On Fracking, Will Voters Listen to Experts or the Media?

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Published: 19 Mar, 2014
Updated: 14 Oct, 2022
3 min read

As a diehard Trekkie, I know exactly what Mr. Spock would say:

“Ronnie it is illogical for the people of California NOT to utilize their natural resources in a safe and scientific manner. Once Humans classify a need as compelling, they analyze, rationalize and elucidate the issue. They then ascertain a plausible solution to the problem. Do not underestimate human resourcefulness”.

So dear reader, allow me to use you as a sounding board to my quandary. Presently, the citizens of California are overburdened with the cost of taxes, energy, unscientific regulations, and just in the past year, an excess of over 800 new laws passed in Sacramento. Unemployment is rampant. Billions were allocated and spent on the Bullet Train, a high speed train system linking Northern and Southern California.

It is now defunct, derailed, and has become a

re-election issue. Millions of dollars earmarked for the California Educational School System Fund have gone missing. I think a few extra bucks in our state budget could and would surely improve our quality of life.

America has and continues to lead the world in technologies that benefit the needs of other countries. Methods used in Israel to dispense water throughout their deserts have turned the country into a lush garden. Sweden is using American technology to convert garbage into energy. They import garbage to keep an ongoing flow of power.

Now, many states other than California are developing and operating fracking systems with great success. There is an abundance of oil beneath the earth in California, but its governor, Jerry Brown, has halted fracking operations until July. We could lead America out of the present day recession with the monetary rewards of fracking. It is said that as California goes, America goes with it. So, are WE in or are WE out?

Fracking is about to change the dynamics of the world economy with Israel at the forefront, leading its people to become self-sufficient and most likely the wealthiest land in the Middle East.

The Russians have already signed a deal with Israel to help open up the massive natural reserves discovered in 2008 and 2009 off Israel’s coast -- 16 trillion cubic feet worth. Canadians are also on board the "Fracking Freight Train." They have joined an Israeli energy technology fund.

I, personally, am prone to model my choices by following success. But, I’m a bit undecided. Last night I watched an episode of a television series where government agents relied on fracking to solve the case. A farm’s water was contaminated, a dead body was found in the fracking pool, the animals were dying off and water from the kitchen sink burst into flames.

OMG! Did fracking really do all those things? Remember that old adage: “”

Fracking is at the forefront of many candidates’ campaign speeches for the upcoming elections. We need to be informed consumers when we arrive at the polling place.

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Our power is in our VOTE! So, do I follow the way of the new world order? Do I take the dialogue of my beloved TV actors in my favorite TV show as gospel and run like hell. Or, should I accept the judgment of the chemical engineers I’ve spoken to. They tell me that fracking is safe when implemented with proper safeguards.

Harvesting our natural resources for the good of the majority is not a new concept. The earliest oil wells were drilled in China in 347 A.D.  In North America, the first commercial oil well was drilled in Oil Springs, Ontario in 1858 and the first offshore oil well was drilled in 1896 at the Summerland Oil Field on the California coast. Is fracking “old news” after all? To frack or NOT to frack, that is the question?

Where is Shakespeare when I need him?

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