Drilling for natural gas in shale formations which is made possible by fracking is the target of the environmentalist extremists these days. The opponents of fracking and shale gas are folks who think that any use of fossil fuel is bad. They ignote the fact that burning the gas results in about 40% less emissions than a similar amount of other fossil fuels. They ignore the fact that the gas is significantly less expensive than oil based fuels. They ignore the fact that the gas is produced here at home rather than purchased from some country like Iran or Venezueala that is America's enemy. Their problem, however, is that they are losing the battle. Natural gas production continues to rise quickly. Trucks using natural gas are beginning to spread across the country. The benefits from natural gas are being seen by most Americans.
In an effort to turn things around, the environmental extremists have resorted to spreading lies about natural gas. For example, the movie "Promised Land", a little seen flop starring Matt Damon had gas companies destroying rural America in a mad dash to profits. In fact, it was all fiction. The same is true about the lie that natural gas drilling destroys ground water; each time the EPA (yes the EPA!) has examined the issue, it has concluded that there is no indication that there has been any ground water contamination.
The latest attack is now class based, in the great tradition of the left: gas benefits only the rich and hurts the poor. A good example comes from an article in today's liberal media. Reuters has a story today that American shale gas is a boon to manufacturers but not their workers. It is completely phony. Here are a few examples:
Reuters reports that the industries that are benefiting most are capital rather than labor intensive. Reuters points to a $1.1 billion pipe mill opened by a French - Japanese consortium in Youngstown Ohio which will employ "just 350". I am not kidding; Reuters actually says this. Somehow, "just" 350 jobs is a bad thing. Indeed, the hundreds or thousands who gained employment from the construction of a 1.1 billion dollar mill is ignored as well. Are they kidding? In an area with nothing much else creating jobs, all those jobs at the pipe mill are a good thing.
Reuters also points out that in Ohio, manufacturing has added 42,000 jobs since 2010, with a big chunk coming from gas drilling and related activities. Somehow, this is spun as a bed thing because the state lost 110,000 manufacturing jobs in the years before the increase began. In the warped view of Reuters, we are supposed to think that this slow recovery is due to natural gas drilling. Wrong! The recovery is due for the most part to gas drilling. Without it there would be NO recovery, not one that went more quickly.
In an effort to turn things around, the environmental extremists have resorted to spreading lies about natural gas. For example, the movie "Promised Land", a little seen flop starring Matt Damon had gas companies destroying rural America in a mad dash to profits. In fact, it was all fiction. The same is true about the lie that natural gas drilling destroys ground water; each time the EPA (yes the EPA!) has examined the issue, it has concluded that there is no indication that there has been any ground water contamination.
The latest attack is now class based, in the great tradition of the left: gas benefits only the rich and hurts the poor. A good example comes from an article in today's liberal media. Reuters has a story today that American shale gas is a boon to manufacturers but not their workers. It is completely phony. Here are a few examples:
Reuters reports that the industries that are benefiting most are capital rather than labor intensive. Reuters points to a $1.1 billion pipe mill opened by a French - Japanese consortium in Youngstown Ohio which will employ "just 350". I am not kidding; Reuters actually says this. Somehow, "just" 350 jobs is a bad thing. Indeed, the hundreds or thousands who gained employment from the construction of a 1.1 billion dollar mill is ignored as well. Are they kidding? In an area with nothing much else creating jobs, all those jobs at the pipe mill are a good thing.
Reuters also points out that in Ohio, manufacturing has added 42,000 jobs since 2010, with a big chunk coming from gas drilling and related activities. Somehow, this is spun as a bed thing because the state lost 110,000 manufacturing jobs in the years before the increase began. In the warped view of Reuters, we are supposed to think that this slow recovery is due to natural gas drilling. Wrong! The recovery is due for the most part to gas drilling. Without it there would be NO recovery, not one that went more quickly.
2 comments:
Radon gas kills over 30,000 americans every year and all Fracking releases Radon the silent killer. It is natural in the ground everywhere and all Fracking and other drilling releases it. Then what do we do with the toxic fracking fluid? How much are you being paid by them? We need natural gas but we don't need radon.
That last comment by Peter Baxter is nonsense. Radon is not released by Fracking. The EPA and the state of Pennsylvania both did studies to determine if any radioactive materials were brought to the surface as a result of fracking. Both government agencies found that there was no radiation released due to fracking at all.
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