There is one sucker born every minute – George Hull, 1858
Suckers have been around for a long time. George Hull wanted to prove giants had lived on Earth. First, George had to create the illusion of petrified people. Once the idea had been established, George had a 10-ft. tall giant made of stone buried deep in the ground. Sometime later, the giant was “discovered” while digging a well. People came from far away and paid to look at the giant. There were plans to keep digging in the area where the giant was found, hoping to find more.
From the beginning, people have been concerned about running out of oil. Some keep digging, others look up and see the sun and feel the wind. Sunlight is free and available for all, the way clean water used to be.
Fracking experiments
Please try the following experiment, and write down your observations.
- Take a glass of water and a drinking straw. Take a few sips.
- Repeat the experiment using two straws connected end-to-end. Take a few sips.
- Use now three straws, and continue for as long as you can. Post your findings online, to have a chance to get an award.
To simulate fracking, repeat the experiment using ice-cubes instead of water.
The amount of energy needed depends on the location and the physical form of the oil. The first oil well was 70 feet deep and crude was in liquid form. One barrel of oil was used to extract 100 barrels of oil. Today, fracking shale oil over 7,000 feet deep and drilling horizontally for thousands of feet, one barrel of oil is used to extract only 10 barrels of oil.
Fracking economics – No fracking, no pipelines
Large investment banks have promoted shale plays buying land at low-prices, drilling for shale oil, and selling back the land at 10 times the price, pretending the entire region has oil and gas reserves. We are dealing with people who don’t care about spills and will not pay for damages. The $1 billion Diamond line is financed with debt. Diamond has no revenues during years of planning, approval, construction, and testing of the line. They can’t afford to build a safe pipeline. Shale oil exports are financed with tax incentives and unsustainable Master Limited Partnerships. Greedy investors, suckered by brokers, provide funds used to pay dividends. Investment banks make millions in fees, and no one dares to stop – like digging for giants.
Diamond Demise
No one has attempted to stop the line in court. Diamond is not a done deal. An excellent legal team with experience dealing with Plains All-American is our best hope to stop Diamond. We will prevail, we have an obligation to protect our families and God’s creation.
The goal is to kill the snake. An anonymous donor offered $5,000 to get the ball rolling. Arkansas Water Guardians have an online fundraising goal of $100,000, a low-cost, low-risk solution. Please send $10 for the legal team, www. arwaterguardians.org. With community participation, we will have resources to stop Diamond.
We have waited way too long, and Diamond does not play nice. Plains All America is using armed agents to get easements in Oklahoma. The Valero 12 were arrested for speaking up at the Memphis refinery. Armed police kept the press out of the area, afraid the concrete barrels used to block the gasoline trucks from leaving the refinery would explode. The Arkansas Rising 2, charged with criminal trespassing by the Jonesboro County, will be in court next month.
Erin Brockovich and her lawyers met with Oklahoma residents concerned with the alarming number of man-made earthquakes affecting the area. Arkansas Water Guardians met with Brockovich regarding Diamond. Many efforts are underway.
Green Future
We must get out of fossil fuels and enjoy the benefits of a green economy. How can an industry not paying its bills be a good investment? Investing billions in shale oil will destroy the U.S. economy and the world’s ecology. Why invest in unaffordable fossil fuels when green energy is the future?
The winner is 10-straws connected end to end, a 10-ft long straw. Please send flowers to the Eureka Springs Hospital, where the Big Sucker is recuperating.
How many did you use?
There is an award for the Drinking Straw experiment. Please post the number of straws you used and your comments. Observation and experimentation are fundamental tools in science. The number of barrels in a Shale play, are based on wild guesses to get suckers investing their savings.