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April 22, 2011 06:55 PM UTC

T Boone Hickenlooper

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Teeter

Politico has an opinion piece by long time Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, which reads a bit like a news release from the American Petroleum Institute.

By T. BOONE PICKENS & JOHN HICKENLOOPER

…U.S. natural gas reserves offer a substantial opportunity for rebuilding our economy and increasing our energy security with a clean and sustainable domestic fuel.

…The U.S. has an abundance of natural gas, and recent developments in extracting gas from shale deposits mean we could soon be an exporter -even if we increase domestic demand.

…Natural gas is an excellent resource for power generation, and is the only substitute for diesel in powering heavy-duty trucks.

…Natural gas could be ideal to use with intermittent renewable energy sources because it helps stabilize the baseload power, keeping the standard output constant.

Because after all, Mayor T Boone says it’s the ‘green’ alternative, and it is Earth Day!

Think flaming water faucets are scary…what about dictators?

…With a cleaner domestic energy policy, the United States will no longer be held hostage to foreign dictators or unstable regimes.

Yeah, I too dislike the Canadian Prime Minister.

THESE are the top ten countries that the U.S. imports from:

1. Canada

2. Mexico

3. Saudi Arabia

4. Venezuela

5. Nigeria

6. Angola

7. Iraq

8. Algeria

9. United Kingdom

10. Brazil

And why should we worry about the dirty end of natural gas?

Chesapeake Energy LLC, a company with one of the largest drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale, has suspended work in Pennsylvania while it searches for the cause of a well blowout late Tuesday night that sent what’s estimated at tens of thousands of gallons of fracking fluids into nearby waterways and over farmland.

It is ‘clean-burning’ right?  Better for air quality?

But combine ingredients such as snow cover, air-trapping temperature inversions and pollutants from sources including oil and gas development, and the western part of the county including Rangely has been the site this winter of its first-ever high-ozone alert by state health officials.

“I wish it wasn’t my county,” said county Commissioner Ken Parsons. “I live on the western end here, and I very much value having a good environment and clean air to breathe.”

And for combating Climate Change?


New findings from Cornell University Professor Robert Howarth show that methane emissions from shale gas drilling are at least 30% higher than those from conventional gas, and may be just as severe as coal, highlighting yet another reason why the process is not a viable transition from fossil fuels, and why it may further exacerbate climate change problems.

“Shale gas is widely promoted as a clean fuel with lower greenhouse gas emissions than coal and other fossil fuels,” said Howarth.

“Unfortunately, objective science fails to support that belief. When emissions of both methane and carbon dioxide are included, using the best available information, shale gas actually has a larger – or at least equally as large – greenhouse gas footprint than does coal. Industry has fought hard to keep their methane emissions a secret, and continues to sue the EPA in court to avoid reporting emissions. We urge industry to be more forthcoming with this information.”

How about a little benzene in your water?

“It is deeply disturbing to discover the content and quantity of toxic chemicals, like benzene and lead, being injected into the ground without the knowledge of the communities whose health could be affected,” DeGette said in a release.

“Of particular concern to me is that we learned that over the four-year period studied, over one and a half million gallons of carcinogens were injected into the ground in Colorado. Many companies were also unable to even identify some of the chemicals they were using in their own activities, unfortunately underscoring that voluntary industry disclosure is not enough to ensure the economic benefits of natural gas production do not come at the cost of our families’ health.”

Natural gas boosterism is a job for the oil men, like T. Boone Pickens and API.  The job of government is to ensure that any industry operates first and foremost in a manner that protects competing resources and protects public health and safety.  But when I listen to the murmurings from that office on Colfax, what I hear is…Drill, Baby, Drill.

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8 thoughts on “T Boone Hickenlooper”

  1. Obviously, natural gas development must be held to a high-standard to protect our environment.

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/s…

    Colorado’s land, water, people…wildlife, safety… People are already thinking about all that hippie stuff, being Earth Day and all, needn’t more than a passing mention. ‘Obviously…’

    Well pits, toxic release, careening trucks, sediment dumps, poisoned wells… why get into the boring details? Rosy scenarios are much funner for an opinion piece anyhoo, being Earth Day and all.    

  2. I’ve been around here awhile and see these diaries fairly often that decry natural gas and fossil fuels.

    The question I’m left with is: What do we do?

    Wind and solar are not the only answers.

    Natural gas is abundant in the state.

    Would higher regulations make you happier?

    Would increasing the impact fees or taxes on industry help?

    Do we incentivize/subsidize renewable energy to a point where it makes sense for average homeowners to utilize those systems?

    And knowing Colorado, are any of the proposed solutions possible, likely, feasible?

    I agree that there are impacts that need to mitigated and the industry’s push back on anything regulatory is often hyperbolic.

    But, after reading these diaries, I think that the environmentalists are heavy on complaining and short on solutions.

    1. but you didn’t make those up.  Indeed, environmentalists have been proposing such for years.  And yes, better policy in all three areas is necessary.  

      Barely a passing mention of the need to remember the environment, with a throwaway modifier even, gives some pause to many of us in the gaspatch.  

    3. 1. Require companies to report ALL the substances they inject in the ground. Then, when their “failsafe” process fails, as it all too often does, we will be able to document the source of the pollution. Then they can actually be held acountable. The natural gas industry must realize that they will be seen as a “bad” player until they stop lying to the American people about the devastating effect on humans, animals, and the environment that is a result of their activities.

      Sure, let’s use the fuel. But stop allowing O&G companies to poison peoples lives and destroy our public lands in the process. If so, you are likely to see more public support for that particular fuel.

      2. Make a real effort at conservation. Knock off the multibillion dollar subsidies to O&G companies and put that money into programs that will focus on saving more energy. Superconductivity, distributed energy systems, mass transit, LED technology, infrastructure improvements, and hundreds more initiatives that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels are being neglected in order to continue down the same path. It’s stupid.

      3.Forget about natural gas powered cars. Electricity, which can be endlessly generated by pollution free means, is sustainable. For trucks, this lie

      Natural gas is an excellent resource for power generation, and is the only substitute for diesel in powering heavy-duty trucks.

      needs to be exposed. Biofuels can, and do, run busses and trucks very effectively. Ethanol is not the only bio-fuel. Research is being done on many alternatives such as butanol, which can be used in a 85% to 15% mix as opposed to ethanols’ 15% to 85% blend. There are solutions a-plenty, but public and government understanding and political will is diverted by greed and misinformation from those who profit mightily from the continued exploitation of our planets resources.

      Solutions abound. Leaders with the vision to see a better future, and the courage to stand up to the powerful vested interests that run this country, do not.    

  4.  your appellation for the Guv in the title of your fine diary turns out to be inaccurate. I fear, however, you may be right. Governor Hickenlooper (or some of his advisors) should be savvy enough to see through the old “wheelbarrows full of money” ploy. It happens frequently with small town leaders.

    The smooth-talking hotshots from the O&G lobby come into town waving hundred dollar bills and filling the local business community with tales of all the revenue they will be bringing to town…wheelbarrows full of money, right in that front door. The bankers and merchants swoon. The governments’ drool at the prospect of tax millions the industry will, thenceforth, relentlessly avoid paying.  

    What the well-dressed men, and their even sharper looking women, fail to mention is the wheelbarrows full of money the community will be forced to spend to manage and clean up after an industry that sows waste and destruction everywhere it goes. A senior vice-president of Bill Barrett Corporation once, in a local Garfield county newspaper, referred to his industry as “invasive”…boy, howdy.

    Governor Hickenlooper has a lot of friends in the “awl bidness”. T. Boone is just one of the most visible.  

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