To Frack or not

Hot from the  success of ruining the live cattle export business in North Australia, 4Corners is continuing to govern the country by targeting Coal Seam Gas. With only six months left for their shrill bleatings to have any chance of success while there is a  dysfunctional government in power,  the pressure is on. Billions to be made by business and the government and some want it stopped based on emotional, ideological and anecdotal campaigns run by SBS, the ABC and the Greens movement. Greenie whistleblower, Simone Marsh,  a left over from the Bligh debacle, calls on Environment Minister Burke to reneg on previously approved projects claiming the approval process was rushed.   Surprisingly, the approvals were given during Blighs reign but I feel they are now being pushed by LNP.  I hope so, anyway. Drew Sutton from Lock the Gate is also quoted.  The aim of these activists  is to close down the coal and gas industries  which seems to me to be a contradiction in ideals.  We need power generation and it can be fueled by coal or natural gas.  Gas is a lot cleaner than coal and will reduce greenhouse gases so you’d expect the Greenies to be all over it. Not so! If you get your opinions from the SBS and the ABC then you need to broaden your knowledge base.  This article from a Colorado College touches on the pros and cons of fracking. A sample quote;

The U.S. is at a 20-year low in greenhouse gas emissions. This reduction did not occur due to cap and trade legislation, which we’ve been unable to pass due both to a lagging economy and stalemate in Congress.  Instead, the two-decade low in emissions is due to the implementation of policies limiting the use of coal in electrical generation, and the abundance of low cost natural gas that has encouraged the phasing out of coal-fired power plants. The immediate 50 percent reduction in carbon output from transitioning coal plants to natural gas is a variable in the fracking equation that must not go overlooked.

American University Radio has transcripts of programs headed ” Debating the Pros and Cons of Fracking” It is a short read but what it does do is point out that a lot of opposition to fracking is anecdotal.

“Most evidence brought for this anecdotal in nature, one person complains there’s an issue,” says Cobbs. “Studies have not born that out, and in fact the opposite’s been shown that it can be done safely. In Arkansas, the United States Geological Survey conducted a survey of 127 private or domestic [water] wells in an area that has been highly developed. Over 4,000 production [natural gas] wells have been put in this area over the last 6 to 8 years, and no damage done to the water in those areas.”

I refer to the US because they have been doing it for years and state economies have flourished, greenhouse gas production has fallen, thousands of people are being employed and businesses, and  governments, via taxation,are making money. To most rational people thats a win-win.  To  Greenies it’s sacrilige. Newman should just ignore them and get on with getting the state up and running again after decades of this type of greentape bullshit. Environment Minister Burke should just stay in his office and contemplate life after 14 September and not step out and destroy another industry as his government has tended to previously, as they govern via Twitter and 4Corners.