Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Fracking And Rick Santorum And Big Oil And Money

Dear Madame L,

A conservative friend of mine says fracking is the new answer to our country's energy problems. He says it's completely safe and will provide jobs for thousands of people. But I've heard it's not so safe.

Can you tell me the truth about fracking?

Sincerely,

Want the Best for Our Country


Dear Want the Best,

We all want the best, but perhaps we all should have realized by now that "the best" energy solution is never going to come as some miraculous, trouble-free technology or method.

"Fracking" is the hydraulic fracturing of rocks which breaks them up, allowing drills to extract natural gas from layers of rocks beneath the surface. It has not been shown to be safe for anyone or any part of the environment. It causes mini-earthquakes, pollutes the water, sickens people and animals, and pumps dangerous and unregulated chemicals into the earth.


Gasland, The Movie  provides more information about fracking, including links to other sites (such as the Ohio Environmental Council) where you can take action to stop fracking and other actions damaging to Earth's health.

Dimock, Pennsylvania is the town where, because of fracking, according to Vanity Fair, "over the past two years, people’s water started turning brown and making them sick, one woman’s water well spontaneously combusted, and horses and pets mysteriously began to lose their hair.” These kinds of environmental damages have occurred also in Oklahoma, Ohio, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, and every state in which fracking has been done.

Note that the town of Dimock is in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum's home state. So why does Rick Santorum think fracking is so great? Three guesses, and...

You're right! He's being paid the big bucks by the gas and oil industry to say that, to say fracking is just "the new boogeyman..." It's just another way for environmentalists to scare people. But, Santorum says, "Nothing's going to happen."

Earth to Rick Santorum: Something HAS ALREADY happened, to the people of your own state and throughout the United States.

Fortunately Pennsylvania and other states are starting to pass legislation that would regulate the fracking industry, where it operates, the chemicals it uses, and so on.

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum (who doesn't actually live in Pennsylvania any more) still receives huge donations from the oil and gas industry---in the top 15 of the list of senators receiving donations from that industry, even though the last time he ran for the U.S. Senate was in 2006.

What does Madame L think you should make of all this? Madame L refuses to become a cynic in the face of this kind of politicking, but she does suggest that any time you, Dear Readers, hear of a politician who supports fracking or any other activity, you check to see how much money that politician is receiving from that industry. 

Madame L also suggests that you write to YOUR Congressperson and Senators to tell them YOUR opinion on fracking, even if you're not convinced, as Madame L is, that it represents current and future environmental and health issues beyond reckoning.

Health and Safety,

Madame L

1 comment:

AskTheGeologist said...

"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." This is life - it's a Conservation Law, just like momentum and energy-matter.

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...

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...

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.

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?

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?

You'd have to be a prophet to know.
~~~~~