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We need more fracking!

Jack Hays

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The Breathtaking Benefits of Fracking - James Panero, City Journal

James Panero
The View from Marcellus
Fracking brings breathtaking economic and environmental benefits—at least to places that welcome it.
23_3-jp.jpg
MARK OVASKA/REDUX
A drill near Dimock, Pennsylvania, taps what may be the world’s second-largest reserve of natural gas.

Few people understand the ground better than Larry Fulmer, a soft-spoken man with flowing white hair pulled back into a ponytail. Fulmer, the hydrofracturing superintendent for Cabot Oil & Gas in Pennsylvania, knows just how much pressurized water and sand will liberate the natural gas trapped in the shale rock a mile beneath our feet. Here, in a small square field carved out of hill country in Dimock, Pennsylvania, his crew is mixing water and sand day and night. “They pull [the mixture] in at 35 to 40 pounds per square inch,” he explains, “and boost it to whatever our treating pressure is, anywhere from 4,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch, and they send it back to the missile”—the final hose to the well. Like a traveling show, Fulmer’s people will be here for just four days before packing up and moving on to the next venue.
Over the last half-decade, workers like Fulmer have tapped immense quantities of previously unreachable energy from pockets deep underground. The economic and political benefits of this Shale Revolution, as it’s sometimes called, are enormous. Shale gas is locally abundant and easily transported to serve the heating and electricity needs of the East Coast. It diminishes our dependence on foreign oil and gas, generates domestic jobs, and pours money into poor rural areas. The hydrofracturing technology to extract, transport, and use it already exists, so there’s no need for decades of research and development before we can take advantage of it.
Shale gas is also far cleaner than oil and coal; indeed, environmentalists should be crusading for it. Instead, they have sought to smother the Shale Revolution, claiming that it’s harmful to the environment and promoting their cause through complaisant media. Their relentless work has begun to turn public opinion and has even influenced New York’s governor to delay the approval of fracking in his state. That’s why I’ve come to visit an active drilling community in rural Pennsylvania, atop the vast rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. I want to observe gas exploration in person. When you’re on the ground, it’s hard not to be awed by its promise—and worried that so many have become convinced otherwise.:mrgreen:
 
I am Pro-Fracking if, and it's a big IF, the drilling corporations establish baseline water wells (hundreds) in the areas where they will be horizontally drilling and fracking. These wells must be done first, before any fracking. That way if any water table groundwater is contaminated, there will be no avenue of denial saying, "if we contaminated, prove it." That statement is no good, after the fact. The fluids, chemicals, lubricants, solvents, ad infinitum, must be identified before drilling to enable testing authorities to do realistic analysis. If fracking does not contaminate, then there should be no problem with baseline testing.
 
The Breathtaking Benefits of Fracking - James Panero, City Journal

James Panero
The View from Marcellus
Fracking brings breathtaking economic and environmental benefits—at least to places that welcome it.
23_3-jp.jpg
MARK OVASKA/REDUX
A drill near Dimock, Pennsylvania, taps what may be the world’s second-largest reserve of natural gas.

Few people understand the ground better than Larry Fulmer, a soft-spoken man with flowing white hair pulled back into a ponytail. Fulmer, the hydrofracturing superintendent for Cabot Oil & Gas in Pennsylvania, knows just how much pressurized water and sand will liberate the natural gas trapped in the shale rock a mile beneath our feet. Here, in a small square field carved out of hill country in Dimock, Pennsylvania, his crew is mixing water and sand day and night. “They pull [the mixture] in at 35 to 40 pounds per square inch,” he explains, “and boost it to whatever our treating pressure is, anywhere from 4,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch, and they send it back to the missile”—the final hose to the well. Like a traveling show, Fulmer’s people will be here for just four days before packing up and moving on to the next venue.
Over the last half-decade, workers like Fulmer have tapped immense quantities of previously unreachable energy from pockets deep underground. The economic and political benefits of this Shale Revolution, as it’s sometimes called, are enormous. Shale gas is locally abundant and easily transported to serve the heating and electricity needs of the East Coast. It diminishes our dependence on foreign oil and gas, generates domestic jobs, and pours money into poor rural areas. The hydrofracturing technology to extract, transport, and use it already exists, so there’s no need for decades of research and development before we can take advantage of it.
Shale gas is also far cleaner than oil and coal; indeed, environmentalists should be crusading for it. Instead, they have sought to smother the Shale Revolution, claiming that it’s harmful to the environment and promoting their cause through complaisant media. Their relentless work has begun to turn public opinion and has even influenced New York’s governor to delay the approval of fracking in his state. That’s why I’ve come to visit an active drilling community in rural Pennsylvania, atop the vast rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. I want to observe gas exploration in person. When you’re on the ground, it’s hard not to be awed by its promise—and worried that so many have become convinced otherwise.:mrgreen:

Natural gas is still a fossil fuel and thus it is "unacceptable" to the solar/wind energy crowd. I agree that we are foolish not to use all viable means to reduce oil imports, including clean(er) coal usage and more nuclear power.
 
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it. Fracking has unseen consequences that have not been thoroughly researched. The method is haphazard and contaminates groundwater over entire regions. The fracking companies just don't care, they want $$$ and it doesn't matter how many people end up having health problems. They're trying to frack in NY state now which would contaminate the water shed that millions of people rely on.

No amount of fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. is going to make it competitive with OPEC nations. We just don't have that much oil vs. demand. People need to quit deluding themselves that we will ever be fuel independent. The U.S. stategy for the past 15 years has been about securing the Middle East so that it can bypass OPEC. We're never going to be able to do it domestically.
 
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it. Fracking has unseen consequences that have not been thoroughly researched. The method is haphazard and contaminates groundwater over entire regions. The fracking companies just don't care, they want $$$ and it doesn't matter how many people end up having health problems. They're trying to frack in NY state now which would contaminate the water shed that millions of people rely on.

No amount of fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. is going to make it competitive with OPEC nations. We just don't have that much oil vs. demand. People need to quit deluding themselves that we will ever be fuel independent. The U.S. stategy for the past 15 years has been about securing the Middle East so that it can bypass OPEC. We're never going to be able to do it domestically.

Gasland is a fraud.
 
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it. Fracking has unseen consequences that have not been thoroughly researched. The method is haphazard and contaminates groundwater over entire regions. The fracking companies just don't care, they want $$$ and it doesn't matter how many people end up having health problems. They're trying to frack in NY state now which would contaminate the water shed that millions of people rely on.

No amount of fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. is going to make it competitive with OPEC nations. We just don't have that much oil vs. demand. People need to quit deluding themselves that we will ever be fuel independent. The U.S. stategy for the past 15 years has been about securing the Middle East so that it can bypass OPEC. We're never going to be able to do it domestically.




Gasland is a combination of information and agenda driven propaganda.
 
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it. Fracking has unseen consequences that have not been thoroughly researched. The method is haphazard and contaminates groundwater over entire regions. The fracking companies just don't care, they want $$$ and it doesn't matter how many people end up having health problems. They're trying to frack in NY state now which would contaminate the water shed that millions of people rely on.

No amount of fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. is going to make it competitive with OPEC nations. We just don't have that much oil vs. demand. People need to quit deluding themselves that we will ever be fuel independent. The U.S. stategy for the past 15 years has been about securing the Middle East so that it can bypass OPEC. We're never going to be able to do it domestically.

[h=3]Groundtruthing Academy Award Nominee 'Gasland' - NYTimes.com[/h]www.nytimes.com/.../24greenwire-groundtruthing-academy-award-nomi...‎:mrgreen:
 
Gasland is a fraud.

Perhaps you need more background on International gas politics. This fracking is not going to help the US citizens, just the Major Energy distribution network. If energy prices were about supply and demand the price of gasoline would have dropped over 30% due to reduced demand since the GWBush, the first torturer, crash of 2008. Perhaps the whole industry is rife with "fraud." I don't want the Energy Industry running my Country and it does, otherwise we would not be having wars to accumulate access to the large petrofuel energy sources. We must be acquiring these resources for Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, BP. etc., not for the taxpayer, Joe Citizen.

What The US & Russia Are Really Quarreling Over: Pipelines

"Snowden standoff part of gas “race for what’s left”

The lion’s share of media coverage surrounding Edward Snowden has focused on both the intrigue of his asylum standoff and the pervasiveness of the global surveillance apparatus alone.

Missed in the discussion is what Hampshire College professor Michael Klare refers to as “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet” in his book titled precisely that, on full display in the Snowden asylum standoff milieu.

That is, a relentless battle royale ensuing between the global powers for the world’s quickly diminishing, increasingly difficult-to-obtain and ecologically hazardous forms of “extreme energy,” like shale gas fracking.

“Make no mistake: Rising powers/shrinking planet is a dangerous formula. Addressing the interlocking challenges of resource competition, energy shortages, and climate change will be among the most difficult problems facing the human community,” he writes in the book’s conclusion.

“If we continue to extract and consume the planet’s vital resources in the same [...] fashion as in the past, we will, sooner rather than later, transform the earth into a barely habitable scene of desolation.”"

"Despite the reality of the “exploration treadmill,” myriad politicians have backed the notion of the U.S. serving as a global supplier of gas via LNG exports. Congress has already introduced two bills in 2013 – the Expedite our Economy Act of 2013 and the Expedited LNG for American Allies Act of 2013 – calling for expedited approval of the remaining LNG export terminal proposals.

“[T]he timeline for considering these applications may jeopardize our ability to retain a competitive position against other natural gas exporting nations who are also working diligently to export LNG,” a bipartisan cadre of 34 U.S. Senators wrote in a July 9 letter to U.S. Department of Energy head Ernest Moniz urging the DOE for to speedily approve LNG export terminal applications. “There is a global race for market share underway,” the letter continued. “American competitors have been at a disadvantage for the past year and a half because the Department of Energy has delayed action on pending applications.”

Sometimes politicians are vague when it comes to the rationale for expedited LNG exports, using phrases like the ability to maintain a “competitive position” against “other natural gas exporting nations” but not calling out those nations by name.

Others, however, take off the kid gloves and name names. “Our bill will also promote the energy security of key U.S. allies by helping reduce their dependence on oil and gas from countries, such as Russia and Iran,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), co-sponsor of the Expedited LNG for American Allies Act of 2013, of the rational behind the bill’s January 2013 introduction.

Months later, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) wrote similarly in a June 2013 Houston Chronicle op-ed piece. “Aside from unquestionable economic benefits, there are also geopolitical considerations that make exporting LNG to our friends and allies a no-brainer,” Poe wrote. “The risk of high reliance on Russian gas has been a principal driver of European energy policy in recent decades … From the U.S. perspective, cheap but reliable natural gas would reduce Moscow’s clout while shoring up goodwill amongst our allies.”"
 
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it. Fracking has unseen consequences that have not been thoroughly researched. The method is haphazard and contaminates groundwater over entire regions. The fracking companies just don't care, they want $$$ and it doesn't matter how many people end up having health problems. They're trying to frack in NY state now which would contaminate the water shed that millions of people rely on.

No amount of fossil fuel exploration in the U.S. is going to make it competitive with OPEC nations. We just don't have that much oil vs. demand. People need to quit deluding themselves that we will ever be fuel independent. The U.S. stategy for the past 15 years has been about securing the Middle East so that it can bypass OPEC. We're never going to be able to do it domestically.

So you base your opinion on a left wing propaganda film huh. :roll: Try doing your own research.
 
So you base your opinion on a left wing propaganda film huh. :roll: Try doing your own research.

Northern Light said:
After watching Gasland, reading more about the toxic chemicals being pumped into the earth, and the enormous expenditure of fresh water to make fracking happen, I just can't support it.

Try reading next time.
 
Perhaps you need more background on International gas politics. This fracking is not going to help the US citizens, just the Major Energy distribution network. If energy prices were about supply and demand the price of gasoline would have dropped over 30% due to reduced demand since the GWBush, the first torturer, crash of 2008. Perhaps the whole industry is rife with "fraud." I don't want the Energy Industry running my Country and it does, otherwise we would not be having wars to accumulate access to the large petrofuel energy sources. We must be acquiring these resources for Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, BP. etc., not for the taxpayer, Joe Citizen.

What The US & Russia Are Really Quarreling Over: Pipelines

"Snowden standoff part of gas “race for what’s left”

The lion’s share of media coverage surrounding Edward Snowden has focused on both the intrigue of his asylum standoff and the pervasiveness of the global surveillance apparatus alone.

Missed in the discussion is what Hampshire College professor Michael Klare refers to as “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet” in his book titled precisely that, on full display in the Snowden asylum standoff milieu.

That is, a relentless battle royale ensuing between the global powers for the world’s quickly diminishing, increasingly difficult-to-obtain and ecologically hazardous forms of “extreme energy,” like shale gas fracking.

“Make no mistake: Rising powers/shrinking planet is a dangerous formula. Addressing the interlocking challenges of resource competition, energy shortages, and climate change will be among the most difficult problems facing the human community,” he writes in the book’s conclusion.

“If we continue to extract and consume the planet’s vital resources in the same [...] fashion as in the past, we will, sooner rather than later, transform the earth into a barely habitable scene of desolation.”"

"Despite the reality of the “exploration treadmill,” myriad politicians have backed the notion of the U.S. serving as a global supplier of gas via LNG exports. Congress has already introduced two bills in 2013 – the Expedite our Economy Act of 2013 and the Expedited LNG for American Allies Act of 2013 – calling for expedited approval of the remaining LNG export terminal proposals.

“[T]he timeline for considering these applications may jeopardize our ability to retain a competitive position against other natural gas exporting nations who are also working diligently to export LNG,” a bipartisan cadre of 34 U.S. Senators wrote in a July 9 letter to U.S. Department of Energy head Ernest Moniz urging the DOE for to speedily approve LNG export terminal applications. “There is a global race for market share underway,” the letter continued. “American competitors have been at a disadvantage for the past year and a half because the Department of Energy has delayed action on pending applications.”

Sometimes politicians are vague when it comes to the rationale for expedited LNG exports, using phrases like the ability to maintain a “competitive position” against “other natural gas exporting nations” but not calling out those nations by name.

Others, however, take off the kid gloves and name names. “Our bill will also promote the energy security of key U.S. allies by helping reduce their dependence on oil and gas from countries, such as Russia and Iran,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), co-sponsor of the Expedited LNG for American Allies Act of 2013, of the rational behind the bill’s January 2013 introduction.

Months later, Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) wrote similarly in a June 2013 Houston Chronicle op-ed piece. “Aside from unquestionable economic benefits, there are also geopolitical considerations that make exporting LNG to our friends and allies a no-brainer,” Poe wrote. “The risk of high reliance on Russian gas has been a principal driver of European energy policy in recent decades … From the U.S. perspective, cheap but reliable natural gas would reduce Moscow’s clout while shoring up goodwill amongst our allies.”"

Extraordinary growth in US natural gas production has already had a strong effect on energy prices in the US. This year I transitioned my home from oil heat to natural gas because prices low, going lower, and will stay low for a century.:peace
 
Point is you base at least part of your opinion on a movie so your reading list is highly suspect.

Well then it's a good thing I don't have to prove myself to you, otherwise I'd be a bit concerned. :roll:
 
They pull [the mixture] in at 35 to 40 pounds per square inch,” he explains, “and boost it to whatever our treating pressure is, anywhere from 4,000 to 9,000 pounds per square inch, and they send it back to the missile”—the final hose to the well.

:lamo

Just to clear this up so people dont think we are pumping at 9000 psi with a garden hose

35-40 psi is the "boost" from a centrifugal pump to supply fluid to the low pressure part of the missle, which feeds into a spread of positive displacement high pressure pumps (usually around 1500-2000 hydraulic horsepower each), which then discharge back into the high pressure (4000-9000 psi) part of the missle. Then there is some form of iron rigged onto the well with manifolding so you can actually bleed off this immense pressure when you are done. So, and the missle is not a "hose"...
 
[h=2]Hump Day Hilarity: Great moments in planet saving energy engineering[/h] Posted on August 21, 2013 by Anthony Watts
British fracking protestor Prajna has it all figured out. Tom Wilson interviewed this guy at the fracking protest in Balcombe England. A cartoon from Josh follows.
DSCF3464.jpg

Prajna
Have you protested before on energy issues?
Prajna: “Well, no. But I’ve designed a few energy things. I’ve designed an internal combustion engine that only has two moving parts, which is far too efficient to produce, otherwise oil companies would kill me.
I’ve had some top engineers working on it. My great uncle designed a perpetual motion machine. But he was busy looking for something that would insulate between magnets in order to produce it. Well actually I’ve had a look at the design since. I looked into buoyancy. I did all the maths on buoyancy.
It never seems to quite work, does it?
Prajna: “Well, this is the thing. It does work. It balances perfectly.”
Are you against the extraction of all fossil fuels in the UK?
Prajna: “Do you know, it would be a wonderful start if they just stopped suppressing free energy and starting encouraging it. But they’re not about that.”:mrgreen:
 
[h=2]Hump Day Hilarity: Great moments in planet saving energy engineering[/h] Posted on August 21, 2013 by Anthony Watts
British fracking protestor Prajna has it all figured out. Tom Wilson interviewed this guy at the fracking protest in Balcombe England. A cartoon from Josh follows.
DSCF3464.jpg

Prajna
Have you protested before on energy issues?
Prajna: “Well, no. But I’ve designed a few energy things. I’ve designed an internal combustion engine that only has two moving parts, which is far too efficient to produce, otherwise oil companies would kill me.
I’ve had some top engineers working on it. My great uncle designed a perpetual motion machine. But he was busy looking for something that would insulate between magnets in order to produce it. Well actually I’ve had a look at the design since. I looked into buoyancy. I did all the maths on buoyancy.
It never seems to quite work, does it?
Prajna: “Well, this is the thing. It does work. It balances perfectly.”
Are you against the extraction of all fossil fuels in the UK?
Prajna: “Do you know, it would be a wonderful start if they just stopped suppressing free energy and starting encouraging it. But they’re not about that.”:mrgreen:

Thanks for the funny post! :thumbs: It appears as if he's totally enjoying himself, too, since he looks like he's about to break out laughing!
 
Thanks for the funny post! :thumbs: It appears as if he's totally enjoying himself, too, since he looks like he's about to break out laughing!

It's one of the advantages of insanity: everything can be a source of laughter.:mrgreen:
 
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