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talkpoliticsVideo clip on recent EPA finding about fracking.
Oh the fracking debate, how we love thee. Dueling amateur analysis of scientific studies. Dueling documentary exposes funded by various special interests. There is enough bullshit to power a million buffalo-chip furnaces.
Anyway, this is about a single area subject to heavy fracking activity. Residents have been warned by the EPA to avoid drinking or cooking with their well water, which has contaminants associated with the fracking process. 50 times acceptable benzene levels. Methane at "near saturation" levels. Residents have to practice daily safety measures to manage the risk of using their well water, like using a fan when showering so the methane doesn't build up so the refrigerator compressor or the toaster doesn't explode the house.
But most ironically, the general industry response is, of course, that more study is needed. While I can't disagree with such a routine ideal, much like I don't disagree with wearing safety belts, it's funny how business complains about studies and regulations and wait-times, until they have something to deny. Then they have all the time in the world for studies! Get another one! And another! WE NEED TO BE SURE NOW! Sure, we didn't need to be sure THEN, but this is NOW, and NOW WE NEED TO BE SURE!
Think of it this way: You own a house with a well. You have a life, a family, a yard, a dog and shit generally associated with "living". Someone wants to frack in your area. You are concerned, so you ask for studies and the time required to come to a safe decision. You are roundly rejected because you're just a dumb-fuck individual with a stupid dog that won't shut-up at night.
However, if you are a company, well, you know, we need to make sure about this stuff. We need time and studies to determine the truth of the matter. And you get the time and studies, over and over again, because you're a fucking corporation with money and shitty temporary jobs to hand out to boom towns until you run out of shit to mine. Then fuck it, you did your part, you created jobs, you're a freaking angel from God.
And you know how important the peer-review process is (hey, go get our scientists who will dispute the findings up and running), I mean, peer-review is the bed-rock of our scientific endeavor... just not global-warming or anything. Then peer-review is a massive fraud of course.
Tangentially related corporate news part 2:
My homegrown Minnesota medical heroes, the Mayo Clinic, is suing a medical company for patenting the process of science.
Oh the IP issue, how we love thee. Dueling... blah blah blah. This case is interesting because it comes down to whether or not empiricism is something you can patent (essentially). For instance, the process of comparing measurements is apparently patented. This I did not know. Did you know? I guess it was, but what do I know?
Anyway, I'm going to patent my thirst-determination process:
Step one)administer water.
Step two)determine level of thirst.
Step three)administer water as needed until no longer thirsty.
Or as the illustrious Chief Justice asked:
“You take wood, you put it on a grate, you light it, and you get heat,” Roberts said. Such a process “recites a series of acts performed in the physical world that transforms the subject of the process, the wood, to achieve a useful result, which is heat. So I can get a patent for that?”
Oh the fracking debate, how we love thee. Dueling amateur analysis of scientific studies. Dueling documentary exposes funded by various special interests. There is enough bullshit to power a million buffalo-chip furnaces.
Anyway, this is about a single area subject to heavy fracking activity. Residents have been warned by the EPA to avoid drinking or cooking with their well water, which has contaminants associated with the fracking process. 50 times acceptable benzene levels. Methane at "near saturation" levels. Residents have to practice daily safety measures to manage the risk of using their well water, like using a fan when showering so the methane doesn't build up so the refrigerator compressor or the toaster doesn't explode the house.
But most ironically, the general industry response is, of course, that more study is needed. While I can't disagree with such a routine ideal, much like I don't disagree with wearing safety belts, it's funny how business complains about studies and regulations and wait-times, until they have something to deny. Then they have all the time in the world for studies! Get another one! And another! WE NEED TO BE SURE NOW! Sure, we didn't need to be sure THEN, but this is NOW, and NOW WE NEED TO BE SURE!
Think of it this way: You own a house with a well. You have a life, a family, a yard, a dog and shit generally associated with "living". Someone wants to frack in your area. You are concerned, so you ask for studies and the time required to come to a safe decision. You are roundly rejected because you're just a dumb-fuck individual with a stupid dog that won't shut-up at night.
However, if you are a company, well, you know, we need to make sure about this stuff. We need time and studies to determine the truth of the matter. And you get the time and studies, over and over again, because you're a fucking corporation with money and shitty temporary jobs to hand out to boom towns until you run out of shit to mine. Then fuck it, you did your part, you created jobs, you're a freaking angel from God.
And you know how important the peer-review process is (hey, go get our scientists who will dispute the findings up and running), I mean, peer-review is the bed-rock of our scientific endeavor... just not global-warming or anything. Then peer-review is a massive fraud of course.
Tangentially related corporate news part 2:
My homegrown Minnesota medical heroes, the Mayo Clinic, is suing a medical company for patenting the process of science.
Oh the IP issue, how we love thee. Dueling... blah blah blah. This case is interesting because it comes down to whether or not empiricism is something you can patent (essentially). For instance, the process of comparing measurements is apparently patented. This I did not know. Did you know? I guess it was, but what do I know?
Anyway, I'm going to patent my thirst-determination process:
Step one)administer water.
Step two)determine level of thirst.
Step three)administer water as needed until no longer thirsty.
Or as the illustrious Chief Justice asked:
“You take wood, you put it on a grate, you light it, and you get heat,” Roberts said. Such a process “recites a series of acts performed in the physical world that transforms the subject of the process, the wood, to achieve a useful result, which is heat. So I can get a patent for that?”
(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 06:43 (UTC)"The EPA's found that compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath Pavillion, a small community in central Wyoming where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials last year advised them not to drink their water after the EPA found low levels hydrocarbons in their wells."
(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 06:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 12:22 (UTC)You mean, like the government hasn't?
Date: 9/12/11 18:04 (UTC)Re: You mean, like the government hasn't?
Date: 9/12/11 18:06 (UTC)Re: You mean, like the government hasn't?
Date: 9/12/11 18:13 (UTC)Re: You mean, like the government hasn't?
Date: 9/12/11 18:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 14:20 (UTC)And, yes, people really do need to keep their damn dogs quiet at night. My wife and I are trying to frack.
(no subject)
Date: 10/12/11 05:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 15:28 (UTC)Quoting the summary:
It seems that the fracking process, narrowly defined, is totally safe. It all happens way down there, bothering nothing but the hortas. The problem is that the well shafts are lined with cement that frequently fails, leaking ook into the groundwater. (Who knew that cement failure could have such a bad effect on oil exploration (http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/641226-kathy-werre/72835-bp-deepwater-horizon-halliburton-cement-failure-likely)?)
Be careful, you'll end up agreeing with the Austrians, and we know how terrible that would be!
Date: 9/12/11 18:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 18:33 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 12/12/11 20:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 12/12/11 20:44 (UTC)But of course.
(no subject)
Date: 9/12/11 19:51 (UTC)