As you probably already know, I love calling out celebrities when they self-righteously insert themselves into the political-environmental debate regarding oil and gas.
Several month backs, I took actress Debra Winger to task when then-employed Keith Olbermann asked why she was against fracking in the state of New York…
Her reply was classic pompous elitism: She didn’t want fracking to pose a risk to her future ability to guzzle locally-produced wine and stuff her piehole with artisan cheeses.
Now comes comedian David Letterman.
A couple weeks back, Letterman broke from his usual unfunny jokes to weigh in on a matter on which he’d clearly spent the better part of 45 seconds educating himself.
He started off his rant by saying, “I’m not smart enough to understand fracking.”
And he should have stopped right there…
Because everything he said after that was wrong and untrue:
“… greedy oil and gas companies of this country who are trying to squeeze every little last ounce of oil and gas out of previously pumped wells by injecting the substrata of our planet with highly toxic, carcinogenic chemicals which seep into the aquifer and hence into the drinking water of Americans. The Delaware Water Gap has been ruined, the Hudson Valley has been ruined, most of Pennsylvania has been ruined; Virginia, West Virginia has been ruined; Colorado has been ruined; New Mexico has been ruined. They’re poisoning our drinking water. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re screwed.”
In case you missed The Late Show, you can watch all that nonsense below.
If only we could be so susceptible to embracing reality — because in this case, the bad news really is hopelessly outweighed by the good.
You see, the left-leaning-loved EPA officially ended its investigation in Dimock, Penn., last week.
The town of Dimock became famous when an amateur filmmaker visited local residents who claimed they could set their faucets on fire because of nearby fracking.
The EPA was called in a few years ago to investigate possible water contamination by fracking…
But they found no evidence of contaminated water.
The agency said:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has completed its sampling of private drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa. Data previously supplied to the agency by residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Exploration had indicated the potential for elevated levels of water contaminants in wells, and following requests by residents EPA took steps to sample water in the area to ensure there were not elevated levels of contaminants. Based on the outcome of that sampling, EPA has determined that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the Agency.
However, this won’t convince the true believers.
It never does.
Never mind that the drawbacks of fracking are far more limited and anecdotal than certain groups would have you believe…
Let’s look at the benefits…
For one thing, speaking directly to the lefty-greeny-commie-whatever-you-want-to-call-it-this-week movement, fracking has helped to boost US natural gas production by 50% in the last five years:
This in turn has sent coal usage down and, since 2006, has actually helped to lower overall national hydrocarbon emissions by 7.7% — the largest drop in that period of any nation in the world.
Crazy, right?
Well, that’s just the beginning…
Want to piss off a lefty even more?
Tell him that if New York state ended its moratorium on fracking, more than $11 billion in annual earnings would be added to the state economy almost overnight.
And with this newfound income comes yet another sacred pillar of the liberal culture: taxation. Over $1.4 billion in annual tax revenues for the Empire State, to be exact.
Now, just imagine that new revenue stream on a national level — with 35 states showing major shale oil and gas potential…
But still, these are all minor arguments designed to sway the mind of the excitable, irrational, short-attention-spanned lemmings who fear their sinks, bathtubs, and families are just a spark away from being incinerated if this evil new plan to harness fossil fuels is allowed to proceed.
The major argument has been and always will be the same: Non-conventional oil and gas production such as hydraulic fracturing has started nothing less than an economic revival for major regions of the United States.
North Dakota, for example, has gone from a mere blip on the energy production radar… to a daily output rivaling that of the entire nation of Egypt — in just a decade:
And according to the most authoritative sources on the matter — including the U.S. Geological Survey and a number of private organizations — this dramatic ascent in North Dakota’s production is just a microcosm of what may be in store for the nation as a whole.
In an updated report first published in 2010, the Government Accountability Office stated total crude oil reserves found in the Utah/Colorado Green River Basic alone could exceed 3 trillion barrels — with more than half of it being recoverable:
“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered. At the midpoint of this estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves.”
— Anu K. Mittal, Director of Natural Resources and Environment to
the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
This sum will equal the rest of the world’s oil reserves combined.
And again, we’re just talking about the Green River Basin…
Massive shale formations dot the entire Northwest and Canada, as well as the South and the Eastern Seaboard.
Total resources are almost unimaginable in size; easily big enough to shift the balance of global energy power right back to where it originated in the early 20th century.
I don’t think I need to tell you the significance of something like this at a time when global economics and politics are so unstable — and so centered on the very issue of cheap energy.
So, the next time you’re confronted with dramatizations and wide-eyed recounts of exploding faucets and burning kittens scrambling across the lawn in search of non-flammable water, stop and think about the big picture.
On the one side, you have the complaints of a very, very isolated segment of the population, unlucky or unwise enough to live right on top of a major fossil fuel deposit…
And on the other, you have the fate of an entire nation — and with it, perhaps the economic future of the developed world.
Don’t give into the hype. Study the numbers.
To your wealth,
Brian Hicks
Check us out on YouTube!Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy and Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.
