Tonight’s Show Topic: Drugs! From Afghanistan’s inner Circle to London, our intrepid host Jon Fox looks at it all. in Addition to Drugs, Jon will look at the latest Lie told by coal industry Reps to Congress. DNA rights in the Workplace. And questions about the Economics of Vertical Farms. Some come on y’all tune in and dial up, we’re itchin’ to talk.
To contact Jon on our Liberal community line at (304) 574-7811 if you’re so inclined or email: 12thhamonic[at]gmail[dot]com. You might also catch Jon in the Chatroom.
Music Of The Day: A Musical Remembrance of Senator Kennedy (‘Abraham,Martin and John’ -Marvyn Gaye, ‘Goodbye Tiger’ -Richard Clapton, ‘Thank you for being a Friend’ -Andrew Gold, ‘Come Together’ -The Beatles, ‘Irish Heartbeat’ -The Chieftains,’The Star Spangled Banner’-Jimmi Hendrix,’Song for a dead friend’ -Kevin Gilbert,’Wave Goodbye’ -Chris Cornell,’Goodbye’ -Emmylou Harris) , Stay Human.
To contact Jon, you may Skype Jon @ foxdup if you’re so inclined or email: 12thhamonic[at]gmail[dot]com. You might also catch Jon in the Chatroom.
The two key arguments that the oil and gas industry is using to fight federal regulation of the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing — that the costs would cripple their business and that state regulations are already strong — are challenged by the same data and reports the industry is using to bolster its position.
One widely-referenced study (PDF) estimated that complying with regulations would cost the oil and gas industry more than $100,000 per gas well. But the figures are based on 10-year-old estimates and list expensive procedures that aren’t mentioned in the proposed regulations.
Another report (PDF) concluded that state regulations for drilling, including fracturing, “are adequately designed to directly protect water.” But the report reveals that only four states require regulatory approval before hydraulic fracturing begins. It also outlines how requirements for encasing wells in cement — a practice the author has said is critical to containing hydraulic fracturing fluids and protecting water — varies from state to state.
One recommendation in that report flies in face of industry’s assertion that its processes are safe: hydraulic fracturing needs more study and should be banned in certain cases near sensitive water supplies.
Hydraulic fracturing– where water and sand laced with chemicals is injected underground to break up rock — is considered essential to harvesting deeply buried gas reserves that some predict could meet U.S. demand for 116 years.
In 2005 hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act, based on assurances that the process was safe. But a series of ProPublica reportshas identified a number of cases in which water has been contaminated in drilling areas across the country, and EPA scientists say they can’t fully investigate them because of the exemption.
The industry argues(PDF) that federal oversight would amount to a redundant layer of bureaucracy that is not needed because states already require the same environmental safeguards that might be required by the EPA, and thatthose safeguards are effective.
“We don’t think the system is broke, so we question the value of trying to fix it with a federal solution,” Richard Ranger, a senior policy analyst at the American Petroleum Institute, told ProPublica in May. “So proceed with caution if you are going to proceed with regulating this business because it could make a very significant difference in delivering a fuel that is fundamental to economic health.”
