Through the Eyes of a Natural Gas Anti
Bryant La Tourette, Sr.
Chenango County Businessman and Landowner
There are two sides to every sign: “Ban Fracking” verses “Support Natural Gas.” But what does it actually mean to be against natural gas?
American natural gas and oil is produced under the strictest guidelines and regulations in the world. It’s being produced right here in America and has been for decades safely. This is our–the people in support of natural gas development–proud statement. This statement is one that everyone should be behind for hundreds of reasons all pointing back to science and facts instead of emotion and hysteria.
If you use petroleum products and truly care about human rights and environmental conditions, if you fully understand where most hydrocarbons come from, you will support American production and you will understand the total ignorance behind the statement “Ban Fracking.” There is no way a person who fully understand the entire global situation and our situation here in America could argue against natural gas development.
It is time people opened their eyes because hypocrisy is ugly. When you hear or see a sign which says “Ban Fracking” you need to understand what that statement truly means: What exactly is being stated?
Many people have become manipulated parrots and do not realize what they are supporting. They do not realize they are essentially supporting and stating, ”I am all for human rights’ atrocities, the killing of innocent children and women that occupy areas of foreign petroleum development. I am supporting the slaughtering by hired militia groups to supply my oil and gas from overseas.”
They also say, “So what if they chase or relocate indigenous people from lands to develop and supply my hydrocarbon thirst? I could care less about the little to no regulations and destroying of land I cannot see in other countries to supply my needs. It’s not in my backyard. So what if the oil and gas rich countries that supply us with our oil and natural gas use the money to buy weapons and technology to use against us? I have no issue with putting our American soldiers in harms way to protect natural gas and oilfields overseas to keep me warm on a cool winters night. I really don’t care about getting oil and natural gas from unstable and dangerous nations like Algeria, Chad, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. I can’t even tell you where they are located on the globe as a matter of fact! I can’t be bothered with facts about regimes and elites that economically benefit from energy resources and rarely share oil revenues with their people, which worsens economic disparity in the countries and at times creates resource-driven tension and crises.”
They might also say, “When I pump my gas or have my fuel tank filled, I sure am upset at the price of fuel! The price of life is the least of my issues, do something about the price of gas, though, now! The State Department cites oil-related violence in particular as a danger in Nigeria, where more than 54 national oil workers or businesspeople have been kidnapped at oil-related facilities. Do you really think I care about where my energy comes from? It comes from a switch on the wall stupid! As long as that switch works, why should I care. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what if I’m a sheep? I just follow what that guy knocking on my door told me, or that paper in my mail box that got caught misleading people with a photo. Hey I’m in the loop, I saw it on TV.”
And, “Irving, at the community center, fills my mom in and she keeps me and the neighborhood updated. If I want breaking news on natural gas development I go to the coffee shop. I watched the real story called “Gasland” and heard about that new movie “Promised Land,” paid for by the United Emirates. So, I guess you can call me an expert.”
Yes, those are the underlying statements behind the two words “Ban Fracking,” there is a group of gullible, attention starved, lonely, instigating misfits looking for friends, clueless to the image behind the statement they represent.
By denying natural gas and oil development here at home and making the statement “Ban Fracking,” it helps to understand what it is people are really saying and supporting. It is the path of least resistance and it is the easiest to follow. It’s time we take a stand to become responsible for our own development of natural gas and oil under the strictest guidelines and regulations in the world.
Domestic energy supports a stable country, jobs, and real revenue. Lead! Do not take the easy path of of ignorance and follow. It’s time we support responsible safe harvesting of domestic American gas and oil right here in New York and throughout this country. It has been going on in dozens of states safely for decades.
Research the facts, man up, avoid hypocrisy, and step up to the plate. Let’s take responsibility for the energy we depend on.
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I agree with much of this — especially the futility (and political immaturity) of demanding a blanket ban on fracking. The global perspective is a welcome one, too. We need to produce as much of our own energy as possible, and not only because source countries abroad are so often unstable, or even hostile to our interests. Energy security is a matter of national sovereignty. We have natural gas. We must and we will exploit it.
Still, the very first statement in this piece — “American natural gas and oil is produced under the strictest guidelines and regulations in the world” — is fallacious. Yes, there are a whole lot of regulations at various levels of govt, and they’re expensive to comply with. But our energy extraction rules are nowhere near as comprehensive or as effective as those in place in much of the EU, especially the UK and Norway both of which produce copious quantities of oil. There are huge gaps, lots of disinformation, and far too much corporate influence involved in policy making.
And for gas fracking, the disparity is even starker, not least because the federal government largely exempted the process from compliance with the Clean Water Act before the states had time to enact their own laws. And at least one state — Pennsylvania — crafted its new fracking regime directly from an industry blueprint that minimised impact fees, gutted the power of townships to control permitting and placed a host of impediments to transparency. The backlash is significant, including among landowners who have leased their properties. The new attorney general and auditor general are both democrats, who won significant support from otherwise conservative republicans in the fracking districts.
It’s somewhat ironic that the fracking regulation in places like Texas & Oklahoma, where the energy industry is king, is much more balanced and effective than it is Pennsylvania, a pro-union blue state with a long history of environmental protection.
I don’t find it ironic in the least that PA fracking law is more unbalanced and ineffective than that of TX or OK; it’s pro-union, blue-state policies provide the blue-print that makes it so.
Thanks Bryant,
You hit the nail on the head and now add 81 more deaths to the total with the Algerian Burp!
Hum, that puts a little fault & delay in the electric switch and Nat Gas Pipeline distributing gas to heat your home.
This EID piece is a bit melodramatic. When one really looks at where our energy comes from and the % from any so called “hostile” countries. Someone brought up Nigeria and how we are somehow responsible. We get about 5% from them. Almost half of our energy comes from that hostile rouge country……the good old USA and that number is growing and yes, NG is a big player. About 15% from our good neighbors Canada, another evil empire, about 20% from a country I’ll bet a lot of EID readers have visited, Mexico. We import around 12% from the Persian gulf and ¾ of that comes from our allies including Saudi Arabia in that region, so any large scale mass killings attributed to me or Mr. La Tourette, when we both fill up, unless he has a NG fleet, is minimal and I sleep well at night, thank you. Laying this much guilt on a segment of people that are against fracing is a tad bit of overkill (excuse the pun) Besides, we are becoming a world player in exports now in energy, with our current drilling, so someday soon, any bad boy nations overseas exporting energy to us, will dry up.
Have you ever been to Nigeria? I have and becasuse of tremendous amount of fraud revolving around an American Owned Company (Unfortuantly made the scapegoat), not a major E&P, the fines were more than the company’s Port Harcourt office was worth. Yes, the practices along with the typical Nigerian Scam helped create the situations of tapping pipelines and people getting killed. I still do work for them, because the directors are human and have been humbled. Today, those assets are called ASCOT AFRICA, and I have worked for them also. Don’t forget Brasil & Petrobras or Venezuela & PDVSA. I work with them too and count a couple of Directors at Petrobras friends. We are also just human.
Wouldn’t you prefer just a tad melodramatic in your life than the full blown drama from “the entertainment industry”?
I think folks are missing my point. Bryant is correct and ANY dependance on foreign energy has it’s ugly side. I’m not disputing that. I don’t have to be a world traveler to understand the impact we ALL share in our lust for energy. We ALL are guilty, unless we know exactly where our energy providers are getting their oil, gas and yes NG. These commodities are bought and sold on the world market, so unless Bryant or you have inside connections with your home heating and cooling and vehicle’s energy and know 100% it’s all home grown you are using, you all (and me) have blood on our hands, just like the group you are tossing stones at. The problem is, we are now extracting oil and gas from tight formations, as the easy fruit is tapped out. These formations are expensive to tap and require continuing drilling to keep shale oil companies solvent, thus the glut we have in NG and soon, the exportation on this precious home grown resource and with it, the cheap NG prices we are all enjoying today.It’s supply and demand dynamics folks. I would be more concerned on that front. Instead of keeping the NG at home and supplying OUR needs and weaning us OFF of foreign suppliers, we are going to export it, to improve profits and at the same time, keep our dependance on those very countries Bryant holds the anti crowd accountable for. I’m sorry, I will blame corporate greed and profits for selling us all out and wasting OUR NG, not some rag tag group of protesters carrying signs.
Correction “Algeria” not Nigeria on the poster comment I referred to above. I could not find any numbers of exports to the US from Algeria. I do know they sell most if not all of their NG to Europe (France being the biggest customer) the 5% number to the US is oil from Nigeria.
OK….found a number……10 BIL in imports from Algeria. NG and oil. However, Algeria and the United States of America share a long history of friendly ties, so scratch them off the bad boy status where we get energy.
Fred, Bryant can speak to this more, but I believe at least one of the reasons Algeria was on his list was because of the tragic terrorist attack on an oilfield site earlier this week. Here’s an article from Time from Sunday citing the death toll at 55, which included several American oilfield workers. http://world.time.com/2013/01/19/algeria-terror-poses-a-dilemma-for-western-oil-companies/
Thanks Nicole,
I have been fortunate to travel and have met some very interesting people. I was on a fishing trip in Mexico a few years back.
There were four of us on the vessel. One of the clients was from Australia he was working on a pipeline in Africa and there was trouble from a local warlord. Work had stopped due to local trouble. While at camp waiting for direction he witnessed two old Huey gun ships “Hogs” as he called them. They flew low to the ground, moments later off in the distance he could hear the unmistakeable sound of heavy artillery and guns. Shorty after he received a call giving the all clear to continue work. Later on he found out that the gunships were part of a private army hired to eliminate the threat of a local small militia that had been harassing, stealing, demanding money for safe passage.
I do not think this would happen in the USA. Fred, read all you want not everything makes the internet or papers.
I don’t think Mr La Tourette is exaggerating at all about the ugly character of the global energy market, though he paints far too rosy a picture of the industry here at home.
Our need to procure supplies from abroad is one of the principal factors behind the militarisation and distortion of our foreign policy — one of the giant black holes that are bankrupting us. Surely this isn’t difficult to understand.
But another factor that is helping to impoverish our country is the neo-liberal “free trade” ideology that’s held sway since the 1970s, which has ensnared us into unequal, even suicidal trade relationships with slave-wage labour countries like China, while decimating our own sovereign capacity to produce wealth.
The reality is that much of the gas extracted from the Marcellus – and the wealth it represents – may ultimately end up on LNG tankers to Qingdao, Yantai and Dalian.
Richard, NG will in fact be exported to China. As a matter of the “need to know”, some big China energy companies now hold good amounts of some American company shares and have large vested interests in these US NG companies. As the price of NG was beaten down due to the glut, US NG firms had to sell off shares to foreign companies to keep drilling and to remain solvent. This is public knowledge that most are unaware of.
Of course blaming a “rag-tag group of protesters” is really much easier than actually thinking through all those terribly complex issues. :)
Seriously, Fred, you raise valid points. The low-hanging fruit is long gone. There is significant foreign ownership of the leases, too — though in fairness very little of this is Chinese thus far. Ownership stats I’ve seen thus far show a predictable mix of US & European energy interests. Most overseas Chinese energy investment is in Africa, Australia and South America.
But the industry is gearing up to export as much gas as it can, to exploit a price differential between Asia and the US that may or may not last. Those investing in LNG logistics have made some serious coin over the past few years. There are huge investments in transport & terminal infrastructure on both sides of the Pacific.
It’s unsurprising that the energy lobby & its associated PR operations are keen to nip any political objections to gas exports in the bud. A typical “drill baby, drill”-type spot during the last elections almost always included a plug for energy exports. But there’s political vulnerability here, because — at least after local prices rise — many on the Republican right won’t tolerate the idea of shipping huge quantities of gas to the the People’s Republic.
Separately, much of the financing for fracking operations is indeed dubious and murky, based on impossibly optimistic assertions. In truth, much or even most of the profit involved lies in the financing process, without a whole lot of worry for how much value is actually realised ten years down the road. The numbers on paper are more important than the gas itself. We’ve all seen how that works.
One also has to wonder how many of these wells would pass a proper energy budgeting. If instead of counting dollars, one counted joules, or barrels-of-oil-equivalent, I suspect that many wells consume nearly as much energy as they produce. It’s often said that its technology that has suddenly made fracking viable, along with higher energy prices. I doubt this. Most of the technology I’ve seen on fracking sites all existed 50 years ago. What’s changed is not just the price of energy, but the volatility of that price, and proliferation of associated arbitrage opportunities.
Good insight Richard. I think you and I look at the shale gas boom through the same pair of eyes (at least what I’ve read from you) and took off the rose colored glasses some time ago. I’ve always tried to look at all sides of this issue and that has to include the Good, the Bad and yes..the Ugly. I have never blamed EID’s approach, which is to trivialize the bad and exaggerate the good and I expect some “Tom-ism” for that statement, but one would hope the industry would take the criticism and counter scientific studies as a challenge to do more, than take a defensive stance, but that’s how its done today. I don’t think they understand the more ridicule they lay on their opponents, the more skeptical the public becomes. Its a counterproductive policy. Reading some of these posts here, one can see exactly what I mean :) You are correct in pointing out that China’s investment is small, but as China grows and looking at the numbers, they are heading back to 10% after some slow down last year, their NG reserves will need some good old USA NG in the next few decades to meet supply and they are banking on NG prices going UP and with it, profits from US investments, along with using US fracing technology, something they are refining as we speak.
Your approach would allow anti-development forces to prevail and bring civilization to a halt because, unchallenged, the voices of doom render reasonable debate impossible. I don’t buy your “above it all” stance.
There’s the Tom-ism I was waiting for :) There are three camps today Tom and you know it. There is the “anti” camp EID loves to hate……..there is the pro-gas choir and then there is the smart energy development camp. I have always considered this camp the wisest and the one that should prevail in moving forward. We ALL use energy and need it to progress in a civilized society. To suggest that I’m in a camp that wants a halt to home grown energy development is ludicrous. EID playbook antics, I read the book my man. The BIG PICTURE sometimes gets a bit foggy with all the stones that get cast back and forth in the all good and all bad wars, but let’s just hope when the fog does clear, the whole truth comes out. So far, I’m not buying either side. And unlike the famous phrase “you’re either with us or against us”, sorry, I’ll ride the fence like John Wayne did in the old western movies I love, until both camps come clean and stop the rhetoric and find a viable solution we ALL can accept and back. You say impossible……I say nonsense. It’s not that black and white.
So, you are a fence-rider, then. Thanks. Good, now we can back to debating. Tell me something you like about natural gas development, Fred. Let’s see what you have.
Yes sir I am. NG is an important commodity and like coal, you know……the dirty stuff you at EID want gone and along with it, 1000′s of jobs, NG is a resource we MUST tap. It does burn cleaner, but I’m not rehashing all the talking points on that one Tom, we both know where we stand on that. NG will be a “part” of our energy source basket for many years and is not going away, despite what EID and the pro-gas crowd thinks, some group of protesters rail against…..ain’t happening. What I hope WILL happen is a better way to get it out, one that we all can back…….instead of dividing us down the middle. The polls are clear on that argument. Personally, I don’t use any NG in the Jones household, not sure if I ever will, the price is going to go up and I believe it will match fuel oil in the next 5 years, just an educated guess. There ya go……….
Not so bad. You assume one thing that is not correct, however. We do not want coal to be gone. It, too, is an extremely important part of the mix, as is nuclear, wind, solar, oil and everything else.
Fred lets start here.
Please review.
Here is a starting place to help you understand the pluses and minuses for home heating.
http://www.energykinetics.com/savingsHeatingFuelComparisons.shtml
I watch the news every day Nichole. And Bryant, I did two TOD in Vietnam back when you were a wee lad or maybe not even born. I’ve had some experience with foreign affairs.
Bryant…….good graph my friend. Not sure of your point though. Looking at your example, one can assume the NG/fuel oil ratio reflects the current price structure of both fuels. The NG price range is and has been suppressed for a few years now ever since the NG companies flooded the market and sooner or later, they must get a price above $4 or we will see many smaller companies filing chapter 11. Once the competition dwindles, the NG/fuel oil ration will look a lot different, so if you are suggesting I convert to NG and set up my home to heat with NG, no thanks……….as I believe that is short sighted and could cost me dearly in the long term. I do burn wood as a supplement heat source, have been for 40 years……..cut it myself on my land. Keeps me in shape too @61.
the truth order the DVD.
speaking of the hypocrisy of the anti-frackers, I got quite a kick out of my visit to albany for cuomo’s state of the state address. The first thing i noted was the hippie perfume odor in the air. It really stuck out because I had only recently learned that there is such a thing. I thought that somehow their lifestyle just created that strange smell. Our hot tub repairman had recommended that i put this mouse repellant he sells in our hot tub enclosure to keep rodents out. He told me the stuff smells just like hippie perfume. When he handed me the stuff, i laughed in surprise and agreed that it was the same smell i had encountered when in the midst of them. He believes they use it to keep the rodents out of their hair which would otherwise be attracted to them.
Anyway, i found that interesting. What i found more interesting was a discussion i had with one of them. A female anti-fracking hippie was standing next to me telling me how i was going to kill the planet and knock the fur off the cows. I asked her if we could have a civil conversation. She then calmed right down. I figured i would go through a comparison of the various forms of energy, their availability, their environmental impacts, and their economic viabilities. First I asked her to agree that we all need energy. She stumped me for a moment with a “NO, we don’t!”. That moment faded quickly and I said “wait a second, you are wearing glasses, your are wearing manufactured clothing, you are wearing shoes, and how did you get here?” To that she was stumped. She thought for a moment and replied that “we all need to change the way we live.” I told her that if she really felt that way, why hasn’t she changed? I told her that i was sick of their hypocrisy. I told her that if she did change, her unfortunate offspring would likely be the first to indicate how foolish their parents were.
They need to take off the glasses, take off the shoes, stop driving, stop heating, stop using manufactured electricity, and show us that there is a healthy civilized life with security beyond hydrocarbons. I’m ok with using their perfume to keep rodents away – for that i do have some appreciation for them as it seems to be working in the basement as well as the hot tub.
I so wish we could give half of the US to their kind and have them attempt to survive on their own with hydrocarbons banned. I would be willing to provide just a little bit of aid in exchange for several camera installations so we could watch the most entertaining SURVIVOR reality show ever!
by the way, have any of you seen one of these hippie communities? I passed through one once and have no desire to return. simply a garbage dump. garbage thrown all over – i think they call it compost to justify. Generators (powered with fuel) under cabins with wires strewn through the trees. I do believe they avoid the use of manufactured clothing as the driver told me they were usually naked.
Yes,, the foot soldiers in the fracking wars are a colourful lot.
In one camp can be found trust-fund longhairs wearing trauma-free leather, snacking on brewer’s yeast candy and smoking organic cigarettes.
In another camp, flag-waving, polyester-wearing obesities burdened with decades of credit-card debt, who prepare for battle by idling their V8 engines at the McDonald’s drive-thru, then stocking up on Chinese-made necessities at the local Wal-Mart.
Pandering to such people is part of the political process. But don’t think for an instant that they have any real influence over the result.
This comment is for Richard Latker. I so love your accurate desciption of the flag wavers.
Don’t forget their “extensive knowledge” about all forms of Energy, the trips to the “athletic club, weighwatchers, jenny craig, curves & all of the rest between many trips to the restaurants during the day.
NY4Gas,
Early on when I attended the EPA and DEP meetings I had noticed a few odd smells that seem to be at all the meetings. One odd smell I could identify from days gone bye. I found it interesting that these were all adults that smelled like pot. The second odor I was stumped on. Then while standing on line this guy yelled ,You smell that! Then louder. YOU SMELL THAT! He looked at me and said, Nothing on a battle field smells like that! At one time that smell ran all the way to Canada. Its Patchouli!
BLT, hah, that’s the name of the stuff i recall my repairman using – patchouli. What’s up with the stuff? is it just rodent deterrent?
maybe this stuff is the root of their nonsense? could it cause some sort of brain damage?
just looked up – too funny it really is hippie perfume. interesting descriptions given:
patchouli:
1. Hippie perfume … smells like forest, pot and snuggling
2. pungent scented oil usually worn by those who live an alternative or bohemian lifestyle. ie:Artist, musicians hippies
3. Used throughout the 60′s and 70′s not just as an excuse not to bathe, as some people claim, but to cover the scent of Smoke, Drink and Drugs on clothing.
4. An annoying stank masking scent (commonly a scented oil) that subliminally causes internal cringing for members of the bathing community.
5. An oil commonly used by dirty hippies to cover up the fact that they haven’t bathed in weeks.
6. The pungent oil of the Asian plant pogostemon cablin. The first time you smell it you ask,”what’s that!?” The second time you smell it you ask, “why hasn’t that been banned?”
7. 1) A plant that smells like a Grateful Dead concert. 2) Not a shower, contrary to San Franciso’s public policy on hygiene. 3) Slang term for Filthy Hippie. “No hipppie, that’s a bad hippie. Patchouli is not a shower!”
8. The sound one makes after vomiting, and trying to spit out the last bit, out of your mouth. Often caused from the actual patchouli smell.
9. A fragrance that is best when blended with other scents, not as a cover for a personality.
10. Also known as hippie …