The Enviro-Left’s Motivation to Ban Fracking

An article on the Legal Newsline website takes a look at the motivations behind calls for a ban on hydraulic fracturing—and they get it right:

…as a May 16 National Public Radio report indicated, "…scientists say it’s just not clear whether pollutants from gas wells are hurting people in Dish [Texas] or anywhere else. What is clear, they say, is that the evidence the town has presented so far doesn’t have much scientific heft."

In Dimock, Penn., a town located near the state’s Marcellus Shale fracking field, environmentalists and residents say their drinking water is polluted because of fracking.

But, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did extensive testing and found in March that the water was safe. Environmentalists accused EPA of misrepresenting data.

Dr. Kenneth Green, an environmental scientist and policy analyst for the American Enterprise Institute, opined that much of the controversy about fracking may have to do with money or ideology.

"The boom in shale-gas production threatens to overturn the rationale for many things held dear by different groups, ranging from environmentalists, to NIMBYists, to anti-fossil-fuelists, to anti-trade and anti-capitalists, and a lot of others," said [Green].

Because domestic supplies of oil and natural gas are at a peak, fracking is seen as a threat by fossil fuel opponents and others invested in alternate energy sources.

"Abundant shale gas undercuts the case for wind and solar power," he said.

"The oil that’s being produced with it would undermine the case for things like vehicle electrification, and various fuel conservation efforts like mass-transit, compact development, etc. There must be a dozen independent agendas that are threatened by the new discoveries. I would expect innumerable challenges to the shale-gas boom for this reason alone."*

May we once again summarize what’s really happening?

Fracking is in every way an economic miracle, bringing cheap energy from our own natural resources to our own citizens. But cheap fossil fuel energy undercuts so-called alternative fuels, like wind and solar, which can’t compete economically with cheap fossil fuels.

The science of fracking proves it’s a safe process, when done right. The only way the enviro-left can attack fracking is to scare people with unsubstantiated claims that it poisons water supplies, generates air pollution, contributes to greenhouse gases, etc. Their opposition is disingenuous. They oppose fracking not because it causes environmental harm, but because they want to force you to use a different source for your energy—one they want you to use. And the only way to do that is to scare you into it.

Don’t fall for the lies.

*Legal Newsline (Jun 5, 2012) – Environmentalists and politicians pushing for fracking ban