Post Comment
Enter the details of the comment
you'd like to post in the boxes below and click the button at
the bottom of the form.
 |
| 51. |
Re: Out of the Blue |
Jan 10, 2013, 23:26 |
jdreyer |
|
|
Creston wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 18:35:
In any case, the movie "Gasland" really brought it all about, and it's basically full of panic-rhetoric. The whole "it sets your faucets on fire!" bullshit was debunked by the ACTUAL WATER COMPANY IN QUESTION who stated that normal methane buildup was the cause for that single, isolated incident. Yet everyone worried about fracking always immediately bleats "AW MY GAWSH IT SAWTS AWR HAWSES AWN FAWR!" I haven't seen that movie, so I couldn't comment on that. Most of the antifracking stuff I've heard about has been in the news: groundwater pollution, earthquakes, that kind of stuff. I've not heard how widespread or dangerous it is compared to other industries. I have heard that fracking is one of the least regulated industries, and that does concern me, given the history of oil and coal production in the US.
Creston wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 18:35:
This is really the big one. Investing in green energy is fine, but it will take 20-30 years before enough production is online to meet the majority of demand. Such investment would also tally somewhere around a trillion dollars, which isn't money the US has lying around somewhere.
So barring that, you can either have Coal, Oil or Nuclear as your alternative power source. Nobody will engage in Nuclear right now, we want to get rid of our Oil dependence, so that leaves coal. And for everyone who complains how dirty a fracking site is, have you SEEN what a coal mine does to the environment around it?
Yeah, we could be doing solar and wind much faster than we are now. Germany, Netherlands, and other countries are making it happen, with already 15% of electric production coming from those sources. We'd still need to be doing fracking and building CCGTs, but at a slower, more controlled rate.
Creston wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 18:35:
(And the eco hippies will reply by saying "yeah, but a coal mine brings local jobs!" What do you think a fracking site brings?) I've never heard a pro enviroment person say anything pro-coal. Ever. Not even about jobs. I've read anti-fracking comments, but never "Let's do more coal instead of fracking."
Creston wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 18:35:
Economically, taking advantage of the US' natural gas reserves has the power to take the US out of its slump and likely even out of its debt, there is that much money involved in it. I'm not saying that money takes precedence over environmental concerns, but until such environmental concerns have actually been scientifically proven, I'm going to say that fracking is about the best thing we can do to keep our energy supply up to par.
I am concerned that we're really expanding this without completely understanding it. I'm not saying it's bad, but I think the effects of doing it aren't fully understood yet. Regardless, I think fracking is here to stay, and barring some devastating issue, will continue to be used for the foreseeable future. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Twitter 
