I'm still doing my homework on this issue.
Neighbors have been switching from fuel oil to gas, in anticipation of higher electric costs (although we had surplus production especially in the Pittsburgh area until that was marketed).
My two issues of concern are:
1. lack of control in the harvest of the unrenewable resource;
2. my continued need to understand what biological/electromagnetic roles that hydrocarbon depositions play in moderating environmental forces.
No. 1 issue - supposedly the Marcellus field in PA holds the promise of many years of local fuel for heating, etc. However, the export of the gas at high volumes would mean those many years could quickly turn into a few years and we'd be back at square one - both in terms of cheap fuel and Pennslvania's economic boost. And then we'd have all that cleanup to finance without funds. It's how we treated the North American forests, and now South American forests, and ... well every continent where relatively unbridled resource harvest/extraction has created boom and bust and environmental mess.
No. 2 issue is too far out there for serious debate. It's just that the way everything else that creates this environment on this planet on these land masses we call home is perfect for its build and rebuild; and deposition of hydrocarbons is a natural process for a biological community; and hydrocarbons are a natural insulator for elctromagnetic fields ... my mind contemplates what effect these past 80 years of tapping out these subterranean layers of oil, coal and now a multi-state region of gas may have had or may have on the electomagnetic stability of the surface - where we live and along our coasts.
Of course, I'm weird. I figure there's a reason/happy coincidence for low levels of ions in mountain streams, and high levels in low areas, other than it all flows downhill.
Neighbors have been switching from fuel oil to gas, in anticipation of higher electric costs (although we had surplus production especially in the Pittsburgh area until that was marketed).
My two issues of concern are:
1. lack of control in the harvest of the unrenewable resource;
2. my continued need to understand what biological/electromagnetic roles that hydrocarbon depositions play in moderating environmental forces.
No. 1 issue - supposedly the Marcellus field in PA holds the promise of many years of local fuel for heating, etc. However, the export of the gas at high volumes would mean those many years could quickly turn into a few years and we'd be back at square one - both in terms of cheap fuel and Pennslvania's economic boost. And then we'd have all that cleanup to finance without funds. It's how we treated the North American forests, and now South American forests, and ... well every continent where relatively unbridled resource harvest/extraction has created boom and bust and environmental mess.
No. 2 issue is too far out there for serious debate. It's just that the way everything else that creates this environment on this planet on these land masses we call home is perfect for its build and rebuild; and deposition of hydrocarbons is a natural process for a biological community; and hydrocarbons are a natural insulator for elctromagnetic fields ... my mind contemplates what effect these past 80 years of tapping out these subterranean layers of oil, coal and now a multi-state region of gas may have had or may have on the electomagnetic stability of the surface - where we live and along our coasts.
Of course, I'm weird. I figure there's a reason/happy coincidence for low levels of ions in mountain streams, and high levels in low areas, other than it all flows downhill.
