Archived Content

For Economic Growth, Thank Hydrofracturing

Jun 11, 2013

A constant flow of news stories points out the economic benefits of and growing support for hydrofracturing in the production of fossil fuels. A round-up:

CNNMoney, "North Dakota grows five times faster than nation."

Propelled by a massive energy boom, North Dakota once again captured the title of the nation's hottest economy, with a growth rate five times the national average.

North Dakota's economy posted a 13.4% growth rate in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That's nearly three times as fast as the number two state, Texas, and trounces the national average of 2.5%.

Dallas Morning News, "Without BNSF, the great North Dakota oil boom wouldn't be as big."

Minot is a major staging area for BNSF traffic, especially oil-related. Equipment and materials, such as sand used in hydraulic fracturing, pass through going to the Bakken Shale region west of here. Crude oil passes through heading for markets to the east.

The boom would not be as big, nor would it have happened as fast, without BNSF, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Because of limited pipeline capacity in the region, there would be no place for much of the oil to go.

BNSF says it is transporting more than half of the oil produced in the North Dakota and Montana regions of the Bakken.

The Morning News has published a package on the Bakken Shale development and its impact on the Texas and U.S. economy. More here

 

BloombergTV, "U.S. Oil Boom Boosting Railway Growth, CSX CFO Says"

Richmond Times-Dispatch, "Natural gas finds turn 'world of energy' on its head":

The so-called shale gale … has turned the world of energy on its head,” Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and CEO of Dominion Resources Inc., said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in April.

“Over the past few years, domestic gas production levels have surged to historic highs and imports have dropped to their lowest level in more than two decades,” Farrell said. “Production from shale gas formations — about one-quarter of today’s total U.S. reserves — is expected to double by 2035.”  

Wall Street Journal editorial, June 7, "Fracturing in California: Democrats revolt against a ban on oil and gas 'fracking':

Democratic leaders brought their fracking moratorium bill to the Assembly floor last week, and their rank and file revolted. The bill lost 37-24, with 12 Democrats joining 25 Republicans to defeat it. Another 18 Democrats abstained, and it's a good bet they were "no" votes who didn't want to publicly cross their leadership. This was a rare rout of the Sierra Club and other greens that denounce "fracking" for polluting water and inducing earthquakes, among other horrors.  They blamed the oil and gas lobby, but that hides the real story.

The votes for the fracking ban came mainly from the wealthy, mostly white Democratic coastal districts—San Francisco, Santa Monica and Malibu. Opponents were mostly from central California, areas that are poor and minority, with rates of unemployment of 12% or more. Six of the seven black assembly Democrats voted against the ban or abstained. Though the Assembly speaker is Hispanic, most of the rank-and-file Latino Democrats refused to vote for the ban.  

These Democrats understand that fracking is already happening in California, especially in energy-rich Bakersfield. According to the California Independent Petroleum Association, about one-third of the active wells now use this innovative drilling process that uses chemicals, sand and water to crack shale rock. A moratorium would throw thousands of Californians out of work, and not those in Beverly Hills.

To be sure, there are plenty of stories about protests, new regulations, moratoria, various specious claims and, naturally,trial lawyers getting into the game. The official motto of the plaintiffs' bar: Let no good prosperity go unpunished.

Here's the agenda for the Gas Drilling/Fracking Litigation Group, one of the many litigious committees formed by the American Association for Justice, the national trial lawyers' group. The group will meet in late July at the AAJ's national convention in San Francisco. Just look at the many different approaches for throttling innovation, energy independence, and economic growth!

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