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston,_Texas
(During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia named the island Gálvez-town or Gálveztown in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Galvez)
(i) Bernardo de Gálvez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardo_de_G%C3%A1lvez
(1746-1786;  father Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo)
(ii) Spanish naming customs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_naming_customs
(section 1 Naming system in Spain)

(d) "Barnett Shale beneath Dallas and Fort Worth"

Barnett Shale Information. Railroad Commission (RRC) of Texas, Aug 22, 2013
http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/barnettshale/index.php
(map; "John W. Barnett settled in the San Saba County during late 19th century and named a local stream the Barnett Stream. In the early 20th century during a mapping exercise, geologists noted a thick black organic-rich shale in an outcrop close to the stream and named it the Barnett Shale")
(e) civvy = civilian