tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534598933965521300.post7612045029425935215..comments2023-04-26T02:28:13.648-07:00Comments on Madame L Has an Opinion: Fracking And Rick Santorum And Big Oil And MoneyMadame Ellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265879154586439823noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534598933965521300.post-47829926873903451692012-02-15T19:50:08.337-08:002012-02-15T19:50:08.337-08:00"There ain't no such thing as a free lunc..."There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." This is life - it's a Conservation Law, just like momentum and energy-matter. <br /><br />There is NOTHING that is free of consequences. There is NO drug without SOME side effect. Heck, there is no FOOD without some side effect. I'm rubbing one above my belt right now...<br /><br />Yes, fracking the Marcellus Shale has the potential of freeing us from dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Yes, there ARE vast resources there. Yes, it will create jobs in jobless regions, and thus boost the moribund economy. And yes... there will be consequences...<br /><br />Strange solvents injected deep underground have always had a surprising tendency to crop up later in the most unexpected places. No matter what anyone will tell you, the Marcellus Shale is NOT a closed system. After 30 years of study costing billions of dollars, Yucca Mountain is not a closed system, either. There is an entire sub-field of geophysics devoted to mapping NAPL and DNAPL plumes in groundwater. <br /><br />It all comes down to a balancing act: do the benefits outweigh the side-effects? Can we LIVE with the side effect? Can our GRANDCHILDREN live with the side effects? <br /><br />The problem, ultimately, is there are too many unknowns to make even an educated guess on when these things will pop out again: 10 years? 100 years? 100,000 years? <br /><br />You'd have to be a prophet to know.<br />~~~~~AskTheGeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06354833219992420022noreply@blogger.com