"New Saudi of Oil and Gas"? Not so fast, dude.

Your analysis looks right to me.

Thanks Larry.

Excellent analysis, in fact.

Fracking reveals one of the hidden secrets of the fossil fuel industry - it is getting harder and harder to extract the sources that still exist. Fracking is needed because the gas is tightly bound in the underlying substrate. To extract it they need to use extraordinary measures like pumping water, chemicals, and sand particles down deep into the rock where gas is locked up in tiny spaces, then essentially exploding the zone to create cracks that allow the gas to flow more freely (again under pressure) into the uptake pumps.

Common problems associated with this technique are earthquakes (so far small, but noticeable), possible aquifer contamination (though not usually at the depths being fracked), and then pumping of often toxic chemicals back to the surface for storage in settling ponds that could contaminate surface and subsurface water sources.

Oh, and the occasional kitchen tap that is flammable.

Meanwhile, the BP Deepwater Horizon mess was caused because they have to increasing work at incredible depths - this one nearly a mile deep just to reach the surface of the sediment being drilled into - which costs much more and is incredibly difficult to do. Hence the deaths of 11 workers. [Ironically the explosion occurred while corporate executives were on the rig celebrating their "safety record."]

Due to the depth there were extraordinary measures needed to corral the spill when it occurred. That depth also made it difficult to deal with the fact that ALL of these extraordinary measures failed miserably and we ended up with months of oil being spewed into the sea. Add in the fact that no one bothered to determine if the oil dispersants used would kill every aquatic organism in sight, which meant having to scramble to see if Corexit was any more toxic than alternatives - while the oil continued to spew. Add in the fact that the dispersants merely kept the oil floating under the surface, which actually decreased degradation (i.e., kept the mess out there longer, likely killing even more of the sensitive larval stages of organisms that were just coming out at the time of the spill).

In short, fossil fuels are getting more difficult and more expensive to extract, and under conditions that are more dangerous to human health and the environment. Fossil fuels are a dying technology.

Which is why we need to focus on developing new, renewable, sustainable technologies. To not do so is to relegate ourselves into oblivion.

Relegating ourselves to oblivion, yes, that is still happening. I am sometimes accused, and am willing to accuse myself, of being a glass half empty kind of guy. But bottom line, until we arrive at the renewable energy glass being FULL, our descendants have a limited and agonized future. so when I am assured that I need to stop worrying, we can go with renewables AFTER we burn the last chunk of commercially feasible fossil fuel, well, I experience what Yeats called "the folly of being comforted." Do not try to pat me on the head until the problem is solved, denial crew.

Your analysis is also right on the button, David.

I am sometimes accused, and am willing to accuse myself, of being a glass half empty kind of guy.

As humans are an irrational lot, and rather timid when it comes to change. It is this hesitancy to act that the denailist industry caters to, constantly feeding disinformation so that people who are afraid of taking responsibility can hide behind the "manufactured doubt" (to use the term the tobacco industry made famous).

Which means the rest of us have to just keep plugging away bringing accurate science to the people.

Fossil fuel giants are gambling that they will be able to extract all possible deposits for as long as it remains profitable and by that time renewables will be able to take over. That's one helluva gamble with human lives versus greed.

Especially since their struggle to get governmental price help for fossil fuels serves as a massive obstacle to renewable energy, pushing back the date for renewables to take the load.

I discussed this in the March 2011 post shortly after President Obama proposed his "Clean Energy Standard". I wonder what President Obama will say on Tuesday in his State of the Union address. What do you think?

Fossil fuel giants are gambling that they will be able to extract all possible deposits for as long as it remains profitable and by that time renewables will be able to take over. That's one helluva gamble with human lives versus greed @ Jim G. - Too much of a gamble.
@ David, excellent analysis.
@ Chris, you hit it all right, featured in the group, Purely Political (if it lets me, third try...)