Posted by Tina
California is home to an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil in the Monterey Shale alone. Everyone knows that California is deep in debt with a jobless rate that remains high four years after the recession ended. Californians need solutions. A few California Assemblymen see relief for our woes in pursuing the oil that lies beneath our feet. Environmentalists oppose the idea. Representatives aligned with the greens introduced a bill that would place a moratorium on oil and gas hydraulic fracturing…guess what happened? The bill went down in flames…37-24 with 12 Democrats joining 25 Republicans (18 Democrats abstained). Jerry Brown needs money or his legacy will be doo doo.
What would fracking mean for California? The Wall Street Journal reports:
A study by University of Southern California scientists funded by the oil industry estimates fracking would deliver 500,000 jobs over the next several years and $24.6 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2020 alone. If those numbers are even close to accurate, drilling could be a financial salvation for a state that has $167.9 billion in long-term liabilities, not counting pensions and retiree health, according to the state’s auditor. A strong case can be made that California can’t afford not to frack.
The green lobby will not take this as a sign that the people have spoken…they never stop in their designs to obstruct real progress. There will never be enough safety and health regulations to satisfy them. They don’t care that people are hurting and in need of jobs. They are extremist bullies who care about control.
The battle over fracking is not over. But the votes reveal a curious turning:
The votes for the fracking ban came mainly from the wealthy, mostly white Democratic coastal districts—San Francisco, Santa Monica and Malibu. Opponents were mostly from central California, areas that are poor and minority, with rates of unemployment of 12% or more. Six of the seven black assembly Democrats voted against the ban or abstained. Though the Assembly speaker is Hispanic, most of the rank-and-file Latino Democrats refused to vote for the ban.
Wouldn’t it be something to see California turned around: people working again, new innovation and small businesses opening up, funding for schools….and good jobs for our kids?
Wishful thinking. Until we get representatives who know how to read a P&L statement it isn’t going to happen.
It is hardly “extreme” to be concerned about the dangers and health problems caused by fracking. You apparently are not concerned.
Chris you, apparently, are only interested in the single “extreme” position. Run for your life we’re all going to die never invented anything!
Most people are interested in how we can make the industry safe through innovation and reasonable (smart) regulation. I have gathered some information for those who are curious. I believe our readers are smart enough to educate themselves and decide.
Yale has a forum page that features spokespersons from nearly every perspective…they even let the biggest greenie go first. If you want all points of view this is one place to start.
Most people have heard all of the fears about water, ground, and air pollution but few have heard much about new techniques and innovations from engineers, scientists, and other experts in the field.
David Burnett, Engineer, Global Petroleum Research Institute, Texas A&M University takes a sensible approach in my opinion. (see his article at the Yale link above…you will have to scroll down a bit) He doesn’t run away from environmental concerns, in fact, he embraces reasonable environmentalists. He advocates cooperative efforts and sees collaboration as an opportunity for improvement and advancement.
The run-for-your-life approach of so many fear mongering zealots in the radical environmental movement just aren’t practical. Those people hate the human factor…the very extreme among them dream of eliminating mankind from the planet. These strident voices must not determine our future! A few quotes:
“Giving society cheap, abundant energy would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.” – Environmentalist “founding father” Dr. Paul Erlich.
“[W]e have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” – Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University and Obama adviser Stephen Schneider
“People are the cause of all the problems. We have too many of them. We need to get rid of some of them, and this (referring to malaria deaths) is as good a way as any.” – Dr. Charles Foster, one of the architects of the ban on DDT
“My own doubts came when DDT was introduced. In Guyana, within two years, it had almost eliminated malaria. So my chief quarrel with DDT, in hindsight, is that it has greatly added to the population problem.” – Alexander King, founder of the Malthusian Club of Rome
“I suspect that eradicating small pox was wrong. It played an important part in balancing ecosystems.” — John Davis, editor of Earth First! Journal
“Human beings, as a species, have no more value than slugs.” — John Davis, editor of Earth First! Journal
“The extinction of the human species may not only be inevitable but a good thing…. This is not to say that the rise of human civilization is insignificant, but there is no way of showing that it will be much help to the world in the long run.” — Economist editorial
“We advocate biodiversity for biodiversity’s sake. It may take our extinction to set things straight/” — David Foreman, Earth First!
“Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.” — Dave Forman, Founder of Earth First!
“If radical environmentalists were to invent a disease to bring human populations back to sanity, it would probably be something like AIDS.” — Earth First! Newsletter
“Human happiness, and certainly human fecundity, is not as important as a wild and healthy planets…Some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along.” — David Graber, biologist, National Park Service
“The collective needs of non-human species must take precedence over the needs and desires of humans.” — Dr. Reed F. Noss, The Wildlands Project
“If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.” — Prince Phillip, World Wildlife Fund
Cannibalism is a “radical but realistic solution to the problem of overpopulation.” — Lyall Watson, The Financial Times, 15 July 1995
Back to sanity…See also Mr. Burnett’s EFDP, a group dedicated to bringing industry people, scientists, environmentalists, local politicians and citizens, government regulators and others together to seek appropriate regulations and better methods and outcomes for the industry and the environment.
Read about new innovations to protect water resources here.
The Energy Collective:
I guess if we just hadn’t discovered fire…and then, of course, it was simply a matter of time before we discovered the wheel.
Through innovation and invention the citizens of this country are enjoying longer healthier lives. We are problem solvers…whiners need not apply!