Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
cerned about water depletion and pollution. In May, the state senate passed the na-
tion's most stringent fracking regulations by a vote of 52 to 3. After “hundreds of
thousands of hours” of negotiations, said Mike Frerichs, a Democrat from Cham-
pagne who sponsored the bill, the result was “tough regulations that are going to
protect and preserve our most valuable resources.… We are going to increase home
produced energy in our state in one of the most environmentally friendly ways pos-
sible.”
14
On the national stage, Democratic and Republican politicians alike take large
campaign contributions from the gas and oil industry, and politicians of nearly
every stripe seem to be pushing for the expansion of cheap gas. In his 2012 State
of the Union address, President Obama said, “This country needs an all-out, all-
of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy—a
strategy that's cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs. We have a supply of natural
gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will
take every possible action to safely develop this energy.”
15
The energy industry is quick to argue that the “shale gale” is the direct result
of smart policy and intentional strategy. In a widely quoted op-ed piece in the
New
York Times
, Christof Ruhl, BP's group chief economist, wrote that the American
shale revolution “is not a happy accident of geology and lucky drilling.” Rather,
it comes from a particular set of circumstances that may be difficult to replicate
elsewhere in the world. “The dramatic rise in shale-gas extraction and the tight-oil
revolution,” he wrote, “happened in the United States and Canada because open
access, sound government policy, stable property rights and the incentive offered
by market pricing unleashed the skills of good engineers.” In Ruhl's view, policy
and not geology is what is “driving the extraordinary turn of events that is boost-
ing America's oil industry.” While Asia, Latin America, and Africa have greater
unconventional reserves than the United States, he noted, “the competitive envir-
onment, government policy and available infrastructure mean that North America
will dominate the production of shale gas and tight oil for some time to come.”
16
Both Democrats and Republicans take credit for this policy, and agree that en-
vironmental and health questions need to be addressed for hydrofracking to suc-
ceed over the long term.
