Posted on 10/19/2013 7:46:32 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The benefits of hydraulic fracturing in terms of job creation and meeting energy demands have been drastically exaggerated, while the consequences of the controversial practice could prove cataclysmic, geopolitical commentator Ian Crane told RT.
RT: You used to work in the oil industry yourself: what is it that makes fracking worse than the other extraction techniques of oil and gas?
Ian Crane: What were talking about primarily here is the extraction of shale gas from unconventional geology. This is a very different technology, a very different technique from the usual process of extracting from conventional reservoirs.
The gas has to be extracted from what is known as tight geology. Thats a very good description, because it means that the geology is compact; its very difficult to drill through, and theres very low porosity and permeability in that geology.
Consequently, the geology has to be opened, porosity and permeability has to be created, and this is done through high pressure, high volume hydraulic fracturing with literally millions of gallons of water and primarily this is fresh water mixed with a very toxic recipe of chemicals.
So what were talking about here is a number of issues. Were talking about a phenomenal use of fresh water, which, once the chemicals are added, is lost to the system.
RT: The companies that are doing this, do they actually have governments behind them? Do they know whats going on, are they with the companies?
IC: Of course the governments are supporting it, in fact its a government/industry driven agenda. What were seeing around the world is people reacting against this. The reality is that everywhere in the world, where this process has been put into use, it has resulted in the contamination of the water, of soil and of the air. When the governments and industry are promoting their shale gas agenda, they conveniently leave out the evidence that this is an abomination.
RT: But were talking about job creation here as well, with these companies there is that aspect of things. Should the public put job creation above everything else as we are in tough economic times right now?
IC: I think the thing that should be put above everything else is the protection of the water supply. Because if we dont have access to fresh water, were talking about the potential end of all life. As for the jobs and as for the gas at what price? The end of ecology or the end of life on earth as we know it?
In recent days actually, in the Financial Times it was two days ago a report was published that stated categorically that government estimates in terms of the number of jobs that this industry would create are grossly exaggerated. The likelihood is that maybe over the next 20 years, some 10-15,000 jobs may be created, which is actually minute.
Gazprom PR...
I agree with you.
Our universe, galaxy and solar system have been around a LONG time.
We've only been keeping track of weather for ONLY a little while, in cosmic time. We just don't know the full circle, if there even is one.
Guessology.
Don’t forget low sudsing soap.
I use to sell Amway LOC Soap for use in fracking, when I lived in Oklahoma .....where the wind comes sweeping down the plain wind...
“a phenomenal use of fresh water ... once chemicals are added is lost to the system”
Whaaat? Any time chemicals are added to water, it’s “lost”?
Lost to the “system”? To the ecosystem?
Gee, physics were never my strong suit but I thought matter couldn’t be destroyed, just changed, and it retained its essential characteristics.
You add sodium chloride to water, it evaporates, rises spirit-like into the sky where it turns into salt-free rain. Water.
I get it. Since Putin ran rings around Barry, the Rooskies think they can screw with us ... well, hmmm, harrumph.
Looks the the one person who watched the Matt Damon movie.
The Russian media is courting the wrong people in America. It’s Obama and the liberals who want to impose on Russia.
Bullshit..Fracking happens on average approx 6000ft below surface. You are NOT getting your drinking water from there (think about it, how much would a rural let alone semi-rural home cost if you had to tap a 4000ft well? A 1000 ft well will spiral your finances) and you probably don’t want to; it’ll taste like crap -stagnant-.
Beyond which, the fracking that is mostly done is encased in a multi-casm back filled “channel” of sorts to prevent loss of what “the evil energy companies” are trying to recover in the first place...
Tired of these assholes...
bwahaha....outstanding.
“I wonder why Democrats want to stop it.”
Cheap energy means freedom of movement.
You don’t have to live in a city like a bunch of sardines in a can.
You can live out of the city and commute.
People that don’t live in cities are more independent in their lives and independent thinkers, which can’t be allowed in the liberal utopia.
In liberal utopia, everyone must think the same and be dependent on the govt to take care of them.
Same with SUV’s.
They gives people the freedom to get off the paved roads and not be dependent on the govt to control where you go.
Funny, I don’t recall hearing about contaminated water from fracking. There must have been thousands of news stories about all the contaminated water and wells that I must have missed. I am deficient!
We can't allow fracking fluid to impurify our precious bodily fluids Mandrake.
The natural gas we get from fracking has caused us to come into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol without even trying.
“So what were talking about here is a number of issues. Were talking about a phenomenal use of fresh water, which, once the chemicals are added, is lost to the system.”
Fracking supporters,,,”we don’t need no steenkin fresh water!!!”
We meet the Roosians half way. We love their yummy mail order brides. The ones under 30. Who haven’t become large and hairy.
But one thing we deny them ... we deny them our essence. No to the Yankee mojo.
The difference between here and other windfarms, is that they are putting them within 1250 feet of peoples houses.
If they succeed, our community will be the highest concentration of turbines amongst the highest populated of any county in the Country.
They already managed to get 100 of them in before everyone realized just how obnoxiously huge and noisy they are.
And this is some of the best farmland in the Country. Over $10,000/acre and no need for irrigation.
This house is about 10 miles from me. They can be seen from more than 15 miles.
NIMBY now means...
Next
It
Might
Be
You
Breathing threatens life on earth as we know it! (At least, I’m sure the lefty alarmists think so.)
That photo really captures what those things look like.
They remind me that when the left started spending tax dollars for art, they seemed to want the biggest, ugliest, most space dominating art pieces that they could find to put into the public spaces.
All this anti fracking crap is being funded by the OPEC and Russian interests. Texas , meanwhile is expected to double oil production by 2020. Some folks don’t want America to be energy independant
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