Drill baby drill - fracking the American West

Associated Press photo

Vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil will soon be mined by a dirty process called fracking in a rush to tap the Niobrara Shale underlying Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. 

I wrote a post describing fracking and the polluted frac water which results in a previous post, here: 
http://amazingmotherearth.blogspot.com/2011/01/frac-water-and-year-3000.html

According to an article on Yahoo News today :

"This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.

"Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up."

and

"Environmentalists fear that fluids or wastewater from the process, called hydraulic fracturing, could pollute drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency is now studying its safety in shale drilling. The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe."

and

"With oil prices high and natural-gas prices low, profit margins from producing oil from shale are much higher than for gas. Also, drilling for shale oil is not dependent on high oil prices. Papa says this oil is cheaper to tap than the oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or in Canada's oil sands"

To read the complete article on Yahoo, please visit here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_shale_oil


I just have one question.  When will we begin to talk seriously about conserving our limited natural resources?  

When will we begin to see that we are using riskier and riskier methods to get at the ever-elusive oil and gas we are so addicted to?  

Who will really profit from all of this drilling and fracking and polluting?


OK that was more than one question, but really, what are we doing to the planet? Is all this destruction and pollution necessary,  just so we can drive to the mall in our own little boxes to buy more crap?