There is water almost everywhere. In clouds in the sky. In the ocean.
Under ground. In the lake across
the street from my home. This year we
had so much rain at the beginning of the summer that my garden damned near
failed. Too much of a good thing. Last year I had to struggle to keep the
garden hydrated because there was so little rain and I try to use only the rain
I collect to water the garden. There is
something disturbing about watering the cucumbers with water I have to pump up
750 feet from the underground springs. I
have a system of rooftop collection, rain barrel and holding vessels that I try
to rely on for my garden. Sometimes it
works great. Last year…not so much. When you think of water in terms like that it
takes on a special value that you just can’t appreciate when you only know
‘water’ as something that always comes when you twist the handle on the kitchen
tap or the bathroom shower.
I am not ashamed that I am a ‘tree-hugger’. Just the opposite. I am proud that I love the earth and the
water and the blue sky that the good lord gave me to enjoy during my brief time
here on the Earth. And so it puzzles me
that other God fearing people take the bounty that they have been given for
granted. To whit: the farmers of Pennsylvania (and other places) who have
convinced themselves that selling the mineral rites to their farms is a good
thing. They are selling those rites so
that extremely deep wells can be placed for the production of natural gas using
the process of hydraulic fracturing. If
it were not for the extremely profitable terms of the leases down-to-earth
people like these farmers would laugh at the logic that the energy companies
tout in defense of their methods of drilling.
The almighty dollar is responsible for their complete suspension of
disbelief (ie-they were bought!) Tell me, what do you think of the technique of
hydraulic fracturing?
Drilling a well for the purpose of “Fracking” (hydraulic
fracturing) involves boring a hole vertically a mile below the surface. The hole is encased in cement and a mixture
of proprietary chemicals/petroleum products and water is forced under extreme
pressure down the hole. This hydraulic
slush fractures the rock which releases gas which is brought to the surface
through the lined casing. The mixture
used is proprietary in that the petroleum industry refuses to divulge the
ingredients and, through a convoluted and thoroughly devious twist of the
legislative system, (ie-they bought and paid for laws that allow them to keep
the mix secret) no one knows exactly what it is made up of but it is stuff like
diesel fuel and other petro chemicals (???) But the industry says it’s safe so
that should be good enough for us, right?
Mind you, this well is penetrating the same rock through which the
underground aquifer flows. Through the
water that has been stored for millennia.
Through water which we tap and which sustains the very civilization to
which we belong. Our showers, our crops,
our cooking and (Lord help us!) our toilets flushing, our carwashes washing,
our theme parks watersliding…But the petrochemical industry is going to keep
all that water safe!
I know the men who are doing the drilling are the most
conscientious and skilled workers in the world.
Brain surgeons. They would never
cut corners. The concrete casing for the
wells is of the finest concrete so it will never crack like a concrete
foundation or a slab on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The “fracking” soup they use, I am sure, is
always disposed of in the safest and most conscientious manner. The supervisors are of the highest moral
character and would never fail to divulge a mistake, accident, incident or
knowingly (or unknowingly) falsify a report.
So what is there to fear? Have we
not completely learned from the lessons of Three Mile
Island and the Exxon Valdez?
Are the safety measures not completely in place that would short circuit
any catastrophe associated with deep drilling like that of the Deep Water
Horizon in the Gulf? (read: Hercules 265
natural gas blow out in the Gulf)
Everyone knows that the petroleum industry has a wonderful record of
protecting the earth, the people and nature!
So I can understand why someone would want to give them the rites to
their land to drill on. Can’t you?
All my sarcasm aside, it is inconceivable that anyone can be
so deaf and dumb to the importance of the water which lies below us that they
would be willing to risk that resource for any amount of money, gas or
oil. And yet they are, willing that
is. Please, wake up farmers!
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