Liberal Busybody has been falling down on the job lately. On Thursday morning (12/6) I noticed the banner at Gold Ring Pawn had disappeared. Not sure when that happened. I don’t get out much.
But that was so last week. We have much bigger news in Silt. Yup — Mayor Dave is at it again. He just can’t help himself – except this time he’s getting sued.
Former employee sues Silt, the mayor and a trustee
Accuses elected officials of retaliation for political opposition
What? Retaliation for political opposition? In Silt? Or Gasfield County? I certainly wouldn’t know anything about that …
Now I bring you a spate of O&G news stories you might have missed.
Colorado officials question link of fracking-waste disposal to quakes
This reminds me of 2002-2003, we had several “little” earthquakes which could be felt in Silt. After a quake we’d check the USGS quake map to see the magnitude (usually 3-4) and then the quake would disappear from the website and down the memory hole. The rumor around here was the gas companies were setting off charges underground to pool gas. So even though the quakes back then weren’t related to injection wells – yeah – this has been going on for at least a decade.
ALEC, CSG, ExxonMobil Fracking Fluid “Disclosure” Model Bill Failing by Design
Oh hee, this is funny. Sorry. But a year ago in a post about the fracking disclosure rules I wrote: “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought these rules were drawn up by the legal firm Loopholes R Us.” Turns out they were – ALEC. Lawyers, lobbyists – what’s the difference?
This week in stupid – it’s a tie! Take your pick.
Watchdog group opposes oil shale research subsidy
Texas Republican’s $50 million research funding plan targeted
GOP right-wingers once again propose selling public lands
Finally some good news –
Imagine there’s no fracking chemicals …
U.S. Patent Office Grants Ecosphere Technologies a Fifth U.S. Patent to Eliminate Chemicals During Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
This article is from last July, but it slipped past my radar. I stumbled on it on the way to googling something else. Had to share: Ten Reasons Why Fracking is Doomed
Opening December 28 at the theatre near you: You Need to See This Movie
Or not. Anybody want to bet whether Promised Land will be shown in any theatres in western Colorado?
December 7, 2012 at 9:28 am
Has anyone noticed that all these “watchdog groups”, lobbying groups posing as non-profits, and groups like Club 20 are located in Grand Junction? We have Mesa county residents on our land use planning advisory board, making rules to reduce impact oversights, and groups like WSCOGA dictating the terms our BOCCs should follow. However, when you compare Mesa’s oil and gas development sites compared to Garfield, it’s paltry. Call me NIMBY, but if these Mesa folks, watch dog groups, pro-fossil fuel action groups from Mesa want the drilling then let them push for it in their back yard before using our county as their personal “pollute and pillage for profit” drill pad.
December 7, 2012 at 9:58 am
May I suggest that everyone in Garfield County consider the “economic theories” brought forth in: ENERGY AND THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, by Professor Charles Hall:
“For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this “perpetual motion” of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is seemingly exempt from the “Second Law of Thermodynamics”.
As we enter the second half of the age of oil, and as energy supplies and the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption become major issues on the world stage, this exemption appears illusory at best. In Energy and the Wealth of Nations, concepts such as energy return on investment (EROI) provide powerful insights into the real balance sheets that drive our “petroleum economy.” Hall and Klitgaard explore the relation between energy and the wealth explosion of the 20th century, the failure of markets to recognize or efficiently allocate diminishing resources, the economic consequences of peak oil, the EROI for finding and exploiting new oil fields, and whether alternative energy technologies such as wind and solar power meet the minimum EROI requirements needed to run our society as we know it.
This book is an essential read for all activists, scientists, economists and policy makers, who have recognized the urgent need for a more scientific, unified approach to sustainable economic development in an energy-constrained world.”
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During the recent election cycle, I tried my best to have the economic realities of “Energy Returned on Energy Invested” as a benchmark in the debate on oil-shale development in Garfield County. However, my efforts fell on deaf ears; not only with the Republican county commissioners, but also the reporting in the Post Independent. Fortunately, TIbbett’s Blog is available to those inquisitive individuals who have given up on the only county wide newspaper, for in-depth reporting on important local news.
Carl Mc Williams
Silt
December 7, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Anita, I think it’s an evil plot by industry and Mesa County to get us all to move over there so they can frack the hell out of GasCo.
December 7, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Carl, that is so nice of you to say but I really don’t want all that responsibility. I’m just a Liberal Busybody.
OBTW, do you know how much Energy and the Wealth of Nations costs? $72.87 in Kindle! Yikes!
http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Wealth-Nations-Understanding-ebook/dp/B007EMRAVO
If only there was an audiobook version …