The US has oil deposits and relatively good sized ones at that. However.. the shale some of these deposits reside in are difficult to get at. One mean to get the oil from the rock is a method called hydrofracking.
Great, right? I mean.. we now have the technology to tap reserves previously beyond our grasp..
Sure it is lovely.. if you like being able to light your tap water on fire. They are tapping in very rural areas, and while the "land owners" may not want these companies doing this.. on their land.. they do not own the mineral rights. So they own the surface of the land, but what's underneath is fair game.
When you mess around like this.. a rural area is the ideal playground. If you are going to completely destroy the ground water in an area.. it is better to pay off a few families than a city of lawsuits. Who listens to or cares about the farmer on a couple thousand acres of scrub in Montana anyways?
When they talk about peak oil, they are talking about the "easy to get" deposits. After that it moves into more complicated means to be able to tap it.. as in bigger bucks, bigger risks.
You can't strip mine that much of anything and not cause massive ecological damage.
Meanwhile in band camp.. or rather at the U of I... they are figuring out means to be able to derive crude oil from crap. Yep.. your poop today will be someone's petrol tomorrow.
At least that has some potential.. how much depends on how efficiently they can accomplish this feat. It would be a means of tackling the CAFO outputs, municipal additions, etc. with a hefty left over of nutrient laden material that is able to be used as plant fertilizer.
And... here's one for the good guys... Go Hungary!!! They discovered and destroyed fields of GMO crops.
What a LOVELY sunset sky on the top!
ReplyDeleteThe fracking is really enraging me too...I'm so upset that the gov doesn't care that we're basically screwing ourselves! Our lands are crying. The people are getting sick. You should watch Gas Land.
Here's a clip about it:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/613/index.html
Getting oil from poop is good, at least they're not trying to make meat out of poop:
http://yourblackworld.com/2011/06/21/japanese-scientists-learn-to-make-meat-out-of-feces/
I'm Japanese American, and I'm not proud of THAT "accomplishment". Ha!
Glad to see Hungary is striking back against the GMO monsters. Sorry the farmers got shafted though.
ReplyDeleteWow. I would have totally commented on that article too but they didn't have comments enabled anywhere. Weird.
ReplyDeleteBut yay for them! We should do that here in America. Although the cost in lost harvest would be staggering. Monsanto has to be dealt with somehow. Those guys are going to copyright non-gmo seeds right to extinction.
I've seen hydrofracking stories too. Local water supplies being flamable. Its terrible. I've never had to worry about mineral right since I haven't ever really owned land but if I ever do get blessed with some, I'll be sure to check out the mineral rights!
Crude from crap, I like it...they should have no problem finding all sorts of oil in the remains of todays population. Good for Hungary.
ReplyDelete@ AJK... actually I think it may be a Japanese scientist at U of I that is extracting the crude oil. Brilliant idea! I'll try to watch those videos when we get back. Torrential rains hit last night and we are tackling 2 flooded basements. We couldn't get to our house because every road & bridge was washed out!
ReplyDelete@ PP & OJD.. So far Europe is the last hold out.. and they are pushing HARD to try to make them accept GMO.
@ Mr.H I agree with you. Tons to work with.. literally.
Anne, I'm familiar with fracking. I used to work in oil and gas. It's an appalling procedure with terrible ramifications for the people who live in the area. But there are a lot of people in the business who truly don't give a tinkers damn what happens to anyone as long as they make money. I remember one individual, in particular, to whom I expressed the opinion that the damage fracking caused was not worth the revenue it generated. He got all red in the face, started yelling, and then informed me that there was no evidence what so ever that fracking caused any problems. Those are your decision makers in the oil and gas industry.
ReplyDeleteThe U of I scientist should be awarded a Nobel Prize at the least for his accomplishments! It's brilliant! Could you please post a link or a video on your blog so we can see it too!
ReplyDeleteOh my, I'm so sorry about your basements flooding!! Drought then Monsoons, yup the weather is becoming even more erratic.
@ AJK I will find the article.. lol.. it was in "Farm Week" newspaper (which reads like a Monsanto advertizement. *sigh*
ReplyDelete@ Arsenius.. I am with ya. Pretty much a no win situation.. but the demand will be our undoing. I am all to aware how much the spin makes it seem like there is enough and we don't need to worry, but the price will be a hefty one.