tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post4867723148301633054..comments2023-12-27T05:56:10.287-08:00Comments on Denton Drilling: A Blog by Adam Briggle: Fracking and the Fate of the Earth?Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05658985227327961661noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-37706808984149306222012-11-20T09:32:50.195-08:002012-11-20T09:32:50.195-08:00I can choose to participate in and tolerate "...I can choose to participate in and tolerate "lots of risks." In this case, people have no choice. It is currently impossible to regulate away all the impacts even if you can force industry to use their own best practices. People will be damaged and sacrificed for the supposed "good of the whole." Yet, there is no mechanism for reparations once they are damaged. They are left on their own against the most powerful industry on the planet. Good luck and thanks for your sacrifice. <br /><br />Whomever leads and decides on this issue will ultimately decide who suffers and how much they suffer. That they will suffer is a given. I think all the deciders should be forced to offer themselves and their families up to the sacrifice zone. <br /><br />You could spread the word that this suffering is not necessary. http://www.texassharon.com/2012/10/23/facts-about-clean-energy-spread-the-word/ TXsharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07438250322631393952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-81771673019198207872012-11-19T20:21:54.267-08:002012-11-19T20:21:54.267-08:00Wow. Those who don't learn from the past are d...Wow. Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. <br />I have just watched the most interesting series on the Dust Bowl and the correlation between the boom and bust of the wheat production and natural gas production are scary. The "suit case farmers" and the natural gas production companies have used the same play book. They both place profit above any environmental or community damages which might occur because of their "make money fast" approach to business. If the farming techniques used during the 1920s had not been changed to prevent any further environmental destruction it would have been a doomsday scenario. That is not hysteria those of the facts. I think we are headed down the same path if we do not change the way natural gas is extracted in this country. <br />The natural gas industry has brought the strong distrust of the public's perception upon themselves. I have faithfully attended as many of the EPA, TCEQ, RRC, and local municipal meeting as I possibly have been able to and my take on all of this, after 4 years, is the natural gas industy is not willing to compromise. This exploitation of the facts have created a fear, anger, and a backlash which is making a ban on hydraulic fracturing a viable next step the public may needs to consider. <br />When Devon is at the Denton meeting to discuss the proposed new ordinances have you ever heard them say "we can do that" "we want to work with you to protect you family, community, proper values so if it makes you feel more comfortable then we will use vapor recovery"? No they threaten to sue or the dreaded "unintended consequences". <br />Unless you have every lived close to a drilling operation, tried to breath during a vapor release, watched the silica released into the air during fracturing you really don't know how bad it can be. <br />It is easy to sit safely outside of the impact zone and judge how other people should react when they perceive their lives and family are in danger from enviromental problems which are preventable. <br />If the production companies would improve their method of extraction which would "somewhat" prevent or minimize risk of hydraulic fracturing I do not believe people would be talking about banning hydraulic fracturing. <br />We are just "kicking the can down the road". In twenty or thirty years when your children are grown they will be faced with trying to develop renewable energy when all natural gas has been depleted. Where will the water come from for future generations if we continually deplete from our aquifers for hydraulic fracturing? <br />Natural gas production companies will never do better unless they think there will be some "unintended consequences" of their actions. Maybe a ban on hydralic fracturing is not the answer but it might bring the natural gas industry to the table to discuss how to protect our environment better. Cathy McMullennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-1106039103720444452012-11-19T20:16:37.527-08:002012-11-19T20:16:37.527-08:00Well, I would like to spend more time learning - m...Well, I would like to spend more time learning - maybe we could tour around together? I would especially like to tour around with Shale Test - perhaps I am deluded to think fracking is bad but not end-of-the-world bad; that it has some redeeming qualities and is not an unmitigated evil - if so, I welcome being corrected and am always open to learning. Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05658985227327961661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-12860846306782606152012-11-19T20:05:16.072-08:002012-11-19T20:05:16.072-08:00Wow, Adam! I'm stunned by this blog post. I th...Wow, Adam! I'm stunned by this blog post. I think what might be more honest is for you to spend more time in the ACTUAL gas patch rather than the VIRTUAL one and to read the Howarth & Ingraffea study again. Oh, and you might want to listen to the tapes from the PSYOPS conference. ijsTXsharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07438250322631393952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-36427372116172040162012-11-19T19:03:13.150-08:002012-11-19T19:03:13.150-08:00oh, I was also going to say I don't think it i...oh, I was also going to say I don't think it is a waste of time to critique ideas in the public sphere - I think it is vital to learning and dialoguing. I bet you feel the same, actually, or you would not have 'wasted the time' replying ot my blog. Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05658985227327961661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-57684795620872904152012-11-19T18:02:08.686-08:002012-11-19T18:02:08.686-08:00ha! neat reply, thanks. Yes, bias is unavoidable. ...ha! neat reply, thanks. Yes, bias is unavoidable. I just wish I could find better arguments justifying a ban other than "it is so risky!" Because we tolerate lots of risks - why not this one? I would rather just see the case made that "this is our community, we say what happens here, not some corporation." That seems more honest to me - and we don't need all the huff-puffery about climate change to make that claim. Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05658985227327961661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5354570505974016585.post-63512850951681239412012-11-19T14:49:04.251-08:002012-11-19T14:49:04.251-08:00I like you, man, but we get it: The extremes are e...I like you, man, but we get it: The extremes are extreme. But just because someone uses what you perceive to be a false dilemma does not mean that you're not guilty of trying to achieve a false compromise. If one side says fracking will destroy the planet and the other says fracking will save our economy, that doesn't necessarily mean that the truth must be in the middle somewhere; to assume as much would be just as "simplistic" as the argument you lambaste. None of this is to say that the middle ground is a bad idea, just that you can be just as biased towards it as someone else is towards the extreme.<br /><br />Do what works, drop what doesn't, and fight for the stuff worth fighting for based on your priorities. Not everyone is going to end up happy, and you might have to take the gloves off for the first time at some point, but if you're wasting time taking "umbrage" to a hyperbolic extended metaphor, you might want to figure out your priorities first.Brandon Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08421388363575332624noreply@blogger.com