Energy Resources Abound In America : Fracking IS the Future

Like most everything in our country that has anything to do with energy consumption, the public is woefully ignorant. So many among us live for just today, IPhone in hand, and let tomorrow be taken care of by others, it's always been this way, so why not now? Times are good, right?

Americans have lived a life of privilege beyond what others in this world could only dream of. And yet so many can't see or understand the system that brought this privilege to us and where even the 'poor' in America live better then most citizens in other countries.

But the reality of unending privilege without responsibility can not go on unabated. Someone has to take responsibility to make the system functions as it has for so many decades to ensure we, and our families, all have a chance to reap the benefits of our system now and in the future. It's not easy. It's not a foregone conclusion as so many believe. The system is actually very fragile.

It's imperative that we must understand our economic system is like a huge ship that takes enormous power to turn itself but once it starts to move it require nearly the same power to make it stop turning. This is call 'momentum'.  'When a body is in motion it tends to stay in motion.'

Understand, when our economy, largest in the world, is adversely affected by bad policy over a period of time and begins to move in a direction that is not conducive to success and prosperity for the recipients, customers, citizens, getting it back on track for success will take serious effort and time, resulting policies and programs that will not paint a bright future for those that stood by allowing it to be "fundamentally" misdirected to fulfill a political agenda.

Abundant energy resources is and always has been the very foundation of our success in America and will be for the foreseeable future. To ignore this fact will put our country at risk for ultimate failure. It's time to wake up and take responsibility for our own future. Ignorance is no excuse for failure.

America's Energy Illiteracy
Source: Loren Steffy, "Confronting America's Persistent Energy Illiteracy," Forbes, October 22, 2013.
November 7, 2013

Americans want more natural gas, but they don't favor the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") process used to produce it. That's the findings of a recent University of Texas survey in which 80 percent of the respondents said they want the feds to push natural gas development, says Loren Steffy in Forbes.

Part of the reason for the disconnect  is the anti-fracking campaigns of environmental groups that claim the drilling process taints groundwater, causes earthquakes and uses too much water. Much of the public discourse over fracking has focused on its potential impacts, with little discussion of the potential benefits.

• Among the survey respondents who claimed a familiarity with fracking, only 38 percent said they supported it, a decline from 45 percent just a few months ago.
• Nine out of 10 respondents also said the government should promote renewable energy, although it's not clear how many recognize that such technology is, at best, a supplemental source of energy rather than an alternative one.

The survey points to a broader public misunderstanding of energy issues.

• While many who responded said they favored natural gas because it produced fewer carbon emissions than other fossil fuels, they didn't seem to acknowledge that reaping those benefits requires widespread use of fracking.
• In the past five years, the United States has significantly reduced its dependence on foreign oil -- OPEC imports are down by 37 percent since 2007 -- thanks to hydraulic fracturing for both oil and natural gas.

Environmentalists have been far more effective at raising concerns about fracking than the energy industry has been at promoting fracking's economic benefits. The American public has never had a strong grasp of the forces that provide the energy it consumes or the tradeoffs involved.  We throw the switch and expect the lights to come on. We turn the key in the ignition and expect to get where we're going.