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#11 | |||||||
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Not here
Posts: 2,655
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It is a pleasure to have another person from my part of the world on the board. I would be curious to know which Southwestern state if you'd feel comfortable sharing that information with us.
I'm going to preface the rest of my remarks with the following: I did not intend for my little joke about oil shale (it's better to laugh than to cry) to become a springboard for a discussion which must encompass the fields of geology, climatology, plant physiology, mining and Western history to name only a few. I once worked at a college library that had a 500,000 volume collection on these very subjects. And even at that, I managed to read only 499,999 of them. ![]() Never mind the length a proper reply would entail, I don't feel the Cellar -as great as it is and as intelligent as its members are - is the appropriate forum for what would constitute a highly technical and scientific discussion. Therefore, I am only to make a few remarks in response to your post. OK, a COUPLE of few. Quote:
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Whatever source you found that states fracking has nothing to do with methane in the near-by area water supply is either out-of-date, or dismissive of science in the manner of many right wing outfits, or both. In April of 2011, the peer reviewed publication of the American Academy of Science included a research paper describing “a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.” Even the scientists who conducted the research were surprised at the strength of correlation. Quote:
By contrast, research conducted at the behest of state and local governments has shown definate evidence of contamination and a host of other problems that result from fracking. See for example, the report issued by Garfield County containing an exhaustive examination of the methane problem on Colorado's Western Slope: Quote:
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![]() Sure, and I also could insist that I be given the ability to turn straw into gold for all the good that would do for me. I honestly appreciate your final comments here, Adak - I really do. You seem to have done a little reading and you don't come across as wanting an environmental wasteland any more than I do. However - and here about 49,000 volumes from that library above beg to be read. It is not that easy. Let's say the mining companies actually agreed to pay the astronomical cost that restoring even just one strip mined mountain would entail. Never mind that in the entire history of mining in the American West, no mineral extraction outfit has ever paid anything near the cost of the damage to the environment it has incurred. Never mind any of the past terrible mining related damage that even a casual observer will notice in amost any river drainage around here. Let's write costs off completely and give every single energy company CEO a PhD in ecology and an attitude of deep contrition for the havoc he has helped wreck on the land. Let's make all those highly unlikely things be true. Colorado and the rest of the Inter mountain West will still never recover from what will amount to decade after decade of strip mining and other types of energy exploitation. Remember those beautiful aspen in my first pic a way back? Well, those trees along with the spruce and the pinyon and the Doug fir and all the others are already dead. They just don't know it yet. Notice how dry it's been out here? And it's been dry for quite a while now, come to think of it. And hasn't this been one of the warmest summers and falls ever? Sure has in MY part of the Southwest, anyhow. Forests in the Inter Mountain West are already suffering from an ecological three strikes and out - climate change, fire suppression carried out like a slap in the face to all known forestry and ecological science, and an incredible outbreak - epidemic, really - of pine beetle and other destructive insects. Even the pinyon trees are dying and the pinyon has got to be one of the toughest, hardiest tree species out here. I never thought I'd see acre after acre of dead pinyon pines. But all I have to do is drive about 40 or 50 miles north of here and take a look around the aptly named Disappointment Valley and there they are. Or were. The first time I realized that even the pinyons were dying, I felt frightened. I still do. We should be doing everything we can to protect and nurture our Inter-Mountain Western forests - as well as soils. We might possibly be able to preserve this precious national heritage, although the odds are increasingly against it. Strip mining will be the final blow. The forest will never return. Now, if you are like many of the other Republicans I've encountered, you probably don't "believe" in climate change or global warming. Or maybe you do. Whatever. I don't argue the subject with scientific atheists anymore. There's a zillion post thread about global warming around here somewhere. Read it if you want. Or look out your window at the dead pinyons. I've typed you just about the longest response to a post that I can ever remember giving someone here. If you don't agree with my reasoning and don't bother to study any of the reputable links written for the scientific lay person that I've provided, that's your choice. I've already given you an ample response and I'm finished. I wish like anything that your replies to my earlier post were correct. Unfortunately, they're not. Have a nice evening or a pleasant morning. Last edited by SamIam; 12-04-2012 at 01:32 AM. |
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