At Alternet, Cliff Weathers asks: "Is Fracking Really Dying?"
"North Dakota’s numerous gas flares, even visible from the International Space Station, are flickering out as tens of thousands of energy workers are being given their pink slips," Weathers writes. "Small North Dakota towns recently bustling with workers and other fortune seekers are returning to the rural tranquility they once knew."
"So why has fracking slipped into hibernation? Depends who you ask. Many industry analysts say fracking is a victim of its own success, helping to drive oil prices so low it was no longer affordable to frack new wells. Others point to the drop in global demand, spurred by a slowdown in the Chinese economy, alternative energies and an American public that’s not only driving more fuel-efficient cars, but driving less. Most popular, perhaps, is the theory that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, purposely sabotaged the U.S. fracking industry by maintaining its current production levels while global oil demand falls, causing prices to spiral downward."
"Fracking as we know it is beginning to wither," Weathers writes, "ironically at the hands of the same oil markets that spawned it. But nothing lasts forever, not even gifts from Saudi kings. So when global oil production is cut or if we return to our wasteful ways, prices will recover and the fracking boom will spring back to life. Unless that is, anti-fracking activists remain vigilant and kill it first."
[Vinnie Rotondaro is NCR national correspondent. His email address is vrontodaro@ncronline.org.]
Editor's note: Want more stories from Eco Catholic? We can send you an email alert once a week with the latest. Just go to this page and follow directions: Email alert sign-up.
