The Fuss Over Fracking – Debunked Again!

      
Well, all those hysterical Hollywood environmental activists can rest easy tonight, and maybe they won’t have to make any more movies about the evil technique used by those evil oil companies called “fracking”, which they think should be banned. You remember that recent film with Matt Damon, showing how fracking contaminated all those farmer’s land and ruined a whole town. Why you could hardly throw a cigarette on the grass without causing a blaze reminiscent of the Chicago fire.

 The Associated Press released a story today, which I found on page 14 of my newspaper, stating the results of a year-long DOE study which concluded that there is absolutely no evidence that potentially toxic chemicals used in drilling for shale gas, move up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a Western Pennsylvania drilling site. It also confirmed that any of the chemicals used in the process stay thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water.

Of course, most of us with experience in this method and familiar with similar studies conducted by the major oil companies are not surprised, but this is the first independent confirmation of their data. I bet if the results showed otherwise, it would be on page one today and on every TV news show to beat.

The chemicals were tagged (probably radioactively), and also showed that although they were injected at a depth of 8,000 ft, no trace was found in a monitoring zone that was located at 5,000 ft, which shows they would be more than a mile from aquifers that are usually located at 500 ft. Most of the rock in between is virtually impermeable. I’m sure most of the people living in PA, NY, Ohio, and West Virginia, which are located over the giant Marcelous Shale formation, will be glad to hear about this, if the news ever gets out.

Of course, the results were tempered by the DOE with all sorts of qualifications, probably with suggestions from the EPA like, “this is only the initial study of this type, the study is on-going, it does not mean that other formations will be the same, etc., etc. So the dispute will continue for years but at least this should accelerate the drilling permits in these States, create more jobs, and bring us closer to energy self-sufficiency.

Once we get rid of this administration, we can move closer to energy independence in about 10 years. Remember, we have been using fracking techniques for 75 years and not a single death from chemical or gas contamination has ever been recorded. It reminds me of the environmental icon, Rachael Carson, who caused the ban on DDT because she said it was hazardous to humans, with very little data to that affect. Well, millions of adults and children have died of malaria in Africa as a result of her lobbying since then, because other pesticides are not as effective.

 This is a risk/reward issue and sometimes technology causes some risks which we must address in a civil, scientific, and objective way.

 

An Encore for Al and Jesse

 On March 24^th, 2012 I posted “The Trayvon Martin Case is Perplexing”, and at that time we had few facts about what really happened that night. So I was rather neutral on the topic, calling it a real tragedy. Now, like the rest of us, I know a lot more of the facts and am more aware of why Zimmerman was not originally arrested by the Sanford, Florida police after the event.

However, it now appears that Trayvon’s parents were soon accosted by Benjamin Crump and Daryl Parks, two Afro-American advocate attorneys, who claimed this was a civil rights case and brought it to the attention of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who quickly organized demonstrations around the country claiming that a black youth was murdered and demanded “justice for Trayvon”. They handed this to the media, who obviously relishes this kind of story, and the rest is history. Soon we were deluged with baby pictures of this “child”, who in reality was a 17-year old, 6 ft., 170 lb., athletic teenager, and they promoted a well-choreographed PR campaign to make this appear as a 60’s civil rights murder by George Zimmerman, a “white” Hispanic. They tried anything they could to drive us back to the 1960’s and negate the great progress we have achieved since that time. Jesse and Al were back in the news, and they loved it!

 Then the State of Florida takes over the investigation and overrules local police investigation, who see no crime or malicious intent on Mr. Zimmerman’s part, and brings forth a charge of second degree murder in order to placate the black advocates. No grand jury is convened and private meetings are held by city and state officials to review the 911 tapes with family members and their lawyers to the exclusion of the local police. During the discovery phase, Zimmerman’s lawyers get aced out of specific data that shows Trayvon is a troubled youth, suspended from school, with cell phone photos showing him smoking pot, and with jewelry spread out on his bed which he has obviously stolen. His parents actually tell Geraldo Rivera, a FOX journalist, about these problems. An employee of the Prosecutor’s office is called to testify about this withheld information and is fired by the State after his testimony reveals their obstruction of justice.

It’s clear that the States’ second degree murder charge cannot be proven and no evidence is presented that race was a factor in this event. Of course, Trayvon was profiled because many of the break-ins in that neighborhood were done by black youths with hoodies. Also, our prisons are 70% occupied by black youths, and black-on-white violence is rampant in our country right now, but you will never hear this from the media. If this sounds racist to you I’m sorry, but we also profile Arabs in airports for a similar reason.

 Sure, this is a tragedy that should never have happened, except that Trayvon should have just proceeded to go home and not decide to challenge and attack the “creepy-ass cracker” who was following him. Mr. Zimmerman is not a racist and was the wrong target for Al, Jesse, and Mr. Crump. I feel sorry for both the Martin family and  Zimmerman, who will be threatened for the rest of his life. In the meantime, Jesse and Al will continue to chug along reaping the benefits of this tragedy and inhibiting racial unity in this country.