I live in a pretty heavy fracking community and all my family is from one that is even heavier. It definitely boosts the economy, but there are serious issues with it as we'll from an environmental standpoint. And that's not just speaking as a hippie. My redneck relatives all have mixed feeling about fracking as well.

B.S.

Wouldn't the cost of export mean that our own demand will be mostly met before it economically makes sense to ship oil out?

Actually I believe some of those stories were proven to be fabricated. I'm not saying it can't be a problem if not handled correctly. But, there is no reason the technology can't be used in a safe manner to benefit society and the environment.

I'm far from a tree hugger, but it's pretty clear to me that the practice poses a serious risk to the environment. A real, immediate, risk. It's not just the underground water table that's at risk, the waste water the process creates is also a major issue.

DT

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

My family is in the coal mining business, but my company is in the natural gas business, so I have some exposure to the experts in the field.

Fracking is a new technology. As such, it will take a while for safety, regulation, and legislation to catch up with it, but they will, just like they did with oil back in the late 19th century. As it is now, however, yes, it's dangerous to the water table in the areas around it. As far as I'm concerned, we should be regulating and monitoring all of those drilling companies more than we are, but if it helps us get away from coal and more into natural gas, it would be worth it.

As for Niall Ferguson, I haven't read any of his books myself, but he doesn't have a great reputation among historians who have. This is second hand, of course, but I'm not sure I would automatically assume every position he takes is representative of the academic consensus.

Not if the importing party is willing to pay the export costs. We also don't exactly have much spare refining capacity.

I must admit, you are confusing the hell out of me right now, Dane. I wasn't being political at all if that is what you are saying.

Can we please move to renewable resources? JFC.

I just quoted him because he was on the Internet, which gives him credibility to me.

Sure. You like darkness and cold?

This, clearly, is another one of those delineating, partisan issues. There could be double blind studies coming out with 90% of the population in a fracking area coming down with cancer, and a certain group of people would say "treehugger pussies! You want to send us back to the dark ages?" And another group would say, even if the fuel source was the perfect one, "OMG! It's the death! Run from Saruman!!!" Sad really.

I truly believe that my generation is going to be the one to stand up and put an end to the issues being posed by our reliance on combustible, non-renewable fuels as our energy sources.

The buck has to stop somewhere, and I think it will when the current generation dies off.

I don't know which generation is yours, but whoever they are, my bet is that they'll end up selling out just like the hippies of the 60s did.