Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress! Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006, was awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Ghana, a remote West African country. His strong leadership and worldview of peace and cooperation among nations set the stage for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Complaining about the food on the upper deck of the Titanic after hitting the iceberg is like talking about American Energy Dominance. On June 29, 2017, at the Department of Energy, President Trump tried to deceive the American people with the promise to use clean coal and export fossil fuels. If this sounds like old news, it is. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told the same story on May 1, 2017. If this sounds like a scam, it is. Fracking is about money, high investment bank fees, master limited partnerships, and Ponzi investments.
Knowledge is power. Misinformation on climate and energy is oppressive and insulting. Let’s learn all we can and regain our freedom. Science is based on repeated observations, expert analysis, and facts. Climate disruption is complex, not something to be decided by beliefs or personal opinions.
Survival is a matter of time
Most people know the climate is rapidly deteriorating, and a majority agrees the change is hurting people. But many believe they are safe and no harm is coming their way. If you take a couple of French fries from the guy sitting on the next table, you are risking your life. We are wired to deal with immediate threats, not complex changes.
Methane is invisible, odorless, and deadly. Venting, leaking and flaring are terms used in the context of natural gas. When you drill for oil you get natural gas, a fuel released with shale crude. Natural gas is mostly methane. Fracking for crude has created a deadly, hidden threat.
Venting methane
Overproduction of shale crude oil has created two environmental problems: wastewater and methane disposal. Frackers worry about time and money, they don’t care about the environment. Frackers see methane as waste and venting is the “simple” solution. Methane emissions from fracking are invisible, odorless, and ignored. Venting must be stopped.
Flaring Methane
An alternative to venting is to burn the methane at fracking wells and refineries. Flaring creates carbon dioxide emissions and heat. Flaring is bad practice used by refineries as a “safety” measure. Here are two recent examples. On June 28, 2017, the Valero Wilmington, Calif., refinery had a flaring event when a compressor broke down. The Valero refinery in Benicia released more than 74,000 lbs. of sulfur dioxide during 14 days of flaring methane after a power outage on May 5, 2017. Refineries run around the clock and skip on maintenance.
According to the World Bank, approximately 150-billion cubic meters of natural gas are flared into the atmosphere per year. This is about one-third of the yearly amount used in Europe.
Methane leaks are deadly emissions
Natural gas pipelines and storage facilities are sources of methane leaks. Abandoned oil wells are commonly used to store natural gas. There are an estimated 333 natural gas storage facilities in the U.S. The October 2015 Aliso Canyon, Calif., methane leak was discovered from an old 1970 oil well. It was reported by neighbors for days, the largest methane emission in U.S. history. This was a blowout, with a carbon footprint larger than the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The methane was mixed with mercaptan, a rotten-egg smelling toxic gas, added as an aid to detect gas leaks. Benzene and other carcinogenic toxic gases were also released from the bottom of the abandoned oil well.
Energy freedom
We must stop fracking. There is a glut of oil and gas in the world, at record low prices. Solar and wind systems can provide all the energy we need. In 2017, Oklahoma Oil & Gas purchased the first all-electric Chevy Bolt with a 238-mile range, in our area – never go back to a gas station again!
Dr. Luis Contreras