Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by LP on September 22, 2009 at 0:04

It's always interesting to see when a light bulb comes on in the media. For the most part it's harder to reach the brains of the media and politicians than it is to fracture shale.
But, moving at the speed of a glacier, the revolutionary news about natural gas is seeping into their heads.

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Permalink Reply by S.H.M. on September 22, 2009 at 2:43

NPR has been covering Natural Gas consistently. And this is an ongoing series for this week. NPR's "Morning Edition" is a quality program. 5 - 9 in Dallas. I think it's on at 5 - 8 in Shreveport.

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Permalink Reply by Bobi Carr ("parker") on September 22, 2009 at 11:44

I LOVE NPR. You can listen to NPR news updates at anytime with the GHS toolbar on the radio player.

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Permalink Reply by Titleist on September 22, 2009 at 4:45

I am encouraged to learn that NPR is covering this topic. Check out the comments.

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Permalink Reply by North LA on September 22, 2009 at 11:00

"Check out the comments."

It always amazes me how many people are out of touch with reality. They think we can go back to the lifestyle of the 1700s. I personally wouldn't mind this at all but we live in a time where there are way too many people to even dream of that. Witout technology and massive energy half the country would die because we couldn't supply their basic needs of food, health, and shelter. Solar and wind are nice thoughts but all the research I've read indicates that it's nothing more than a boutique energy to make some people feel good. NG is cheap, abundant, and cleaner than coal/oil but the hippies are still angry. It's funny how most of them usually live in large metro areas but think a 1700s lifestyle is the way to go. They have to wake up to the point that they have 4 choices.
1. Cont Oil/coal which they dispise
2. Switch to NG which is cheap/abundant/domestic/much cleaner
3. Switch to nuclear which is the cleanest and cheapest once established
4. Start a war and try to wipe out at least 3/4 of the human population and then return to a truly "organic" lifestyle or maybe even better for a hippie kill everyone so the earth can truly be in harmony (note sarcasm)

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Permalink Reply by Martin on September 22, 2009 at 15:50

Read a report in the past several days that there is sufficient wind available in the lower 48 and off shore to meet current US needs 16 time over. Doesn't sound like boutique potential to me.

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Permalink Reply by Titleist on September 23, 2009 at 2:45

Martin - Please provide a link to the article you mention.
FYI: There is interesting data on the number of birds killed by wind turbines http://bit.ly/QM4FD
There are also objection to the aesthetics of having wind turbines on coasts and other areas.

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Permalink Reply by P.G. on September 23, 2009 at 3:26

Don't forget how many thunderstorm that frequently tear through the wind corridor!

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Permalink Reply by Martin on September 23, 2009 at 3:51

You did hear the item in the news a few weeks ago about the lead level in streams and rivers in the southeast states, plus Mississippi and Louisiana to be high enough that you should limit your consumption of fresh water fish in those states. The lead comes from coal fired power plants. My point in citing this is that there are worse side effects than degraded aesthetics and increased bird kills.

What are the esthetics of doing with out electricity? Some wind farms have been poorly cited, being located on bird migration routes. I believe that one of the first wind farms in California is one of the worst offenders when it comes to bird kill. The farm is in a mountain pass that is also part of a major bird migration route.

I will post more information bout the report when I find it.

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Permalink Reply by DJG on September 22, 2009 at 6:33

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112978060

Interesting map, tied in with this NPR feature, which shows current drilling regions along with "shale basins for potential drilling". Curious that their "potential" map has the HS play continuing much further West into Texas and considerably farther East through Louisiana and even into Alabama and MS.

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Permalink Reply by Martin on September 22, 2009 at 6:33

The reporter for this segment made an interesting observation -- The political standing/strength of the NG interests is in question when compared to the coal and oil industries. The largest NG companies are small in comparison to the oil and gas folks.

My own thought on that line is that even if the major oil companies -- Exon, Shell, etc. do have significant NG reserves, their oil reserves represent a far larger portion of their capital holdings. I don't think they will support NG as a substitute for oil.

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