There is global shale gas euphoria, particularly in the United States, which has the world's second largest shale gas reserve with ready fracking technology to extract this abundant energy resource. It seems a god-sent answer to America's prayer for total energy independence, cheap and "greener" fuel, creation of millions of jobs, and boosting a lack-lustre economy. There is increasing expectation that America will be able to export its excess energy, earning more profits and global influence, notwithstanding sharpening debate. There is even renewed optimism of a new American Century.
The reality is often hidden beneath the surface. In "Fracking Hell: The Untold Story", a LinkTV documentary on YouTube exposes the alarming risks of ground and surface water pollution and the threats to local environment and civilian lives as a result of a sudden skyrocketing jump in fracking activities across America.
China has the world's largest shale gas reserve, which is however located inside much more technically-difficult topography. See the collection of reports and data in The Golden Age of Gas
China's fracking technology is not as advanced but the United States has indicated willingness to share it. If so, the vast opportunities for an energy-hungry and energy-security-obsessed China seem only too good to miss.
But it seems that the fracking technology is not as ecologically safe as it is made out to be. If the environmental and health fall-out from fracking is allowed to multiply, the expected shale gas bonanza could well turn into a mind-boggling nightmare that could eventually spell an ecological if not socio-political "Collapse".
In his eponymous work (Penguin Books, 2006) on the disappearance of past civilizations including that on Easter Island, Jared Diamond provides an apt warning that the shale gas exuberance needs a strong dose of sobriety. The alluring music of energy abundance could well turn out to be the songs of Sirens to ecological doom.
Apart from ecology, there is also a sharp warning from Shalebubble.org, "the joint effort of Post Carbon Institute, Energy Policy Forum, and Earthworks, with the goal of providing critical analysis — using industry and government data — to counter the false claims that domestic supplies of shale gas and shale oil (tight oil) will ensure energy security and significant long-term economic benefits to the US".
According to a summary on their website, the current shale oil and gas frenzy is "nothing more than a bubble" with diminishing returns, a "drilling treadmill" of a "frentic pace of drilling to offset declines", and "Wall Street (promoting) the drilling frenzy in order to profit from mergers &
acquisitions, resulting in prices lower than the cost of production".
If Shalebubble.org's analysis is true, the current shale oil and gas euphoria may well morph into a huge bubble that is going to burst in a ecological disaster of epic proportions with tears from environmentalists and investors alike.
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