Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush

Thrilled to see this.

Fracking is a gigantic, rolling, disaster, and tens of thousands of people know it, but there are so many forces which need it to work that it's been almost impossible to stop. In wind and efficiency and related fields, the opponents just say, "Natural gas is at $4, and will be for decades to come. Piss off." And it's doubly hard, because our politicians WANT a domestic energy source that will cure all our ills. t

The whole NYT recent series, on the water-related hassles, the GHG-related hassles, and now the economic and technical ones, gives a lot of people working in renewables and such a bit more credibility as they try and stop YET ANOTHER goddamn dash for old-time salvation. (Arctic Oil & Gas, Gulf Oil & Gas, Oilsands Oil, Nuclear, New Nuclear, Clean Coal, Ethanol and now, Fracking.)

3 huzzahs for the NY Times.

I've been running across a lot of stories about alliances between NGas and Wind:

Unlikely allies? Wind and natural gas team up

It may seem like an odd partnership, but the natural gas industry and the wind industry may join forces. On May 25, the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, Denise Bode, teamed up with T. Boone Pickens to craft an op-ed that cast wind and natural gas as the most dynamic of duos. 

A Bode-Pickens matchup makes some sense. Both individuals call Oklahoma their home state, both have experience in the fossil fuel industry and both see wind as key to reducing the amount of energy this country imports.

Their op-ed is on Politico:

Wind and natural gas are natural partners. Gas generators are the most economical way for utilities to respond as electricity use goes up and down through the day, and as wind generation varies over time. 

This 25 Jun 2011 Wall St Journal oped defends fracking: The Facts About Fracking and makes the same tired argument we see from coal, oil, and even wind and solar lobbyists - that energy is too important to actually scrutinize and regulate what energy providers are doing:

The U.S. is in the midst of an energy revolution, and we don't mean solar panels or wind turbines. A new gusher of natural gas from shale has the potential to transform U.S. energy production—that is, unless politicians, greens and the industry mess it up.

Only a decade ago Texas oil engineers hit upon the idea of combining two established technologies to release natural gas trapped in shale formations. Horizontal drilling—in which wells turn sideways after a certain depth—opens up big new production areas. Producers then use a 60-year-old technique called hydraulic fracturing—in which water, sand and chemicals are injected into the well at high pressure—to loosen the shale and release gas (and increasingly, oil).

The resulting boom is transforming America's energy landscape. As recently as 2000, shale gas was 1% of America's gas supplies; today it is 25%. Prior to the shale breakthrough, U.S. natural gas reserves were in decline, prices exceeded $15 per million British thermal units, and investors were building ports to import liquid natural gas. Today, proven reserves are the highest since 1971, prices have fallen close to $4 and ports are being retrofitted for LNG exports. The question for the rest of us is whether we are serious about domestic energy production.
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All forms of energy have risks and environmental costs, not least wind (noise and dead birds and bats) and solar (vast expanses of land). Yet renewables are nowhere close to supplying enough energy, even with large subsidies, to maintain America's standard of living. The shale gas and oil boom is the result of U.S. business innovation and risk-taking. If we let the fear of undocumented pollution kill this boom, we will deserve our fate as a second-class industrial power.

but conservative commenter Tim R objects:

I wonder how many of you folks that are so bent on drilling would have a different view if it were your home or property that was damaged? Our home in Texas has been appraised as high as $340K. The County Review Board has since reduced it to $78K due to the loss of property, soil and water contamination. We had our water tested both prior to drilling and after, so we know the drilling chemicals found were from the drilling. This is not an isolated incident, there are thousands of people out there with contaminated water. The easiest solution, and one that would strongly favor Industry (if their claims of it being impossible to contaminate water) would be to survey the thousands of complaints of contaminated water and see where they are in relation to a gas field.

I also take issue with the statement that "99.5% is water and sand." There's a reason Industry likes to use a percentage instead of gallons. 0.5% doesn't sound like much. Somewhat similar to the 'temporarly relocation' of 7 familes in Bradford County when the well blew out. Temporary relocation sounds much btter than what it actualy was-an emergency evacuation. So, do the math, and you'll see why Industry uses percentage instead of gallons: If the wells use between 3 and 7 MILLION gallons of water (every drop of which is forever removed from the ecological cycle) .5% Is 15,000 gallons of carcinogenic chemicals. That's if it's truly .5% and they only use 3 million.

Industry in Texas has had more than 100 years to spin their stories, pay off politicians, support their campaigns and get the laws written in their favor. And we haven't even mentioned the loopholes. Texas just passed a law that requires frac fluid disclosure of the chemicals used-Unless the chemicals are what the conmpany would consider a 'trade secret'. Gee, I wonder how many chemicals are going to be a trade secret. The age old argument is that Coca-Cola and The Colonel do not give out their 'secret recipes'. That's true, they don't. What Coca-Cola as well as KFC are doing is listing all of the ingredients right their on the package. I'm not interested in the 'secret formula', I just want to know what chemicals we need to test our drinking water for. That, too, is apparently too much to ask for, as Industry enjoys many, many regulatory exemptions, the Clean Water Act is one of them. Time to stop spinning and telling lies and having PR firms dress up their respective pigs. Even CHK's Aubrey McClendon, America's most failed CEO has stated that they are beginning to see problems with drilling and drinking water.

I'm not an environmentalist, a liberal or even a Democrat. I'm a life long Conservative, and registered Republican who would just like to have a safe place to raise my daughter, have clean water and provide her with a safe environment. But because I don't own the minerals, I have no property rights, and, apparently, no protections as afforded millions of other people who call themselves Americans.