Frack This

Across North America, nationalism, peak oil, climate change and the fearful mood in the air are combining to build a new insta-industry. This industry drills for oil and gas in an unconventional way called hydraulic fracturing. It's also known more colloquially as fracking.

I read about this a few years ago when I read an article about western governors visiting the tar sands in order to learn lessons about their own hard to reach energy resource: shale oil. At the time, I just laughed off their plans since it seemed to involve destroying the Rocky Mountains to get at oil and gas trapped in the rock below. Surely this was unthinkable even in the United States and Canada?

It turns out I was wrong and that the plan is indeed moving ahead. But they won't be destroying the Rockies in the end. Though they will be drilling into the earth and pumping in fresh water, sand and a cocktail of carcinogenic chemicals. Under intense pressure these chemicals crack the shale rock below and the gas or oil bubble up to the surface where it is captured and burned for fuel. Unfortunately many wells pollute groundwater and wells and much of this fracking fluid is left underground.

And it's not limited to the west. A big seam of shale gas sits under New York and Pennsylvania. Others are in Quebec. There's probably one under your feet right now. I know there is under mine.

That's right: Cape Breton is open for business. And it's breaking my heart.

I guess that humans aren't going to be forced to stop after all, whether by choice or by natural limits. We are going to do anything to keep this dysfunction going. There are no alternatives as much as I would love to offer one. This has to proceed to the end I guess. It means wells everywhere, seeking out every last drop and square metre of gas.

Seeking refuge in the sports pages, I came across the new name of the Pittsburgh Penguins' arena: the Consol Energy Centre. The instant I read it I knew that this was a fracking company. I decided to visit their website. I was met with a slowly flapping American flag looking like it was carved out of coal. Welcome to "America's On Switch". Rugged miners held up an American flag urged me to consider a career with Consol.

This propaganda image was very impressive. Good ol' photoshop.


Here are a couple of quotes from the main and careers page (I couldn't view the flash at my speed):

"If everyone up there (presumably on the surface of the earth) is willing to learn how to read in the dark, then maybe this profession will become obsolete. Fact is, everything we do requires energy. And that fact is a growing one. Just take a look at what your home entertainment system is made of now versus 10 years ago."

"When America runs out of oil, it won’t run out of energy thanks to our vast reserves of coal and natural gas."

But I don't want this insanity. Do you?