WUWT readers may recall that I wrote an analysis in 2014 that was provided to the Butte County Board of Supervisors: A report on the hyperbole behind the politicized issue of ‘fracking’. In it, I wrote:
The process is safe, and continues to be proven as such.
For example, on May 13th 2011, the New York Times reported:
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” got a clean bill of health this week in the first scientific look at the safety of the oil and production practice.
And also:
The British also aren’t worried about it:
The British government’s health agency is the latest body to give fracking a clean bill of health, in a move that should galvanize the country to act on its considerable reserves of shale gas. Reuters reports:
Public Health England (PHE) said in a review that any health impacts were likely to be minimal from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves the pumping of water and chemicals into dense shale formations deep underground….
“The currently available evidence indicates that the potential risks to public health from exposure to emissions associated with the shale gas extraction process are low if operations are properly run and regulated,” said John Harrison, director of PHE’s center for radiation, chemical and environmental hazards.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/us-britain-health-fracking-idUSBRE99U0KX20131031
RELEVANCE: The EPA sees no threat to drinking water in studies they have conducted. Neither do the British.
There is a huge financial incentive by drilling companies to manage fracking water properly or face fines. Newer formulations of fracking fluid are safe enough to actually drink.
Scientific studies show the process is safe.
And…
EPA itself grudgingly confirmed in 2015 that fracking does not contaminate groundwater, barring mishap or poor practice.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/hf_es_erd_jun2015.pdf
About a year later, in January 21, 2016, the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board endorsed the agency’s findings and recommended its conclusions be stated less ambiguously. I think the agency is still trying to get out of that.
The study had further corroborated a study by the U.S. Department of Energy in which the researchers injected tracers into the hydraulic fracturing fluid, with no observable groundwater contamination after twelve months’ monitoring. It also confirmed reports by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Government Accountability Office, Duke University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, the University of Colorado, and the Groundwater Protection Council – to name just a few.
I concluded with:
A ban probably won’t matter much in the scheme of production, but if passed it will be used as a political bandwagon tool.
A fracking ban will be just about as useless as the infamous “nuclear weapons ban” in Chico, but it will make some emotional folks feel good about themselves.
If I were to be in your position, I’d put it up to a vote of the people of Butte County, rather than approve a ban outright. I think you’ll find it has about as much support in the citizenry as the ill-fated attempt to ban Genetically Modified Food (GMO’s) a few years back.
Don’t believe the absurdity of a nuclear weapons ban? Here is the language:
No person shall produce, test, maintain, or store within the city a nuclear weapon, component of a nuclear weapon, nuclear weapon delivery system, or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system under penalty of Chapter 9.60.030 of the Chico Municipal Code
Well, surprise. Emotion trumps science once again. Both newspapers in town endorsed the idea of banning fracking, both saying essentially “protect our water, just in case”. The alternative weekly would have endorsed it anyway, since it is a liberal cause. They did a story on Gasland producer Josh Fox visiting town, who outright lied to produce some scenes in the film Gasland.
He’s stopping in Chico because he considers it a “hot spot”—mostly because of Measure E, which, if approved by voters on June 7, would ban fracking in Butte County.
“We’re doing the tour to energize the movement against fossil fuels,” Fox said. “We’re going places that are in the thick of the fight, whether it’s a fight against oil pipelines, bomb trains, offshore drilling, onshore drilling, fracking or mountaintop removal for coal.”
Right, it’s not about saving the water table in Butte County, it’s about the “the movement against fossil fuels”.
The alternative weekly, that bastion of “medical marijuna” advertising, the Chico News and Review, had this to say about Measure E:
Measure E: Yes. This is an easy one. Whether or not the local geography is conducive to hydraulic fracturing, the latest research concludes that fracking can, indeed, contaminate groundwater. Let’s also remember that there’s a fracked well in Glenn County. Simply put, we cannot allow the Tuscan Aquifer—the source of our drinking and ag water—to be jeopardized now or ever by fracking.
Source: https://www.newsreview.com/chico/endorsements/content?oid=21070584
But the newspaper of record, The Chico Enterprise Record, where they actually have trained journalists who should have been able to sniff out that this is nothing more than an emotional movement in response to a trumped up movie, fell for it too.
I’m terribly disappointed in the ChicoER editorial board, who usually has the intelligence to see through such emotionally based measures, like they did some years ago when a bunch of the same liberal cabal got together and tried to ban GMO foods. The ER had some sense then, sense enough to recommend against passage, and that this was an unnecessary law. But in the matter of fracking, I’m particularly disappointed with ER Editor David Little, who allowed what I consider to be a flippant and self-contradictory editorial to be published on the issue, saying:
Editorial: Fracking ban makes more sense than the alternative
We’re not sure a ban on hydraulic fracturing is necessary in Butte County. A lot of political capital could be spent trying to outlaw every boogeyman that’s out there.
That said, a citizen initiative has resulted in the question going to county voters on June 7, so we all have to answer a straightforward question: Should fracking be banned in Butte County?
We think it should, and recommend a “yes” vote on Measure E.
Source: http://www.chicoer.com/opinion/20160531/editorial-fracking-ban-makes-more-sense-than-the-alternative
Really? Recommending something you aren’t sure of, something your admit is akin to a “boogeyman”? Once again, stupidity trumps science. Einstein said it best.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.- Albert Einstein
Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins100015.html
The result: it passed. Here’s the story from this morning’s paper:
Despite zero oil or natural gas companies seeking to use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in Butte County, the practice is no longer allowed in the county thanks to Measure E.
With 129 of 140 precincts reporting, Measure E was passing with 71.46 percent in favor and 28.54 percent opposed.
“We’re really thrilled that it’s going to pass and we’re really glad that the residents of Butte County are concerned about their water,” said Dave Garcia, spokesperson for the advocacy group Frack-Free Butte County.
The group held an election-night party at Round Table Pizza on Pillsbury Road in Chico, where Garcia said people were excited when early results were published online.
“Yeah, it was really wild and crazy there, especially when we found out we were almost ahead at 71 percent or so,” he said from the pizza parlor.
Source: http://www.chicoer.com/government-and-politics/20160607/marijuana-restrictions-fracking-ban-pass
As I’ve said before, I have no financial interest in the outcome, but that didn’t stop the leader of this movement (Dave Garcia) from publicly accusing me of being in the pay of “big oil” on a local Facebook forum simply because I hold an informed opinion, even though I’ve never taken a dime from oil or gas interests. It’s typical for the left to attack the person with emotional poison, rather than the person’s arguments, when they know they can’t win the argument on facts alone.
So now, two things will happen:
- The Butte fracking ban will be used to try to get it passed in other counties citing “see, Butte County did it and they don’t even have fracking going on there!”.
- Butte County will be held up as a place that has not one, but TWO incomprehensibly stupid laws.
Way to go, emotionalists.
Note: within 15 minutes of publication, this story was edited for a few punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors. The scope of the content remained unchanged.
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“component of a nuclear weapon, … or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system ”
Aluminum is used in the making of both nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon delivery systems.
Did they just ban aluminum?
Kryton switch tubes in Xerox copiers, also are nuclear weapon components.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krytron
So trucking is not aloud in Chico ! Not a whole lot of shipping going on in Chico, so no need to band that particular NW delivery system.
g
Hey, if you can pass a law that declares that the value of Pi shall be 3.0 , then you can legislate anything. Common sense just isn’t all that common.
G
Common high explosives and propellant are nuclear weapon components.
A backpack, suitcase or compact car can be a nuclear weapon delivery system. For that matter, so are 6″ artillery projectiles. Dunno if the local Butte County National Guard depots have any 155 mm howitzers, but they well might. The US Army used to deploy the Davey Crockett atomic recoilless rifle on a jeep. Its teams joked that it was the first weapon system with a kill probability of 2.0.
Also, beryllium, which is ubiquitous due to its many applications, is also a nuclear weapon component. It’s used as a neutron generator to initiate fission, rather than relying on a passing cosmic ray at the right instant.
Well Butte County has already banned cow tipping, so what else is there to do to improve things, besides unfrackation ??
As for me, I’m against ALL tipping. I believe people should be paid a fair price to do what they are being paid to do. I don’t need to be paid protection money to properly perform what my employer pays me to do.
g
Let’s hope your next server doesn’t hear about this comment. A little extra fluids may make it into your meal.
Cows work hard for those tips, George.
You bet, TA !!
Well Tom you obviously didn’t read all of what I wrote. I grew up in a society where tipping is considered an insult, and people take pride in what they do for a living, and they are in fact paid a living wage to do it.
And your second sentence simply makes my point, as to why I consider it a pernicious pestilence.
I pay over 60 cents on every dollar I earn, in direct taxes, before I even get to spend one red cent, and I’ve got to pay the restaurant’s overly priced menu price, and then also pay his employees, and then pay their taxes as well, while they enjoy tax free mordida. Yes I know the IRS figures a tip income for them, but just a fraction of what they expect to get.
The day I landed on the docks in Manhattan, I was standing under a sign, waiting to retrieve my two boxes that came off the ship, that were sitting two feet away from me on the other side of a chicken wire fence. I had to wait until some “dock employee” dragged those two boxes six feet from the inside of the gate to the outside of the gate, which I could have done all by myself, and then he held out his hand for a “tip”.
Oh that sign; there was one of them every 20 feet along the dock. It read ” NO Tipping !”
Welcome to America. Back then, 10% was considered an excellent tip for excellent service. These days, the restaurant adds on 18% for a “gratuity”, and considers one a piker if you don’t pay 25%. And no, I never eat out, except at fast food places, unless my wife insists on it. I compensate, by downsizing what I order.
If I don’t do the best job I know how to do, I get fired. But your comment Tom, demonstrates why the USA is in real trouble. Everyone has their hand out waiting for Bernie Sanders’ free stuff.
G
Well George a servers job is to take your order and bring it to you when it is ready. Simple enough. Most servers in real restaurants go above and beyond because they know extra service will be returned in kind with a gratuity, not tip, gratuity. It is a capitalistic incentive that works quite well. Restaurants that add gratuities to the bill do so because of past experiences with people who refuse to acknowledge the system. There is an old saying in American restaurants:
“What’s the difference between Canadians and canoes? Canoes tip.”
If you tip a cow just a little does it produce “lean” milk?
I wonder if they’ve banned smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as well. Both contain a terribly minute amount of radioactive material as part of their functionality. About ten thousand or so would be needed to do something annoying with, but it is possible.
David Hahn, the nuclear boy scout, used smoke detectors, lithium batteries and lantern mantles, among other items. He was successful enough to have radiation picked up by his geiger counter five houses down from his mother’s house were he lived. That’s pretty successful. Grant it, he was very very smart, but he did it. He also ended up costing a bundle in cleanup by the EPA. I’m sure someone else could do it again if they wanted.
You know, if you bang two sticks together, all the tigers will stay away.
also, critically important to the development of such things, is intelligence.
expect another law…
Its worse than that. They’ve banned the entire periodic table of the elements.
Isn’t Chico a college town? Embarrassing.
Everything is poisonous except Oxygen and Calcium, and even Oxygen is toxic in larger amounts.
Argon in the atmosphere is about the only safe atmospheric component, so long as you don’t concentrate it too much to the detriment of the Oxygen percentage.
G
Environmentalism is a religion. Liberalism is a mental disorder (thank you Michael Savage).
Remember those facts, and you can always unravel such madness as this.
“”””””….. 1.The Butte fracking ban will be used to try to get it passed in other counties citing “see, Butte County did it and they don’t even have fracking going on there!”. …..”””””
Who would want to waste time looking for any energy in a county full of really stupid people ??
Just imagine; the people of North Dakota can afford to ship sea water to Bismarck, in the trunk of a fleet of Lexusi or BMers and desalinizate it, using evaporation and condensation (in equal amounts), and fill their own home made reservoirs with it, using their fracking oil profits to pay for it, and more of the fracking oil to cook the salt water.
And buy ice cream for every school child every day.
You have to be dumb beyond redemption to vote yourself into community poverty, for NO good reason; not even any no good reason.
I think its the malign influence of Cal U, Chico. Students like radical causes, and this is one of the latest ones.
Oregon is scrambling to catch up with that idiocy by aiming to ban oil shipment by rail. In the wake of a suspicious “accident” that resulted in no injury to the environment or humans the Governor of the State is sniffing in that direction and today the “block the tracks” demonstrators start. “Progressives” are feeling a sense that they may be able to command a juggernaut of environmentalism all the way to the white house.
Oregon has already blocked “death trains” of coal from Wyoming and Montana to the Columbia River at the Port of Morrow, near the Boardman power plant.
Is that even legal? Doesn’t that violate the Commerce clause of the Constitution?
Simple, have the energy suppliers agree to ship no energy into the state for a week.
The “gang green” might just find themselves mighty unwelcome after that.
Rhoda, it’s only illegal when a judge says it’s illegal.
In England there have been recent cases where trespassing and vandalism were excused because of the “climate emergency”.
One of the starry eyed once laid down across the tracks to stop a Navy weapons train in Oakland, and paid for such valor with his legs. If it happened today to stop an oil train, Obummer would award him the Medal Of Honor.
A ban on nuclear weapon delivery systems? … Why no officer, that’s just a test vehicle for Amazon “less-than-an-hour” delivery service …
Just two incomprehensibly stupid laws? That is a lot better than most places…
It will have one good effect…
There is a natural gas field all over the central valley. It is richer further south where sediments thicken.
So this law assures the folks in Sutter and Yolo and even Colusa counties will get all the profit from that gas, and Butte residents get no royalties. IF you can’t develop a well by law, you can’t claim a royalty stake. Zoning laws are used to prevent city residents from claiming a share already… I’ve driven past gas wells south and west of Butte for about 50 years…
In a high-seismic zone populated by active volcanoes, you’d think there might be other things for the citizens on Northern California to worry about.
Just have Butte declare volcanoes illegal.
They should pass a ban on unicorn hunting while they’re at it.
It’s all about optics. It seems to me, most governments are not interested in doing anything really productive. They are only interested in the illusion of being productive. “Look! We passed a law!”
Not much optics involved in passing a law; and looking has precious little optics.
g
“No person shall produce,…store within the city,,,nuclear weapon delivery system, or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system under penalty of…..”
So the city of Chico has banned all transportation? A car could be used to “Deliver” a nuclear weapon. A truck, or bus or even a train could all be used to “deliver” a nuclear weapon.
Stupidity knows no bounds.
Well, I am currently at a frack site, not in California, where I am getting a crash course in fracking. The learning curve is steep. It’s interesting to see how it’s done. No politically motivated emotional BS here. Just a bunch of folks happy to have a job and, with the price of oil going up, looking forward to more work.
This takes about as much commitment as me giving up cheap tequila for lent every year.
If they wanted to make a statement, they could ban the possession or transport of hydrocarbons, energy created from hydrocarbons, or any products that required hydrocarbons to manufacture or transport.
Until then they are just hypocrites passing a meaningless law, then driving their Volvo’s and Subaru’s home from work.
Nothing better than the emotionally hysterical term bomb train. Holy crap liberals are stupid.
Does this mean that water wells cannot be hydrofracced. The procedure is done on aquifers that have plenty of water but insufficient flow for a high flow well, such as a water company well. The procedure is also done on hydrothermal wells for the same reasons. Mebbe they will call it water well stimulation and avoid the negative word.
If it quacks like a duck …
Chico = small in Spanish.
My proposal is that any jurisdiction that bans fracking should not be allowed to purchase oil or gas in interstate commerce. They should be allowed to benefit from something they won’t allow.
Good start. Also extend that ban to any jurisdiction that doesn’t permit drilling or mining in general.
The really sad thing of the nuclear ban in Chico was any violation, if i recall correctly, was a $1000 fine. So if that is correct and you set off a nuclear device in Chico, be prepared to pay.
Tom,
“Honest officer! I didn’t know it was illegal since there’s no other city which has that law. I promise I won’t do it again.”
You might be able to plea-bargain the fine down to $50.
H.R. (Always the optimist)
I don’t comment often… but Tom in Florida, I had to let you know… you made my day!
Does California’s constitution (if they actually have one) allow counties to ban such things? What became of mineral rights?
Under left wing theology. Everything belongs to the government. The government is just allowing you to temporarily live there.
So long as you behave yourself and do everything the government tells you to do.
Seems like you don’t own anything underneath the solid/gas interface, nor anything above it.
So you can’t grow your own vegetables unless you do it in a box above ground, and you can’t collect sunlight that lands on your property, unless you deliver it to the local utility company, who will still charge you for it.
G
@MarkW – while the stench builds around you because the government can’t produce toilet paper, keep a sewer plant running, or grow enough food to see you are fed. And, frankly, won’t care because there are too many people around here anywhere. I’m thinking of Venezuela where a bunch of academics got into government to show us how its done.
The US Constitution says Congress gets to set immigration law, yet there are plenty of ‘Sanctuary Cities’ in CA and elsewhere that have laws/rules/policies that ignore that. So why can’t Butte Co / Chico ignore any sort of restriction on what level of government has a say in mineral rights?
Remember Chico banned Nuclear Weapons in the cities boundaries.
Oh drat you already mentioned it. I posted to fast. OH and that t should be LamontT. ::sigh::
Does that mean that if N. Korea decides to launch a nuke at us, they are forbidden, under penalty of law, from targeting Chico?
It is only illegal if the North Korean nuke lands in or passes through Chico. If it does neither then there isn’t a problem as far as the Chico City Council is concerned.
Targeting, no. But if they actually deliver, they will face a fine.
An WUWT will be running on guest bloggers.
Too much time and energy wasted on a simple symbolic vote. Looks like Exxon and others already tried that play back in the 50s-70s with nothing to show. I even saw one record of a company handing over a Butte County exploration well to be recompleted as a potential water well. There are many wells in Glenn County because that area actually has a producing reservoir. Seems as though Cal State Chico puts only a fraction (if any at all) of emphasis toward research and actual science, instead fully committing to their effective curriculum of alarmism and safe spaces. These people deserve each other. Hopefully, they remain in their commune because facing facts, the real world, and alternative thinking may be too much for these unique snowflakes to handle.
Chico Sate has always been know mainly for drunkenness and an unusually large co-ed enrollment. Sounds like fun if you’re 21 with your cap on backwards, pants on the ground, and looking to “hook up”. Academics? Not so much.
Another term for ‘safe space’?
Asylum. They all need to be put in an asylum.
They might benefit, the rest of us certainly will.
We midwest rural folk hope that what happens in CA, stays in CA.
Coloradans used to have that same hope.
Ditto Oregonians.
As Robert A. Heinlein said: “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” Several years ago the Boulder (Colorado) city council banned aircraft from flying over the city at less than 2,000 feet AGL because some old lady complained about the noise of one towing a banner over the CU home coming football game. You can guess how long that lasted once the FAA found out about it… they just threatened to immediately shut down the airport.
The state of Vermont did the same thing. They passed a law banning fracking in the state despite the fact that there are no known frackable reserves in the state.
http://vtdigger.org/2012/05/04/vermont-first-state-in-nation-to-ban-fracking-for-oil-and-gas/
just another ridiculous application of the precautionary principle. Think of the tax money it wasted.
Did I say “application”? I meant “misapplication”.
I thought “Chico” was one of the Marx brothers. I guess the name is now a category of clowns.
Watch it, my wife’s horse is named Chico. 🙂
It’s also Spanish for “little”. The feminine “chica” gives us “Chiquita” in the diminutive, as in Chiquita Banana. “Chiquitita” means “tiny”.
The Precautionary Principle in action. I would suggest that good citizens of Chico ban asteroid impacts within city limits.
The good folks of Chico missed a beat when they adopted:
“No person shall produce, test, maintain, or store within the city a nuclear weapon, component of a nuclear weapon, nuclear weapon delivery system, or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system under penalty of Chapter 9.60.030 of the Chico Municipal Code…”
They forgot to include “deliver or detonate” to the list of banned activities.
That would have stopped the North Koreans from targeting their fair city for fear of violating
the municipal code.
As the law stands now the North Koreans can hit Chico without worrying about a citation.
Not a big deal.
No fracking allowed in the entire State of New York!