America's Progress With Oil and Gas

A nice late-1910s to 1920s postcard from Vinton Oil Fields in good old Louisiana to set off our discussion.

I'm heading into Natural Resource Management. I grew up with Nature and surround myself with it when I get out. My home is surrounded by trees. We have a few ponds. Across the field in the woods with a towering, forked pine in a ravine falling into a creek.

But the unmanaged, un-safe, un-regulated over-use of our Natural Resources was considered progress back in the day. That hasn't changed as much as we'd like to think. We progress at the expense of not only nature, but your children and grandchildren who will deal with the destruction we are causing.

As much as America-- a country that refused to sign a document it came up with to help the world protect the environment a little more-- is fueled by fossil fuels, America also fuels the destruction of its own children with its insatiable appetite and abuse of the old resource.

One day I decided I wanted to demote oil and gas companies in the eyes of the public. I do that, and will now here do that also because they will try to fool you, and they have deep ties with the governments they have much power in.

As we try to get away from the oil many people know is bad, we increasingly look toward fracking for a wonder-fuel known as clean-burning, safe Natural Gas-- much more friendly than regular oil.

But all in all, this 'safe,' 'friendly' 'cleaner' resource may be a greater enemy than any terrorist that has ever struck my Country.

To get this 'bridge fuel' between alternative, renewable resources and oil out of the ground, gas companies drill and pump 10,000,000 gallons of ''proppant'' to help 'fracture' the earth through Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking.

Proppant doesn't sound very scary, but the scary truth lies in its often undisclosed chemical formulas. They mix harmless sand, water, chemicals found in icecream into it-- and also chemicals found in Mothballs, like Napthalene.
Also, Formaldehyde, Diesel Oil, Ethylbenzene-- found in Pesticides-- along with Xylene-- found in Paint-Thinners-- and yummy Neurotoxins, Endocrine (Gland) Disruptors, and Cancer-causing agents like Benzene.

We need 360,000,000,000 gallons of this for the 500,000 currently active gas-wells in the United States.

Many companies will claim fracking has safely been done since the 1940s. They say their steal- and cement-casings make possible leaks difficult to happen, and that if they do, they're so deep that it will be of no harm to anyone.

Well, that's not true. 1 out of every 3 tests of once-drinkable groundwater near frack-pads found the cancer-causing man-made agent 2-Butoxyethanol to be present-- which is used in proppant.

Up to 90% of these chemicals are left in the ground. What is sucked up is put into pits dug to let it leach into the ground and ''off-gas'' the volatile organic compounds (V.O.C.'s)into the air.

What gets very scary is where many of these pits and their wells are. For example, the U.S. state of Pennsylvania has 3,000+ permitted sites for gas wells within 2 miles of 320 daycare centers, 67 schools, and 9 hospitals.

The effects of off-gassing chemicals on humans include sore throats, burning eyes, difficulty breathing, migraines for short-term exposure, and cancer/lung diseases from long-term exposure. Many people find natural gas in their drinking-water, or in their houses. AKA, don't light a candle or your stove.

Oh, as an interesting note, if you don't own your property's Mineral Rights in America, the oil companies can put these things in your back yard for economic, government-supported purposes. There goes your health and property wealth.

As another interesting note, several U.S. states, including Oklahoma, experienced increased earth-quakes where ''disposable'' fracking wells went in. When the pumping volume was cut down after seismologists figured it out, the earth-quakes decreased to nothing more than a 4.0 on the Richter Scale.

It is a very sad fact that-- to sound extreme and not be too far off-- oil and gas companies pretty much own American government. This is the only extremest thing I will say. If anyone challenges any of my other information, I will provide the credible sources in a large list.

America's Environmental Protection Agency has not looked at the toxic emissions of these frack-pads since 1993. The Halliburton Loophole in the Clean and Safe Drinking Water Act excludes most Oil and Gas companies from the laws-- so of what use are these 'protective' laws that protect Big Business and kill us?

People cannot sue for their right to life. People who sign on to let these gas-companies onto their property for a quick buck cannot speak out against them without getting sued. The government greatly supports these companies, too.

For example, 8, 000, 000 gallons of water may be needed to frack a well. Gas companies often get a 45% reduction in the cost of water for these. Many wells can be fracked 18 times. It is expected to, in the future, cause a 20% increase in water-shortages as they steal and ruin our water.

It requires 400 high-polluting diesel-driven (or, if they get cocky, maybe they'll power them by natural gas itself) tanker-trucks to carry this water and other supplies to the site. And all this water is nearly impossible to clean-- especially under ground.

The ground water sits more like in a sponge of rock than an underground lake. Is it easier to clean porous rock or lakes?
(Answer is lakes, which will naturally dilute it to an extent.)

To move on, the figures of fracking-related deaths are unknown. Too many lung-diseases, cancers, birth-defects/terminations, etc. are caused due to exposure to chemicals in the air and water. But since 1983, 25 non-frack-pad-workers (aka, innocent civilians like you and me) were injured and 40 have died due to fracking accidents like explosions.

Due to these reasons, the U.K., South Africa, France, and Quebec, Canada, have banned fracking. They would much rather quickly convert to the Renewable Alternate Resources an Inter-governmental Panel found the world could covert 80% of its energy needs to by 2050.

This is why 10 out of 10 U.S. studies found fracking to be a major threat to our future. Money-hungry companies want you to think that we're speeding toward a clean, happy, safe future. But in reality, we're slaughtering our children's future and don't even care to protect the only world we have to live in.

This is our progress. 1 step forward, 2 steps back into oblivion.

To close it off, a favouriteenvironmentally-themed song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwELajFteTo
Another Way to Die, by Disturbed.