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“BP forecasts….”
Enough said.
Andrew, a few months ago you were patting me on the back for having convinced you it shouldn’t happen. As far as I know, you’re not involved in the fight against fracking in a public way; if that’s true, what’s stopping you from, say, joining one of the committees that make State Senate visits? We could certainly use an eloquent, young and influential person like yourself, and I can put you in touch with the person who makes visits just like that.
I agree with you that on balance it probably shouldn’t happen, but I’ve never said that I think it won’t happen (I think). It seems inevitable — indeed, it’s already happening in many states — so I’m just suggesting that we set realistic rather than idealistic goals and push for strong regulations and lots of tax returns to local communities.
And if turns out that some good comes of it (jobs, taxes, energy independence) then we can celebrate those as well. (Can’t we?)
No, I don’t think I could celebrate jobs, and taxes, and energy independence when I know that the jobs are temporary, the tax revenue short-lived and the estimate of reserves that would lead to energy independence grossly overestimated by the industry – all in exchange for intentionally releasing carcinogens into the environment. But the issue of whether or not the glass is half full is different from whether or not it’s inevitable. That word, inevitable, makes me squirm in this circumstance, since it’s usually used when people have admitted defeat before they’ve gotten started fighting. As Sandra Steingraber said when she announced that she was giving her entire Heinz Award to the fracking fight, there’s no more important battle to be fought right now than this one; while we’re not all called to give speeches or march in the streets, neither are we called to enable the people who put their profit in front of the health and safety of people (not to mention in front of the care of God’s earth.)
If drilling were inevitable, drilling-related funds would have been allocated in New York State’s budget, but last week when the budget was released, the funds weren’t there. In that it seems we’ve won an important battle, and in the meantime there are more and more stories in the news that make drilling, finally, politically unintelligent: drilling was named to be the cause of earthquakes in Ohio, the EPA decided to deliver water to a community in Pennsylvania whose water was polluted, though the company swore (“we *swear*!”) it was fine to drink. And Bulgaria where unemployment is around 12%, banned shale gas drilling, as did Northern Ireland. So yes, drilling is happening in other states. And the 99% aren’t nearly as well funded and organized as the 1%. And they have more political connections, blah, blah blah. But – not to be obtuse – so what? I’d rather focus on this: “HyperSolar’s Green Gas Makes Fracking Obsolete.”
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/01/17/hypersolars-green-gas-makes-fracking-obsolete/