(Cracking the Code with Greg Kozera - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

A few years ago at the Kozera family reunion in Pittsburgh, a stranger showed up. The man said he was our dead uncle Jay’s son. Finally learning who his birth father was, he wanted to learn about his family.

The internet helped him locate his half-brothers (my cousins). They invited him to the reunion. He drove from California to meet the family in Pittsburgh. The man was born in a time period when our uncle returned from World War II and was stationed in California before he got married.

There was a resemblance. We don’t know if Uncle Jay knew he had a son. The man gained a family and learned about his father. Uncle Jay’s children gained a half-brother. It took over 60 years. The truth finally came out. People haven’t changed much. The truth ultimately comes to light.

Practically everyone today has a cell phone capable of taking video. There are doorbell cameras, traffic cameras, social media and other technology making it almost impossible to hide anything. I just saw two videos of a congressman changing his position on shutting down the government. Maybe he forgot what he said or thought he wouldn’t get caught.

We live in the most transparent world of all time. Some people lie on dating sites. If the goal is to find a soulmate, starting with a lie is a bad idea. Good relationships are built on trust. People, including members of Congress, will continue to lie unless they are caught, exposed and have consequences.

Time is an exposer of truth. We may not know what the outcome will be of a process or use of a product initially. Time can give us the answer. Initially people didn’t know the dangers of smoking. In the 1950s, there were ads where doctors endorsed tobacco products. Today, the dangers of tobacco are well known and documented.

In the Charleston area, some people were against putting in a traffic circle on a busy road. They voiced concern at public meetings. Anti-traffic circle signs were everywhere. They feared what they didn’t understand. The antis exaggerated the bad things they thought would happen to support their cause, like people driving straight across the circle. (Hard to do with a barrier in the center.) Last I heard, they killed the project out of their ignorance and fear.

The truth is, traffic circles save time and money because cars aren’t sitting at a red light and idling. They don’t use any electricity. Traffic circles are common throughout Europe and in Ohio and Maryland. Small towns have used them for over 100 yeas. The city of Dublin, Ohio where we have our National Speakers Association chapter meetings replaced two stoplights on busy Route 161 with traffic circles. People now drive through both intersections without stopping and idling. I love it. Time shows the truth. Traffic circles work.

The U.S. is the leading oil and natural gas producer in the world because of the Shale Revolution. Modern horizontal drilling and the decades-old process of hydraulic fracturing combined to create access to previously inaccessible resources. In 2008, the U.S. produced 5 million barrels of oil per day, 6% of world production. In 2025, the U.S. produced over 23 million barrels of oil per day, 22% of world production. The Shale Crescent USA produces over one-third of U.S. natural gas and has the cheapest natural gas in the industrialized world. High-wage manufacturing jobs are coming back to our region.

Russia, China, Iran and other oil-producing countries are the losers of the U.S.’s Shale Revolution. The Shale Revolution almost didn’t happen. Out of fear, ignorance or worse, the “antis” claimed the Shale Revolution would be bad for the environment. They focused on banning hydraulic fracturing to shut down the American oil and gas industry by vilifying the 60-plus-year-old process of hydraulic fracturing done over 1 million times without incident. They called it “fracking.”

Using falsehoods, half-truths and emotion, they lobbied local, state and federal regulators. They took their fear mongering to the general public, getting “fracking” banned mostly where there was no oil and gas industry. They convinced people through emotion that fracking would turn regions into a radioactive wasteland, destroying the environment and poisoning groundwater. Hollywood even made a movie where people lit their faucet water saying it was because of fracking. They neglected to tell viewers people have been lighting water in that area for over 200 years.

The antis ignored facts like water does not flow uphill and how can fluid get from 8,000 feet deep to 100 feet deep where groundwater is. Basic engineering stress calculations explain why it is impossible to frack into groundwater. The antis knew people make decisions based on emotion and try to justify them with logic. Emotion usually wins. Did you get married based on emotion or logic?

During those years, I talked to many people who had no idea what fracking was but heard it was bad. A short discussion changed their minds. Time has brought the truth to light. We don’t have poisoned air, groundwater or a radioactive wasteland. Just the opposite, we have the cleanest air and water of my entire life. In Istanbul, a city of over 20 million, the air was clean when we were there. People told me it was because they are using natural gas for power instead of coal.

There is no economical replacement for oil and natural gas. Imagine our lack of freedom and the global environment if we were depending on Russia and Iran for oil.

In today’s transparent world, sooner or later the truth will come out. Sometimes the truth is embarrassing. Truth is easier to remember. It is unchanging. Two thousand years ago during Jesus’ trial before the high priest, people were brought in to lie about Jesus and couldn’t get their stories to agree. Jesus testified to the truth. It got him crucified. It also brought glory and a following of millions today. Be a person of truth and integrity.

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Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker, author of four books and many published articles.