I ran for office in WI in 1992 as a “Green Republican” and talked up a deal in which taxes on vice, pollution, health effects, and resource depletion are introduced. At that time I proposed to direct the tax revenues 100% to reductions in other taxes (Income, property, and sales taxes), but the today version of that would be to devote some fixed percentage of all the new taxes towards deficit reduction, with most of the rest going to reduce other taxes and fees.

When our watersheds, our roadways, and our air are threatened, so is our food. Agriculture feeds us. Dairy farms, orchards, vineyards, the ever-growing organic farm industry all provide jobs that are satisfying and sustainable. But they rely on water, safe and clean, and plenty of it.

The Health effects of this industry are an enormous, immoral and unnecessary burden to our futures, to our future generations. The health effects have only begun to surface. Renewable energy should be our priority. The technology exists, the planet calls for it, and calls for it now. If only the renewable energy wind, geothermal, and solar and wood sources were subsidized by the amounts given away to the oil and gas development companies! We could slow down the devastating heating of the planet and start to breathe easier. As it is, they are beyond regulation, are generously subsidized, and reap enormous profit at the sake of solid, scientific, yet very fragile ecology. We live here on Earth, we all do, and we had best move toward a cleaner future.
97% of the water on Earth is salt water. Of the remaining 3%, two thirds is locked up in glaciers and ice, (rapidly shrinking, remember- making more salt water) or too deep to reach. That leaves 1% of the water on Earth fresh, attainable water. All life depends on it. All life is made of it. Water is our most precious resource.

Are you considering the causes of the drought that we’ve experienced this very year? Well, we pull billions of gallons of water out, poison it, the lands, and air, and burn more fossil fuel. Cattle die, farmers fold, banks refuse mortgages on leased lands. Not economical, and not at all sensible.

Agreed, good to hear comments from someone who knows what he’s talking about. Now what can be done to decrease gas leakage from gas wells and flaring from oil wells? I understand that at some wells in the booming western oil leases, much of the methane is flared because infrastructure to capture, hold and transport it isn’t yet in place. Should we be allowing this rapid expansion of drilling before such infrastructure is available? (Building the storage tanks and pipelines creates jobs, too.)

Also, what can/should government do to promote propane gel fracturing as an alternative to hydrofracking? (And Keith, how about a post on that? First I’d heard of it was in the comment above. Apparently, it is a viable process.)

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2012-05-15/1A-COV-ENERGY-INDEPENDENCE/54977254/1

Those are jobs directly related to finding production and distribution of energy. Energy independence can also produce a climate to reintroduce manufacturing jobs to the US because Cheap energy, combined with our greater productivity will make us competitive again. Once energy is no longer a global commodity controlled by small, largely militant countries, the price will fall. Drilling drove down the price of natural gas from $11 per MCF to less than $3 per MCF because Natural gas is not a global commodity yet.

You guys that complain about tiny earthquakes which may or may not be caused by fracing and water contamination that is certainly not caused wholsale by fracing are probably also against war to insure the free flow of oil, and are probably against nuclear energy and windmills off the East Coast. Wake up, the miracle of energy independence is finally within our reach. Independence will allow us to finally put resources to work finding the alternative to fossil fuel because we won’t have to send trillions of dollars to people that don’t like us.

Unfortunately, to get to the fracking zone, you have to go through the water table zone. There are numerous things that can go wrong on the way up or down. For instance, defective or cracked well casings can release fracking fluids or methane into the water table. Mining (which in many cases occurred decades ago and is not well-mapped) has made the substructure porous, allowing pollutants to travel long distances from the drilling site to affect water supplies miles away. Drilling companies may have the best of intentions and/or technology (and remember, many don’t), and still have accidents. Once an accident occurs that pollutes a water table, there is not much that can be done to remediate it. I live in Pennsylvania, where a lot of these problems are surfacing now that fracking is proceeding apace with little regulation. I predict there will be a big backlash against natural gas drilling in a few years as the drilling proliferates throughout the state. New Yorkers should feel grateful that it is still restricted in their state.