reposted from http://radicalsahm.blogspot.com/

I heard a story on VPR this morning about shale oil extraction in a small Texas town.  Shale oil extraction is what is responsible for the perceived glut of natural gas this winter. The gas industry’s eagerness to engage in this process is the best indication of the truth of peak oil I’ve seen because it is an incredibly destructive, polluting and; most importantly to a soul-less corporation; expensive (energy intensive, low EROEI) endeavor. So, here is the small Texas town called Dish. They changed their name to Dish so they could all get free Dish Network Satellite television. I know, it looks like they had big problems before the shale extraction, right? Anyhoot, the extraction area is in the middle of town and it’s noisy and stinky but I guess Texans are cool with that and so it goes until people start having neurological problems. Horses are going blind and dying, people are dizzy and having convulsions. Clearly, the industry dudes aren’t going to step up and figure out what’s going on so the town spends 15% of its yearly budget for an independent air quality study. The study finds very high levels of Benzene in the air. Benzene is a carcinogen and neurotoxin. I had to go get the kids dressed for school at this point in the story so I don’t know what happened but it left me really unsettled.

These poor, hapless people (renaming your town Dish to get free satellite TV qualifies as hapless in my book) are being poisoned so some corporation can make money.  Yes, you could correctly argue that is happening because of our insatiable thirst for cheap fuel; that we are the complicit enablers of corporate malfeasance and to a degree we are. However, not a one of the sick people in Dish knowingly took on the world of shit they have. No one would volunteer their families for poisoning, no matter how great the channel lineup. These folks got duped and present us with a perfect microcosm of our society’s sick love affair with cheap, fast and easy.

We as a nation hear some coiffured head shape on the news say “lots of natural gas this winter” and we get all relieved and put aside the wee nagging voice that has been telling us to take stock and re-evaluate. We push it into the back of our mind and return to our servile stupor in front of the idiot box like its “problem solved!” and it is when hastening our extinction solves the problem.

Insert mountain top removal coal extraction or tar sand extraction, it’s all the same thing. It’s all a sign of our free ride on the petrol express coming to an end. After hearing this story and nearly having an episode in Hannaford when I counted 19 different varieties of Downy fabric softener on offer, I came to a sad conclusion: I believe en mass we will put our heads down and eat as long as they keep filling the trough, not minding that the feed is now more sawdust than grain, never looking up to see that the hopper is empty and that we are eating our last supper.

UPDATE:

The Inflated Promise of Natural Gas

"natural gas is “clean” only in contrast to coal — just as a bacon cheeseburger can be regarded as healthful compared with a double bacon cheeseburger."