Clean Skies (and Dirty Water)

Our beloved Pennsylvania had abundant natural resources. The Keystone State was home to America's very first oil well. Pennsylvania coal made our steel industry possible. Those resources are pretty well tapped out nowadays, but 21st century technology allows exploitation of the natural gas lying beneath about half of the state. Of course, that technology involves injecting water and chemicals at high pressure deep underground to free the gas and no one is really sure of the long-term effects on our water supply. Still, energy companies are conscientious stewards of the environment and what could possibly go wrong? It's not as if an energy giant like BP would screw up after all.

The American Clean Skies Foundation placed a full-page ad in a recent issue of The New Yorker to keep those hippie tree huggers at bay. "Each new rig that appears on the horizon is more than a drilling rig. It's an employment engine...providing high-paying quality jobs right when we need them the most. The rig is only used for three to seven weeks and is then replaced by a small wellhead or Christmas Tree. Chances are you'll be surprised at its small footprint on the natural landscape."

There you have it. A few weeks of dirty, nasty drilling, a few weeks of tearing up the woods with roads that will soon be abandoned, a couple thousand gallons of toxic, muddy waste water, but we'll end up with adorable Christmas Trees providing clean skies-worthy energy.

The timing of this public relations campaign is interesting. Elections are less than a month away. The Republican candidate for governor has stated that he will not tax the natural gas extracted from Pennsylvania. After all, it might drive the energy companies away. Inspecting the drilling process and placing some environmental safeguards on it would certainly do the same. We would lose all those high-paying quality jobs not to mention those adorable "Christmas Trees" ! We might also have undrinkable water, but that's what bottled water is for.

The 19th century Oil Boom polluted the Allegheny watershed. The 20th century Coal Rush led to mine acid in the Susquehanna. Let's see what the 21st century Natural Gas Bonanza can do for our groundwater.