Slashdot Mirror
US Rust Belt Manufacturing Rebounds Via Fracking Boom
schnell writes:
A NY Times article reports that Midwestern "Rust Belt" towns and their manufacturing economies in particular have rebounded greatly due to the U.S. resurgence in fossil fuel production. This resurgence is driven by production of shale gas and natural gas from "fracking" and other new technologies that recover previously unavailable fuel but are more invasive than traditional techniques. "Both Youngstown and Canton are places which experienced nothing but disinvestment for 40 years." "They're not ghost towns anymore," according to the article. But while many have decried the loss of traditional U.S. manufacturing jobs in a globalized world and the associated loss of high-wage, blue collar jobs, do the associated environmental risks of new "tight oil" extraction techniques outweigh the benefits to these depressed economic regions?
if by 'small risk of environmental damage' you mean 'enormous active environmental damage', then yes - i agree.
From what the article says, this is a bump in manufacturing from short term contracts, this is hardly a sustainable client base. My guess is that at the very most this will be a benefit for one generation, maybe two at the very most. A few thousand jobs is nothing to shrug off but I hope that these towns are prepared for what is going to happen within the next 20 to 40 years. The cheap housing and sharp increase in demand will attract real-estate prospectors; and just like these sociopathic leeches always do, they will start building up their little housing price bubbles and once again the idea that maybe "infinite growth" can be a real thing is going to settle in the backs of peoples minds. I'm not saying that we should stop this kind of thing mind you. The money generated in this way is very real, even if the actual wealth is not. But we should be better prepared for the fallout this time.
While fracking water can't be reused as drinking water, there is some evidence that it can be recycled for other purposes, and may not be nearly as contaminated as previously thought.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
it's properly (and technically) called 'exploitation of natural resources'. It isn't sustainable - in terms of environmental impact, massive front-ended depletion rates rates, or the ultimate demand-destruction the high cost of extraction begets. Political and environmental chicanery have obfuscated the first two, with massive monetary stimulus banking on the dollar's reserve status having propped up the latter (among other things of course).
If the ultimate cost of extraction were markedly lower (as it has in decades past) the net energy gains might still be enough to justify. But those days are long gone.
Like the earthquakes and poor air and drinking water quality. Quite schilling for the oil industry....
But what if doing the fracking causes irreversible damage? Maybe we need to make the mistake to realize it's one, but then it might be too late. Some countries apply the "Principle of precaution", that is, "if you're not sure of the effects of what you're doing, don't fucking do it."
Well played. :)
Here, let me do the iconic example of the other side:
'We can't have government jumping in and killing off entire industries just because the sky might be falling. There have been no major catastrophes as a direct result of fracking, and even the few relatively minor events that have been recorded turned out not to be caused by fracking, but by improper deep-well injection of effluent.'
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
There's a lot of nonsense posts in this thread about how it doesn't benefit anyone... I live right in the middle of this so let me provide some anecdotal evidence...
My Uncle is a farmer (cranberries) and has a 160 acre farm. His son worked in factories. Those factories pretty much left the state for China and my cousin, who admittedly is an idiot and therefor can't get a decent job that involves thinking, has been bouncing from fast food job to fast food job for about a decade. The cranberry market crashed a while back as the 'cranberry fad' died. Berries went from $80/barrel to around $12/barrel. My uncles farm was floundering, he was about $200k in debt and pulling in $40k/year after expenses.
Then came fracking.
My cousin got a job hauling pipes... he went from working at McDonalds to making $55k/yr over night. That may not seem like a lot to most slashdotters but in the Northern/Midwest area thats a very good salary. He's got land, a house, he's very happy though the commute is terrible. (up to 4hrs to work and back depending on the site hes working on)
Cranberries grow in sand... Sand is used in fracking. My Uncle just closed a deal to sell his farm to a Sand Mining operation for $2 million. In fact, nearly every Cranberry farmer he knows is selling as well. The sand mining companies are offering 400% the going rate for the land and are buying everything... everywhere... Some people are getting as high as $20k/acre depending on the Sand quality and how close they are to the railroad.
Now... as far as environmental impacts... The farm he spent his entire life building is going to literally be turned into an open pit 150ft deep. He hates the idea, but he can either retire a millionaire or leave his children so much debt they'll be forced to sell to the mine as well. The farmers that aren't selling are happy about it to because with fewer farmers around, the price of cranberries will go up. He plans to use his new found wealth to buy some land that has a trout stream running through it up the road and spend the rest of his days fishing.
So yes, the environmental impacts are huge. But to say it's not a boom for local people and the poor, that's just disingenuous. If you live anywhere near this stuff you're economic situation is going to improve. My uncles retaining ponds will, however, no longer be the best fishing spot in the county.
You've just read the label on your Pop-Tart.
Put your glasses on, drink some more coffee and try again.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Nice bit of scare tactics there. Repeat items in the list to get a 37% longer list; Probably another third of the list are common FDA approved ingredients for food and soaps.
Seriously, you want to complain that up to half of one-percent of what they pump in could be table salt or pure grain alcohol? Or that they are using very soft water?
You are the reason why the only people who take environmentalists seriously anymore are the environmentalists who are to stupid to realize that the other environmentalists are just making shit up.