Thomas Friedman, "Get It Right on Gas": Salvation from the Green River Formation

Over a year ago, I wrote an entry in this blog stating (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2011/06/thomas-friedman-earth-is-full-tom-is.html):

"[I]f oil prices remain high, shale oil, of which there are world reserves exceeding 3 trillion barrels, will become commercially viable. And guess who owns most of it? More than 60% of world deposits are located in the U.S., primarily in the Green River Formation. Indeed, better answers will need to be found to extract the shale oil without damaging the environment, but what better way to create a vast new industry, offering both hi-tech and low-tech jobs?"

And guess which other country also has enormous reserves of shale oil? Answer: Israel. The source of my knowledge? Almost 30 years ago, long before anyone dreamed of fracking, I was working with a tiny government operation seeking to find an economical means of developing this resource so as to provide Israel with an independent source of energy.

In an op-ed in today's New York Times entitled "Get It Right on Gas" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/friedman-get-it-right-on-gas.html), Thomas Friedman writes:

"Adds Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund who has been working with the government and companies on drilling standards: 'The economic and national security advantages of natural gas are obvious, but if you tour some of these areas of intensive development the environmental impacts are equally obvious.' We need nationally accepted standards for controlling methane leakage, for controlling water used in fracking — where you get it, how you treat the polluted water that comes out from the fracking process and how you protect aquifers — and for ensuring that communities have the right to say no to drilling. 'The key message,' said Krupp, 'is you gotta get the rules right. States need real inspector capacity and compliance schemes where companies certify they have done it right and there are severe penalties if they perjure.'"

Or stated otherwise, development of the shale oil industry has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, lift the US economy out of its malaise, while freeing America from dependence on costly foreign oil purchased from savage dictatorial regimes.

Is this part of the vision of Obama or Romney? Not to the best of my knowledge. The candidates and their proxies are just too busy flinging mud atop the deposits [see Frank Bruni's excellent "Truculence Before Truth" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/bruni-truculence-before-truth.html)].