Gasland

[Des219]

You're welcome Kyle.

Glad to see that Brenda read my comments and is not for fracking in any location. I probably am against fracking overall because of basically what Matt said in his point of how fragile the rock base is. It does seem unlikely that the fracking process would be contained even if they poor and seal their wells with concrete, what happens when the Earth shifts from an earthquake?

I support Kyle in that he has valid reasons to not throw away the possibility of fracking just because of the media. It is not right to attack him for his view point, but it is fine to be opposed to it.

[hobkyl]

On the topic but from a different view.... Any conflict in Syria (with the very good possibility of kick starting WW3) that arises will be the result of the petrodollar and our reliance on oil, not because he or they used chemicals. The US doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to killing or toxifying hundreds of thousands of people with chemicals. We can continue down this road and send our troops in harms way, kill thousands if not hundreds of thousands including women and children, and do it all over again in 3-1/2 years to save our environment (with realistically thus far no major consequences in a 60+ year period as a result of fracking compared to those endured in war just in the past decade) or we can get realistic about our energy needs.

Unfortunately all this bickering is for naught. We the people have no say. Even if every American man, woman, and child demanded clean energy, we are at the mercy of our government who will not give up his affair with oil.

So while I may not "care about the environment" one could make the accusation that you don't care about our troops or ever growing debt.

[Matt]

Good points, Kyle.
For the first year, i signed up for that "green energy option" from my utility. I guess that's kind of like voting, right?
The Syria things sucks... yeah and I see it's already affecting gas prices (if that honestly is related is in question - how can a country that supplies less than 1% of the world's oil affect 10% of it's price - someone is lying).
We have to admit... the US has made great strides in foreign oil dependance. Transportation fuel economy is up across pretty much all methods of transport (we have to thanks form federal laws to some degree), and that was enough to make some foreign producers worry that demand was dropping along with their bottom line. Unfortunately, China and India are snapping up cars with little regard to fuel prices (which are heavily subsidized) and offsetting our decrease in demand.
Anyways... Fracking is a temporary solution. We know that. What happens when we fracked it all? What next? Shift our infrastructure to another form of petrol? Shouldn't we focus more of skipping the next in the line of non-renewable sources and invest heavily on sustainable energy? And then be world leaders selling patents and tech when the rest of the world has to catch up (although seems Germany and Denmark are now leaders here)?

[Kelly]

Carcinogens to Go?

I got stuck behind one of these trucks on the Thruway and ended up with this shit all over my car about a month ago. I knew it was a liquid "road salt" but was unaware of just exactly what it truly was until now. It's fracking brine.

Counties that have not approved its use are now going to be exposed to its residue as I and tens of thousands of people like me drive through these areas and have the brine washed off our cars and into the ground in our home areas, the majority of which have not approved its use. Lovely.



http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/a ... e-ny-roads

[Brenda]

Yup. My county is one that allows it, but there again my county has a pretty lousy environmental track record.

[Matt]

unfortunately salting roads will never stop. At least it's just salt, which will kill a bit of the roadside plants, but end up being washed away and diluted so much in our water system it won't matter.

[Mikell]

Matt:

I don't think you read Kelly's post right....unfortunately it is NOT "just salt" ... it's FRACKING brine!
from the article:

“The biggest concern is the carcinogens; you don't want that to get into drinking water supplies,” Wegner said. Production brine largely comes from some of the 6,000 low-volume gas wells currently allowed in New York as well as some in Pennsylvania, and is used for de-icing, dust control and road stabilization. The fluid can pollute rivers, streams and aquifers if not controlled properly, and it contains high levels of chloride, benzene and toluene, all of which can cause health problems in humans, Wegner said. It can also contain naturally-occuring radioactive materials. And while chloride is contained in the road salt commonly used across the country, it is far more concentrated in fracking waste.

[Kelly]

Thank you, Mikell. I was just going to let it go.