July 30, 2023

Mike Sauers

The Keystone Cops represented humorous incompetence during the silent film era. In two previous posts, Why the Push for Clean Renewable Energy, dated November 12, 2021 and Driving With Blinders On…, dated January 5, 2022, I stated that hydraulic fracturing is the fossil fuel industries’ keystone cop equivalent.

From beginning to end “fracking” is a dirty, polluting and expensive enterprise. To exist “fracking” received special treatment regarding compliance with local, state and federal laws and regulations. They also received exemption from any “severance” tax, a tax that is common practice in all other “fracking” states. The aforementioned is corporate welfare, pure and simple. Any chuckles yet?

The keystone frackers require enormous quantities of pure, fresh PA water which they immediately foul with “secret”, “proprietary” chemical ingredients required for fracking. Immediately upon fracking they produce two types of polluted waste water (shallow/deep). This waste water is polluted with fracking chemicals and naturally occurring earth elements that were once safely sequestered in the ground. To add insult to injury, they also bring radioactive elements to the surface in the waste water. Anyone laughing?

Naturally, this waste water must be dealt with in a responsible fashion. The fracking industries’ answer is, as they say, “weak as water”. They inject it into deep wells (for future generations), spread it on roads as a dust control agent or as winter road treatment and minimally treat it and return it to PA surface waters. That’s right! It is returned to surface waters. If these strategies weren’t so dangerously stupid, it would truly be comical.

Natural gas “fracking” emits methane gas, a huge contributor to global warming, at the wells and throughout its processing. After the gas is extracted and cleaned it must be transported, mostly via pipelines. Here, the natural gas industry and its pom pom wavers in government use eminent domain to run pipelines through private property, historical sites, state parks and state forests. They disturb and cross streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands. Naturally, they disturb/alter habitat and their associated wildlife populations. Eminent domain is a very touchy power that the federal government holds over us. It is like the sword of Damocles. Eminent domain is not in the U.S. Constitution. It is a legal practice foisted on us by government.

So, the wildly profitable, highly subsidized fossil fuel industry, including fracking, is alive and well in Pennsylvania. While it may be a clown show, they are driving the bus. They have problems such as negative public opinion, plastic production and pollution and shrinking markets. One might say they are desperate. Consensus has moved beyond fossil fuels. Consumers want renewables such as solar, wind, geo-thermal, hydro, biomass, nuclear fusion used in conjunction with conservation strategies. Like a virus the fossil fuel industry mutates to stay alive. While this may be humorous it is no joke.

Fast forward to the present. Just as there were elected cheerleaders and industries openly embracing “fracking”, now we have elected cheerleaders and industries chomping at the bit to get their hands on billions of federal dollars that would establish hydrogen hubs. Of course both state and federal governments are lavishing industries with billions of dollars in corporate welfare. That is taxpayer money that should be used in multiple ways to improve the everyday lives of Pennsylvanians.

Not everyone is on board with creating a hydrogen economy. Hardline environmental groups/coalitions such as False Solutions PA, Better Path Coalition and organizers of the PA Climate Convergence view hydrogen hubs as a waste of time/money/energy. They explain that creating hydrogen is expensive, risky and requires vast infrastructure for carbon capturing technologies. None of this exists in Pennsylvania. Carbon capture is an unproven technology that requires obscene investments in pipelines, injection wells, compression stations and actual carbon capturing technology. They have called out organizations that are beginning to compromise. They conclude that, while there is a place for hydrogen production, it is too late for a hydrogen economy and that resources should be steered towards renewables. I agree.

I agree because the proponents of a hydrogen economy want to use methane (fracked gas) which releases carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as by products. They want to capture and store it. That is as dumb as the day is long. It is a desperation strategy if ever there was one. GREEN HYDROGEN is the gold standard. It uses electricity from renewables to separate hydrogen from water. The result is that there are no emissions and no need for carbon capture.

Apparently, Governor Shapiro is on board with hydrogen hubs and carbon capture. That is unfortunate. There is always more to say. Do some research. Make it an issue.