To Prevent A Stink, We May Have to Raise One

I'm not an expert, I don't play one on TV (add 15 extra pounds? ha!) or the internet, and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but I think we need to re-learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and elect politicians who can do the same.

We have a right to expect members of Congress to do their homework before deciding on issues, but when they don't--and we know they don't--what then? Replacing a rotten tomato with a rotten potato doesn't do much to help the stink.

Although I'm loathe to even say his name, DICK CHENEY and his oil/energy friends-- Ken Lay of Enron, for one-- had free reign in setting our nation's energy policy during a series of meetings so secret that we weren't even told who attended. With the oil man President greasing the way to Congressional approval, they managed to leave us a looming legacy of potential disasters that don't end with capping the BP well in the Gulf.

Regulations? Nah. These boys know what they're doing. They'll police themselves just fine, thank you.

Wrong. We have some serious energy decisions ahead. Clear heads need to be studying this, for they require careful consideration. The stakes are very high and the choices very difficult.

Take, for instance, clean coal. Is it real or an oxymoron? The term refers to technology in using it, not how it's mined. Traditional mining or mountaintop removal seem to be our choices. The traditional way? We've seen its cost--the mining disasters and the grieving families of the victims.

Mountaintop removal is said to be cheaper for energy companies, but the environmental price? Go here to see photographs of what is involved. What are the ripple effects of those gaping holes to the folks in the valley, to their drinking water, to area tourism, business and industry?

Here in NC, our legislature passed a renewable energy law several years ago, giving energy companies the right to burn wood scraps along with the coal. Currently, our local power company is attempting to convince the Utilities Commission that a whole tree, once it's been chipped, is "wood waste." Wood is considered green energy in theory, since trees can be replanted. The power company doesn't replant them, however, and is asking that they not be made to do so.

Natural gas? Do some research before you hop aboard the natural gas train with T. Boone Pickens. Those same secret energy meetings convinced Congress to ease restrictions on the way natural gas is collected. Millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals are hydrofractured (high pressure about 300 times that of a garden hose) into rock to make fissures to get to the gas in the shale.

The procedure was developed by none other than Halliburton decades ago, but was not used until restrictions were lifted. Once Cheney was able to prop open the henhouse door, it didn't take long for fracting or fracking, as they call it, to become the method of choice. Does the fact that he got Congress to exempt this method of drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act offer a clue as to what's at stake here?

There is an excellent documentary on HBO called GASLAND. The guy who made it--Josh Fox-- did so after becoming curious as to why a company was offering him $100,000 and royalties for natural gas drilling rights on his family's land. He decided to learn more about it instead of taking the money and running. He thinks we need to learn, too, so he made a movie about it.

Watch it. Invite your senators and representatives to watch with you. (Better not offer gum; we want their full attention.) If you can't see the movie, here's a link to an NPR interview with Josh, telling about what he found. There's information out there; look for it.

Not in your backyard? Guess again. Natural gas is already being mined in the majority of our states on some level. The Delaware River watershed is currently the subject of hearings and NY legislators are trying to intervene on a state level as it involves the NYC water supply. The situation puts people worrying about the quality of their drinking water against gas companies and property owners who believe they have a right to sell the mineral rights to their land.

I don't know the answers-- or even the questions-- but wouldn't it be prudent to be learning about this stuff now? All of the choices carry serious consequences. Progress requires energy, so we have to decide. If we don't, those with conflicts of interest decide for us. The only ones who seem to be paying attention right now are the ones who sniff money.

If we don't wise up, we're going to get fracked. Or worse.