Hydraulic Fracturing Series: The “Frack” Ban

If you are a regular here at the Frac Tank then you will know that this post is the second in a series we’ve called our “Hydraulic Fracturing Series”.

This series is all about dealing with the issues that fractivists have with Hydraulic Fracturing or their proposals on how to deal with Hydraulic Fracturing.

Last week, we endeavored to put the Green’s water usage arguments into perspective.

This week, we will address the issue of the Fracturing Ban. Why are we addressing the “Frack Ban”?

If you look around for images associated with the Fractivist movement that regularly marches around with signs and speaks through megaphones at Oil and Gas conferences all over the country you will notice a common theme.

“Ban Fracking!”

The all out ban seems to be the only option in the playbook of the Greens who oppose Hydraulic Fracturing. They don’t trust regulations. They report that there are no regulations or not enough inspectors to regulate. They report that there will never be sufficient regulation nor can there ever be sufficient regulation.  They don’t believe in technological advancement, meaning they don’t believe that technology could ever create safe practices that wouldn’t require an all out ban. And finally, they don’t trust these O&G or E&P companies to move towards safer practices.

They don’t believe in reason or realistic strategies either.

Would anyone like to take a crack at what the grave economic results of an instant “Frack Ban” would be?

When has technology regressed in the history of the world because inventors wanted to make something work less efficiently?

According to DEC’s website (this is for the State of New York alone) there are currently 14,000 active wells in New York State. The extraction of Oil and Gas in these wells provides the state with half a billion dollars each year.

The DEC says

“DEC’s Division of Mineral Resources administers regulations and a permitting program to mitigate to the greatest extent possible any potential environmental impact of drilling and well operation.”

The DEC says they regulate the wells.

They also say

“In addition, the Division protects the correlative rights of mineral owners and ensures that oil and gas reserves are developed such that a greater ultimate recovery can be achieved. This is accomplished through well spacing and compulsory integration.”

They claim not only to regulate Oil and Gas drilling in the state of New York but that they also defend the owners so that they can achieve maximum profitability.

According to the American Petroleum Institute:  281, 267 jobs were supported by the Oil and Gas Industry in 2009 stating “These jobs annually add 36.3 billion to the gross state product, or 4.8% of its wealth. ”

Those figures are from New York alone, a state familiar with Fractivists and currently hamstrung in terms of production in the Marcellus.

On a national level, America’s O&G industry supports 9.2 million jobs (7.5% of GDP) with the annual salary being more than double the national average at $96,844 or $47.00 per hour.

These figures are for one year: 2009.

Other facts that Fractivists don’t report is that O&G companies spent $58 billion dollars on low and zero carbon emissions technologies between 2000-2008.

They spent $1.7 trillion since 2000 “in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives, while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.”

Greens could never generate the amount of money that the O&G industry spends to support their token causes. The O&G industry is more of a proponent of low and zero emissions and clean energy than they could ever be.

Why?

They have the money to spend and they spend it because good regulations, low emissions, and developing a sound American Energy Strategy are in their best interests too.

BP would like to have the billions of dollars back that they’ve spent on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Problems like that cost these companies large amounts of money and better regulation keeps this from happening. They benefit more from fixing these problems than anyone and they are then willing to spend that money to improve technology for lower emissions and green energy.

Chesapeake just spent $155 million to gain a majority interest in a company that creates green fuel.

ridiculous (adj.) : arousing or deserving ridicule : extremely silly or unreasonable : absurd, preposterous.

The above definition was provided by Merriam-Webster and they should have a picture of a fractivist next to it.

What Fractivists don’t realize is that Hydraulic Fracturing is not utilized solely in Natural Gas production. Its use is widespread and this form of stimulation is used in many wells including oil wells.

Imagine a widespread, federally enacted Fracturing Ban that would cripple the 9.2 million jobs O&G supports and decimate that 7.5% GDP with a current unemployment rate of over 9.0%.

Is that really what is best for America?

No, it is ridiculous and it would cause our economy to literally spiral out of control and be entirely irrecoverable because this world runs on money and O&G makes money.

We are currently one of the Top Five producers of Oil and Gas in the world.

Without Hydraulic Fracturing, this would be impossible. Without Hydraulic Fracturing we would not be able to enjoy America the way we currently do.

Fractivists simply haven’t considered the full consequences of what they fight for and we would argue that it would be impossible to do so.

Imagine all of the companies that would have to leave the table for greener pastures if the US ever approved a Fracturing Ban. Want to guess what it would mean for the American Economy if companies like Exxon Mobil, Chesapeake, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker-Hughes and Weatherford couldn’t proceed with frac’ing in the US?

It would be no less than catastrophic.

So, the next time you see a Green marching around with a “FRACK NO!” sign, ask them if they have any idea what they are doing.

Because if they do have an idea what a “Frack Ban” would do to our country, then they should be tried for treason because a ban like that would do nothing less than cause our current unstable economy to crash.