Sunday, September 29, 2013

Fracking poverty

John Harpole writes,

In 2008, only 4 percent 0f U.S. natural gas production came from "fracked" shale wells. That number grew to 40 percent by 2012. If you compared average natural gas prices from 2003 to 2008 against 2012 prices, you would see a staggering 62 percent decline. That meant an energy savings of more than $110 billion to the U.S. economy, all thanks to fracking shale formations full of natural gas.

In 2012, LIHEAP (the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program) provided $3.5 billion in cash assistance. That same year, the comparative decrease in natural gas costs for low-income households (heating and electricity) was more than $10 billion.

The next time someone asks you to sign a petition to ban fracking, consider the lack of science behind their claims and the costly financial impact on low-income households if a moratorium succeeds.

Even left-winger Lisa Jackson, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says she is

unaware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water.

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