Happy Birthday, Fracking

Yesterday was the 65^th birthday of hydraulic fracturing, the technology that was developed to reach shale oil and gas that was previously unreachable. Fracking was invented right here in America in the 1940s and has had an incredible impact on us ever since. The first hydraulically fractured well was in Duncan, Oklahoma and began drilling on March 17, 1949, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). The API even sent out a birthday card to celebrate the technology. As most of you probably know, this birthday wasn’t celebrated by all. There are activists who probably view this as a blemish on American history. Should we be celebrating everything fracking has accomplished for our country or is it time to leave fracking in the past?

According to a study by IHS, fracking increased disposable income by an average of $1200 per household in 2012. It also supported 2.1 million jobs in America and contributed $284 billion to our GDP. And those numbers are only rising. The U.S. is on the path to becoming the leading producer of oil and gas very soon, thanks to fracking. I think the importance of energy independence is overlooked by many, especially anti-fracking activists. Our country runs on fossil fuels. Without them, life would be very different for Americans. Our prosperity in the foreseeable future relies on our access to fossil fuels. Energy independence means that we don’t have to rely on other countries to power the nation.

It seems to me like the anti-fracking movement grew to the size it is because it became the focus of the anti-establishment counter-culture. You often see this where there are large amounts of money to be made, like Wall Street (Occupy movement). Many people, especially young people and celebrities, want to be a part of this counter-culture for social reasons and become deeply involved with the movement without actually educating themselves on the facts. By the time they do start researching the topic, they are already so biased by their peers that nothing will change their mind. Some people just don’t want to be labeled as anti-environmentalists. This is the most ironic kind of activist, seeing as how fracking and the burning of natural gas are far cleaner for our environment than many of the alternatives. Even the EPA recognizes this.

Hypocrisy comes into play when these activists do things such as drive cars, take buses, fly in planes, use electricity, brush their teeth, and heat their homes. These are just a few of our daily activities that rely on oil or natural gas. Even if your car is 100% electric, it’s being powered by electricity that was created by the burning of fossil fuels. In order to make a real stand against fracking, one would need to not utilize the benefits at all. This means that a true activist would not participate in any of those activities. For some reason, we don’t see many of those.

It is absolutely crucial that fracking be done correctly and that regulations ensure this. We want to leave a healthy planet for our kids and grandkids. The benefits of energy independence are both short-term and long-term. It is possible to reap the immediate benefits of fracking while supporting a clean environment for the future, despite what some people might say. So, here’s to you, fracking. Let’s hope you don’t leave us anytime soon. There are many of us who won’t realize what we’ve got until it’s gone…