Pittsburgh Post-Gazette bought off by Big Fracking.
Here's today's editorial glorifying the fact that a ban on fracking in Allegheny County parkland (Pittsburgh & suburbs) has been defeated. This from the same paper which endorsed pro-fracking Tom Corbett for governor in his first election. Exactly how Republican is the editorial board? Sure like to see which board members voted to approve this editorial.
This is in the same week when Scotland and Wales have completely banned fracking in their entire countries, and a push is underway in England for the same action, and while increasing studies are linking fracking to earthquakes in Texas and Oklahoma, and nearby Ohio has shut down wells because of multiple earthquakes. The proposed ordinance would only have been for two years. Across the U.S., frackers are closing down wells because of lowered prices for oil. My hope is that by fighting for this ordinance, the anti-frackers have delayed proposed projects for public parklands long enough such that the drop in price will prevent Big Fracking from further parkland drilling.
Fracking has become a victim of its own success. The industry in the US has grown very fast. In 2008, US oil production was running at five million barrels a day. Thanks to fracking, that figure has nearly doubled, with talk of US energy self-sufficiency and the country becoming the world’s biggest oil producer – “the new Saudi Arabia” – in the near future. But analysts say this whole investment edifice could come crashing down.
Analysts say that while bigger fracking companies might be able to sustain losses in the short term, the outlook appears bleak for the thousands of smaller, less well-financed companies who rushed into the industry, tempted by big returns.
The fracking industry’s troubles have been added to by the actions of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which, despite the oversupply on the world market, has refused to lower production.
The theory is that Opec, led by powerful oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, is playing the long game – seeking to drive the fracking industry from boom to bust, stabilise prices well above their present level, and regain its place as the world’s pre-eminent source of oil.
There are now fears that many fracking operations may default on an estimated $200bn of borrowings, raised mainly through bonds issued on Wall Street and in the City of London.
In turn, this could lead to a collapse in global financial markets similar to the 2008 crash.
Bagging the ban: County Council wisely pans a drilling prohibition
By the Editorial Board
What began with a bang ended with a whimper Tuesday when Allegheny County Council sensibly rejected a two-year gas drilling ban at county parks.
The final vote, 13-1, said it all. Council member Bill Robinson, D-Hill District, was the only one in favor, and member Barbara Daly Danko, D-Regent Square, who had spearheaded a similar proposal in 2013, was not present.
Council laid the issue to rest after numerous public hearings in recent months allowed county residents to have their say. Credit the grass-roots activism of Protect Our Parks with putting the first citizen-proposed ordinance before council.
But, as we said in a December editorial, a blanket prohibition on drilling makes as much sense as a blanket approval. Each proposal at each site faces different circumstances, and county officials have been careful in scrutinizing the impact of the two revenue-producing deals that have been struck so far with gas drillers — exploration on vacant land near Pittsburgh International Airport and drilling under Deer Lakes Park from a nearby well pad on private property.
There’s no guarantee the county will find favor with future proposals.
State regulators and local citizens must maintain their vigilance on Marcellus Shale drilling, but county council is right to stay open to opportunities that are safe and beneficial.
I suggest that "local citizens" do not have the resources to maintain vigilance on Marcellus Shale drilling. That is the duty & function of state regulators and DEP inspectors, whose numbers and powers were slashed by Corbett. It's not a matter of "maintaining" but of restoring, and I hope Governor Wolf will be doing that. In the meantime, kudos to Protect Our Parks for demanding these hearings, which delayed further fracking in the parks long enough for the world price of oil to drop below the frackers' break-even price, causing frackers to cancel plans for new drilling and close down some existing operations.
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