In the Book of Revelation, the really scary guys were the four horsemen. Now, as then, some would have you believe that the end times are upon us. This time it is because of fracking. Is it really? Absent from many discussions about oil and gas drilling are fairness and objectivity. In their place are the modern horsepersons of the anti-drilling movement. There are many, but let’s focus on four today:
Hysteria
The coddled Artists Against Fracking is at it again, this time with a video entitled Don’t Frack My Mother. Aside from the lamely Dylanesque structure (Daddy John would be ashamed), note the embedded misinformation, one example being the discredited fracking-caused fireball from the water faucet.
Listen to the video and then see the commentary from fuelfix.com revealing its shortcomings.
And acidizing is a new, untested, flora- and fauna-threatening scheme to poison the earth. Here’s my offer: A free ticket to Al Gore’s next speaking engagement to anyone who can find an engineer alive who remembers when acidizing was NOT used in the oil patch. Even in California, where this story began.
Sloth
Graphics can be a lazy way to convey information. Money Magazine depicts a direct and short route for frac fluids to migrate from the shale to the fresh water acquifer. And then ther is theheadline. The Los Angles Times summarizes a poll reflecting Californians’ supposed “unease” with fracking in a misleading headline which, I believe you would agree, that conclusion is not supported by the accompanying graphic. Do the math. Here is a report on these two examples of lazy journalism.
This one would fit prevarication if the articles weren’t from seemingly non-idealogical publications.
The Ad Hominem
In the spirit of equal treatment, here is one from Energy In Depth, an industry friendly news source, criticizing anti-drilling activist Bill McKibbben. This one would fit prevarication if we were focusing on Mr. McKibben.
According to Gas2, Texans (and by extension, all producing states) are “mental midget teabillies” and “mentally deficient”, and everyone who voted for Rick Perry is an “idiot”. (Come on, not everyone who voted for him is an idiot). This one is a two-category winner, fitting nicely under prevarication.
Prevarication
Friends of the Earth stretches the truth in demanding a new State Department study of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
And there is the Austin Chronicle article featuring outrageous statements from populist former Texas Land Commissioner Jim Hightower, and a critique from Forbes.com
The perfect musical interlude.