Earthworks Admits Real Reason they Oppose Gas Drilling

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Although MDN has long pointed out the ideological underpinnings in the opposition of drilling for shale gas, here is yet another brief moment of honesty from an anti-drilling group about their true motivation:

Burning natural gas adds far less of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than does burning coal, but many activists fear that cheap, abundant natural gas will out-compete the renewable energy sources—e.g., solar and wind—that they prefer. “Every dollar spent on new natural gas wells, pipelines, processing and infrastructure does not bring us closer to wind, solar, and energy efficiency," asserted Jennifer Krill, program director of the anti-mining Earthworks advocacy group last year. “Quite the opposite: It is taking us in the wrong direction by delaying the transition.”*

MDN is not saying that all people who oppose drilling are motivated by a slavishly blind faith to renewables, but clearly many of the large anti-drilling “movement” organizations, like Earthworks, are.

*Reason.com (Feb 14, 2012) – 100 Years of Natural Gas

3 Comments

  1. Yea wind farms , I can see it now, all the Greenies riding their horses down the country road and looking at field after field of GIGANTIC windmills that make a loud woooshing sound.That’s what you want? Talk about destroying vistas and mountain top views and your ears. Stop smoking that joint for a minute to envision the reality of Wind farms, T Boone Pickins has a few thousand acres of them in Texas, google it and see how horrible they look.He even admits in many interviews that NG is the future. Green energy is a pipe dream. It can work in small order, and will never power big cities. The costs are enormous  and the sight of them is just plain UGLY!!

  2. If you are quoting from Ms. Krill, then you should cite her essay at:

    //www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/natural_gas_a_bridge_to_nowhere

    rather than Mr. Bailey’s opinion piece that lifts three of her sentences out of context.  Her point is that despite shale gas being touted as a “bridge fuel” between “dirty” coal and clean renewables, it is a “bridge to nowhere” because no preparation is being made for a clean and sustainable economy.  Elsewhere in her essay, she says “With better planning and smarter use of technology, the natural gas
    industry could avoid many of these impacts and cure a major public
    relations headache as well.”

  3. I agree. I have driven past several of the windmill farms with 100 or more in Texas and they mark up the landscape much worse than a drilling rig. Also years from now when these wells are plugged and abondoned only a small wellhead (or dryhole tree) will remain, not a giant eyesore.