Energy prices are high, economies are reeling and people need relief — Along comes the shale gas revolution at just the right time.
‘What’s that,’ asks the radicals? ‘Plentiful, safe, affordable, domestically produced energy? Can’t have that. If there are no valid reasons to say no to shale, we’ll have to get creative.’
The anti-energy propaganda machine is geared up and running at full speed. Protests, daily scare stories, documentaries, even a new movie featuring Matt Damon are all leveling attacks against shale gas that have no factual or scientific basis.
Dan Lewis of London’s Economic Policy Centre recently explained that hydraulic fracturing is being blamed for earthquakes in Britain despite the fact that no one’s crockery has yet to be chipped. Similarly photos and videos of American tap water catching fire, fail to explain that the phenomenon existed before fracking and is unrelated.
The Daily Telegraph urges the UK government to take on the shale gas scare:
If we really don’t want the lights to go out in the middle of this decade then the Government will need to confront the scare stories being peddled by opponents of shale gas and explain clearly to people living near to major deposits why their exploitation is locally beneficial and critical for the nation as a whole. Incentives should play a part – with payments to affected communities and tax breaks to companies looking to enter the business. By any measure, shale gas represents an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss out on, just like North Sea oil half a century ago. We need to get on with it.
The trailer for Matt Damon’s about to be released film, The Promised Land, indicates that the anti-gas propaganda campaign is about to get the full Hollywood treatment. Damon, however, recently expressed surprise that his film was largely financed by the United Arab Emirates. Could there be any conflict between big Arab oil and a safe, low-cost supply of domestically produced energy?
Sunlight, CFACT often reminds, is the best disinfectant and is particularly effective against a propaganda campaign. Those trying to stand in the path of the shale gas revolution have no substance to offer. Time to laugh them off and in the Telegraph’s words, “get on with it.”
