“I read a lot of the literature on global warming and for AOC to come out and say 2 or 3 years ago that the world was going to end in 12 years - that’s just hysterical craziness."
It is necessary to clarify some of the things that were said by Mr. Defant concerning fracking and the production of gas from people's faucets. I fracked about 100 wells in the Appalachians between 1976 and 1986, and I am a licensed petroleum engineer. The situation of producing gas from faucets happened in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. About 10 years ago I talked to a hydrogeologist from Susquehanna County (I forget his name) who tested the gas from more than 300 faucets in Susquehanna County. He said that in every case, the gas produced from the faucets was low BTU methane which came from shallow formations. There was not one case of the tested gas being from the Marcellus shale, which is the deep gas producing shale formation which was fracked. The problem was caused by the gas companies who did not cement the surface casing all the way to the surface. When I worked in oil and gas we always cemented the surface casing to the surface and there was a state inspector there to make sure it was cemented properly. If the cement didn't circulate to the surface it was necessary to do a second stage cement job to circulate the cement to the surface. It was state law in every state to cover all the fresh aquifers with cemented pipe. Pennsylvania must have relaxed the regulations at some point since I left the oil patch. Natural gas was flowing behind the uncemented casing from the shallow methane formations to the fresh water formations. The gas companies eventually fixed the problem by doing a second stage cement job in each well. But there were no cases where this was caused by fracking.
Your comments provided needed clarity and nuance to this subject; thank you. That paragraph of yours did more to thoroughly explain the situation regarding the 'burning faucets' than I've seen anywhere else.
The US is not dependent on Iran for oil. Last year the US imported 8 million barrels a day (over half from Canada) and exported 8 million barrels a day. We produce enough oil in the US and Canada to supply North America with all the refined product we need.
Oh, and by the way, the Keystone pipeline is operating right now. It's the XL extension that was shut down, which, sure, looks like a mistake right now. But the pipeline is carrying 700k barrels/day right now. XL would have brought that up to 830k.
It's a global market however, and prices are going a little bit crazy right now. As a guy with a decent chunk of my personal account in energy stocks I'd much rather the Biden admin does a SPR release than an oil export ban.
Give shale time to ramp back up from its near death experience! There are well documented shortages of rigs, sand, and workers. Remember oil went negative in April 2020 and it almost killed a bunch of small(er) producers that are rocking it now. Rig counts are up, drillers are using their uncompleted wells too. The US is not that far off from its early 2020 all time high oil output:
I guess Defant's views are a step in the right direction, but I will believe we are making progress when experts like him abandon the notion that CO2 is a problem, and understand that the earth is probably in a CO2 deficit; that we are at historically low levels compared to previous climatic periods; that CO2 makes the world more fertile - in other words, that the benefits of more CO2 in the atmosphere likely outweigh the benefits of less CO2. Which, if true, makes the entire global warming story a delusional pipe dream.
Am I only neanderthal who loved the part about frozen banquet dinners? Dude, I used to load up on those at 10 for $10 at the grocery store in my early 20’s. Awful, but it’s what I could afford at the time 🤣
Ever since I was a kid, I remember high speed videos on National Geographic that show a dead deer being consumed in very short order by all the little bugs that grow in the soil.
In every case when I dug a hole in the ground I moved past the organic life holding soil and hit sand, rock and gravel really fast. Ask any gardener how deep life lives in the soil.
The ocean floor has crabs, lobster, shrimp and bazzillions of microscopic organisms specifically designed to scoop up and eat everything that winds up there.
Everything by definition lives in an aggressive ecosystem that constantly grows and consumes itself.
Where have you seen enough organic life just hanging out and waiting, undisturbed, for eons to be buried and then transformed into oil that would provide for the amount of energy we have been consuming for the last 100 years?
You would think some scientist somewhere would be able to show us organic transition zones all over the world, but none of them exist.
It is necessary to clarify some of the things that were said by Mr. Defant concerning fracking and the production of gas from people's faucets. I fracked about 100 wells in the Appalachians between 1976 and 1986, and I am a licensed petroleum engineer. The situation of producing gas from faucets happened in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. About 10 years ago I talked to a hydrogeologist from Susquehanna County (I forget his name) who tested the gas from more than 300 faucets in Susquehanna County. He said that in every case, the gas produced from the faucets was low BTU methane which came from shallow formations. There was not one case of the tested gas being from the Marcellus shale, which is the deep gas producing shale formation which was fracked. The problem was caused by the gas companies who did not cement the surface casing all the way to the surface. When I worked in oil and gas we always cemented the surface casing to the surface and there was a state inspector there to make sure it was cemented properly. If the cement didn't circulate to the surface it was necessary to do a second stage cement job to circulate the cement to the surface. It was state law in every state to cover all the fresh aquifers with cemented pipe. Pennsylvania must have relaxed the regulations at some point since I left the oil patch. Natural gas was flowing behind the uncemented casing from the shallow methane formations to the fresh water formations. The gas companies eventually fixed the problem by doing a second stage cement job in each well. But there were no cases where this was caused by fracking.
Thank you for taking the time to clarify this.
Your comments provided needed clarity and nuance to this subject; thank you. That paragraph of yours did more to thoroughly explain the situation regarding the 'burning faucets' than I've seen anywhere else.
I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast. It was like red meat for the base.
He might be a scientist, but he sounds like a politician on the campaign trail.
The US is not dependent on Iran for oil. Last year the US imported 8 million barrels a day (over half from Canada) and exported 8 million barrels a day. We produce enough oil in the US and Canada to supply North America with all the refined product we need.
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=727&t=6
Oh, and by the way, the Keystone pipeline is operating right now. It's the XL extension that was shut down, which, sure, looks like a mistake right now. But the pipeline is carrying 700k barrels/day right now. XL would have brought that up to 830k.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline
It's a global market however, and prices are going a little bit crazy right now. As a guy with a decent chunk of my personal account in energy stocks I'd much rather the Biden admin does a SPR release than an oil export ban.
Give shale time to ramp back up from its near death experience! There are well documented shortages of rigs, sand, and workers. Remember oil went negative in April 2020 and it almost killed a bunch of small(er) producers that are rocking it now. Rig counts are up, drillers are using their uncompleted wells too. The US is not that far off from its early 2020 all time high oil output:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCRFPUS2&f=W
Where is Tiffany Dover?
How about putting a date on your articles? I hate a website that does not use dates in their articles.
I guess Defant's views are a step in the right direction, but I will believe we are making progress when experts like him abandon the notion that CO2 is a problem, and understand that the earth is probably in a CO2 deficit; that we are at historically low levels compared to previous climatic periods; that CO2 makes the world more fertile - in other words, that the benefits of more CO2 in the atmosphere likely outweigh the benefits of less CO2. Which, if true, makes the entire global warming story a delusional pipe dream.
Am I only neanderthal who loved the part about frozen banquet dinners? Dude, I used to load up on those at 10 for $10 at the grocery store in my early 20’s. Awful, but it’s what I could afford at the time 🤣
"Fossil Fuels" -
Ever since I was a kid, I remember high speed videos on National Geographic that show a dead deer being consumed in very short order by all the little bugs that grow in the soil.
In every case when I dug a hole in the ground I moved past the organic life holding soil and hit sand, rock and gravel really fast. Ask any gardener how deep life lives in the soil.
The ocean floor has crabs, lobster, shrimp and bazzillions of microscopic organisms specifically designed to scoop up and eat everything that winds up there.
Everything by definition lives in an aggressive ecosystem that constantly grows and consumes itself.
Where have you seen enough organic life just hanging out and waiting, undisturbed, for eons to be buried and then transformed into oil that would provide for the amount of energy we have been consuming for the last 100 years?
You would think some scientist somewhere would be able to show us organic transition zones all over the world, but none of them exist.
Just sayin...
"I think we do have a global warming but I'm not willing to destroy the economy" - Let this sentence read his children an talk to him. Lobbyismus.