Quaking in our boots over natural gas
Posted January 9, 2012 at 5:30 am 
Filed in: The WaPo was a little too cute yesterday in its third-place editorial, “Extracting natural gas: How to counter the adverse side effects of a clean-energy source.” The first two lines will no doubt be quoted in public hearings and in anti-development ad campaigns:
Does hydraulic fracturing to obtain natural gas cause earthquakes? Yes.
This stark opening was quickly followed by a reasoned explanation of the relationship between fracking and seismic activity, and that technical discussion then succeeded by a recognition of the game-changing fact that is our natural gas bounty:
Yet fracking in America’s massive Marcellus Shale formation could provide a large, domestic source of energy with fewer harmful emissions and half of coal’s carbon output.
The WaPo goes on to recognize the jobs bonanza that is already flowing from the shale production, and makes the unobjectionable recommendation that more study and probably more regulation will be needed.
The paper also cites the US Geological survey for the proposition that of the 144,000 storage wells of this type in America, only a tiny fraction have been linked to earthquakes.
Unfortunately, the thoughtful analysis that followed the attention-grabbing first line may be lost in future references to the Post. This is an area where trying to be provocative is probably not a good idea.
Saturday’s WSJ reported on natural gas prices falling through the $3 per million Btu floor at the end of December — for the first time in two years. More downward price pressure will come from the fact that inventories aren’t being drawn down sufficiently — the Journal reports they are at “their highest ever for this time of year and about 12% above year-ago levels.”
This is a case where ever lower prices may not be good for consumers. A sustainable price will be needed to keep production levels up, though it is true that, as the WSJ further noted, producers “have shown little desire to curb output.”
At some point, pricing and irrational environmentalism (or simple NIMBYism) will begin to really rain on the gas parade. Let’s hope that markets and policy-makers can adjust before it’s too late.
Previous Post
