Fracking Absurd
The Promise of “Energy“ Independence”
Is an Empty One
Fracking Stupid
With environmental degradation at an all time high, investing in fossil fuels is fracking absurd. Shale regions (Marcellus, Eagle Ford, Bakken, etc.) around the United States are drilled for their natural gas (primarily methane), often falsely claimed a “clean” alternative to coal. This process is known as fracking/hydraulic fracturing - a controversial method of fossil fuel extraction – wherein horizontal drilling curve into the shale formations creating wells. The pressurized injection of massive amounts of water mixed with sand and a blend of toxic chemicals (benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, etc.) are used to fracture the porous rock, releasing the natural gas.
The gas then makes its way back up with some of the fracking fluid. Before the gas is sold to consumers it is purified in compressor stations. There VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are vented from their relief valves right into the air. Afterward, the toxic filth that is fracking fluid/wastewater (2.5 billion gallons are produced in the USA every day) is stored in pits or shot into deep-injection wells.
Sounds pretty clean, huh? What could possibly go wrong?
Dangerous and Dirty
A lot as it turns out, because fracking is a dangerous and unnecessary business. Drilling waste is buried around watersheds. Groundwater is contaminated with endocrine cycle-disrupting chemicals. Massive gas leaks cause evacuations of neighborhoods. Blowouts release thousands of gallons of toxic flowback. Manufacturing water scarcity, fracking is often allowed to continue unabated in drought stricken areas (even though the sheer amount of water needed to create a gigajoule is ridiculous).
Next, whether it’s in California or Pennsylvania, aquifers are often threatened when wastewater is injected into deep wells (with casings that leak), potentially contaminating drinking water. Earthquakes have resulted from wastewater disposal wells too (Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, etc.). Consequently, fracking leaves in its wake the blight of industrial wastelands full of sacrifice zones.
Additionally natural gas/methane is a powerful greenhouse gas even better than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere. Also, some of it leaks from the wells, perhaps as much as 6%. This contributes to climate change just like the burning of coal. So it’s a false solution, which in reality just exacerbates old problems.
Halliburton Loophole Exemptions
Big Oil & Gas are very similar to Big Tobacco, in that they go to extreme lengths to hide their incriminating evidence, while publicly claiming their product is safe. Halliburton created fracking back in 1949. Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. As Vice President, Cheney would help create the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This gave the fracking industries exemptions to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. This act, commonly known as the “Halliburton Loophole,” is a bastardized use of American legislation to serve corporate interests. If fracking were truly safe, why did they create/need all the exemptions to environmental safety regulations?
The people (some duped, some very willing) who sign lease agreements for Big Oil & Gas to frack their land are often ripped off. Their royalty checks are sucked dry by “new” expenses. Transportation costs, vague gathering fees, and blatant lies regarding the amounts of gas collected are just some of them. The landowners soon discover just how deceptive (and insatiably greedy) the oil and gas companies are. They hide profits, obfuscate their myriad deductions, use intentionally ambiguous contractual language, operate with little to no regulatory oversight, and so on.
Feeling Fracked
So not only is the environment fracked, but so are many of the landowners who sold their mineral rights. When these greedy behemoths try to rip off the government (which they do attempt to do, as leases are also sold on federal lands), the government has many resources to recoup the billions of royalty payments stolen. Yet for the average landowner, paying thousands for auditing and/or arbitration just isn’t a reality. Accordingly they need to do some serious homework before getting into bed with those wolves.
With green energy being capable of giving us all the power we need, why is this dirty business still happening? (Obvious answers: Big Oil & Gas, their lobbyists, venal pollies on the take, etc.) We’re continuously careless with our water. Thus, I can’t help but wonder if water scarcity is part of a bigger (and even more insidious) plan. Is fracking laying the tracks toward water privatization?
- Much Love (and distress),
T. Stickle/2018