Do you have any environmental concerns?

Do you have any environmental concerns? –@djmainevent

The reason he was asking is because earlier he asked about the oil shortage problem and I replied, “we won’t have an oil shortage problem if we accelerate the fracking we are doing in places like Texas, North Dakota, etc. If we start doing that then the US will be the biggest supplier of oil on the planet and the price of gas will go down to $1 a gallon.”

So, the natural next question, which he asked, is “environmental concerns?”

So I have to ask: Why do people like to worry?

First, everyone is worried about the price of gas. Then everyone is worried about our dependence on Middle Eastern oil? Then everyone, including me, is saying, we are we always at war somewhere in the Middle East? The obvious answer is because of our dependence on Middle Eastern oil so we send over 18 year olds to fight and kill civilians.

I once posted this anti-war piece on the most liberal site I could think of, The Elephant Journal. I got so much hate mail it astonished me. People love shedding blood, killing babies, and sending off American 18 year olds to die and be maimed. They love it. The more the merrier. So I commented back, “you know, 40 year olds can also enlist in the Army. Why don’t you guys all enlist instead of telling me about how the US Army is defending “my way of life”. This is on the most pro-peace site out there.

And, of course, nobody responded. How could they? Nobody wants to die by stepping on a mine. What a stupid way to die. And yet, let’s send over our 18 year olds.

Now we have an actual way to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. It’s called fracking, which allows us to go back to the wells in Texas that we thought were dry, dig deeper and dig horizontally, and find more oil.

Hey, let’s find more things to worry about. Environmental concerns. What the hell else do you want to worry about? Should people just get back to making their own food and living in caves? People have to drive to work. The unemployment rate is 8.3%. Let’s get people working first. But the price of gas is too high for poor people to work. So I just solved your problem and you’re worried that maybe the water is getting dirty.

My answer: who knows? But fracking has been going on for over 60 years and has been involved in over 1mm wells.

Here’s a statement from energytomorrow.org:

Drinking water contamination — U.S. government studies have found no evidence of drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing. In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a study to assess the contamination potential of underground drinking water sources (UDWS) from the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluid into coalbed methane (CBM) wells. EPA found “the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into CBM wells poses little or no threat to USDWs and does not justify additional study at this time.” EPA also reviewed incidents of drinking water well contamination believed to be associated with hydraulic fracturing operations. It found “no confirmed cases linked to fracturing fluid injection of CBM wells or subsequent underground movement of fracturing fluid.””

Is there a problem? I bet there is. I bet lobbyists are spending money to get quotes like the above. But in 60 years nobody has died yet from fracking so I expect it to continue. Meanwhile the fracking industry employs 9mm people and will eventually end this oil shortage issue, making it a lot easier for more people to drive to work.

Let’s worry about one thing at a time. My first worry is getting people jobs, and helping people reduce the stress of having their last pennies in the bank. Worry about the environment is a luxury.