Fracking A Blessing or a Curse?
The last 48 hours have had a small “Clash of the titans” played out in the media as a Wall Street Journal reporter Tom Fowler, wrote an article entitled “Study Shines Light on tremors and Fracking in South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale. The article detailed the amount of drilling and fracking in South Texas that it is likely the cause for increased seismic activity in the area. Although non-conclusive there is an inference in the article that trouble is right around the corner and perhaps much more than a tremor or two.
Enter the ever “tell it like it is” Jim Cramer of CNBC with a segment on his popular “Mad Money” show entitled “Cramer makes the case for fracking”. In this brief segment, he discusses the reality as only he can that energy independence will come to us with a cost. (You can probably tell I like J.C.) There will always be a price to pay to produce energy from any of our current sources, Coal, Natural gas, Oil, Hydro, Solar, Wind or Geothermal to name a few. His contention is that it is better for us to sacrifice a little to develop our own and be grown-up about it, rather than continue to be reliant on foreign countries that have been known to use our money to sponsor terrorist groups that find their way back onto U.S soil.
This writer sees any progress we are able to make to become independent as a nation is well worth whatever sacrifice is necessary. It is important however that we have some level of responsibility taken from not only regulators but drilling companies themselves to act like adults and responsible citizens and work together. We really can’t afford a Washington DC type stalemate and the public debacle in this critical area.
As a service provider benefiting greatly from the leasing of Oil & Gas equipment to a varied array of businesses, as well as for all of the other renewable energy industries. We are pleased to see an increase in the number of requests coming from the natural gas industry for natural gas equipment leasing as new GTL (gas to liquid) projects are going into operation. Like Mr. Cramer, I believe that natural gas holds the key to our true liberation from oil dependence and is the cleanest and most abundant resource we have access too.
Congratulations to all of those risking so much on this new frontier and for the future that you will bring to all of us! Just try and not bring the house down in the process!
