Wastral wrote:A very quick internet search shows the following:
1) There has been no cases of polluted water on Blackfeet land. You paint it as if this has already occurred and is documented. Its not. In fact, as far as I can tell, oil/ng companies drilling on Blackfeet land haven't found anything worth mentioning. The only cases I can quickly find are the ones in PA, where the local water table already had tons of methane in it and everytime anyone drills a new well, even a water well, it disturbs this top layer(aquifer) releasing methane into surrounding wells. Nothing new there. Now there is a certain case in WY where supposedly some chemicals showed up in someones well. 1 case in how many tens of thousands of wells? Really, this is what the doom and gloom is all about? What about the Bakken formation in E. MT & ND? Any polluted wells there? Nope.
2) They are pulling the water for fracking from water tables below where they are fracking on the blackfeet land from what I read, so they aren't even using drinking water sources either. They likewise truck the super saline waters that come up after fracking occurs and treat them. Its not even as if they are treating said saline water onsite and releasing it into local streams.
3) If a fire did somehow break containment and get into the GNP, it would hurt their concessionaire business as they would have to lay people off and therefore their kickback percentage would be lower. Hardly a conflict of interest there. The only interest they would have is to ensure that such a happenstance would never happen! That is called INCENTIVE to not screw the pooch. Not conflict of Interest!
A contract worker/company never has any say in anything. They are always the first to get fired. Thus if anything happened, your supposed so called "conflict of interest" would vanish in a puff of smoke as the NPS would simply void their contract and hire someone else.
4) This so called giant fire in Kiowa, didn't even spill a drop of oil. Only 'problem' was with the foam retardant used that needed to be cleaned up. The local Rocked pad did its job and no fire spread anywhere.
5) If one of their oil/ng wells is completed and actually produces a product, they have to disclose to MT all chemicals used in said well. That way they can trace any chemicals in local water source. So far none. Do you have a problem with the other 2 oil fields already developed on the edge of GNP/Watterton? No. Ack what about the grizzly bears and moose. Oh wait, those oil fields are improving the water quality as they are "cleansing" the ground of shallow oil that often polluted the local streams and rivers everytime there was an earthquake.
Ya know, if you doom and gloom alarmists actually provided economical, reliable, sustainable solutions to problems instead of just whining, things would go a lot smoother. So far all I hear is whining on subjects that even a half hour of internet searching can quickly disprove or debunk even by using the environmental over the top websites. I have to conclude that your real beef is that maybe one or two tourists driving on their way to GNP might have to observe an oil well and associated tanks as they whizz past at 70MPH, the occasional flaming stack, that power their cars, turn on their lights when they go home, provide hot showers, and create cheap fertilizer driving the cost of food and other basic necessities down to very low levels so they can do more with their life.
PS. There hasn't been any well drilled/developed in the last 40 years that hasn't been fracked with some method or other. It is certainly not a new technique and worthy of giant scorn. It is only with the economic incentive provided by cheap horizontal drilling, thank you accelerometers developed in the early 80's from Sundstrand Data Control, that a larger portion of strata layers are able to be effected and cracked compared to mostly vertical wells where ones local geology, perfectly good in the vertical well as they drilled down and obtained said geology map, might become in error as they can drill several thousand feet horizontally and it could change. Then again shale/sandstone layers are generally several thousand feet thick overlayed by other shale layers.
1. You are completely wrong on this one and your misinformation is disgusting. Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Texas and Wyoming are ALL settings for well pollution from fracking. Seriously, you need to do your homework better, or just stop talking about what you do not know about. I am from Ohio originally and I am well aware of fracking-caused contaminated wells there, so your assertion that this hasn't happened outside of PA is just a flat out lie. As of right now, the Blackfeet Nation is not in a free-for-all development stage such as in other places. SO, while there may not be any evidence of water contamination on Blackfeet land yet, your logic and misinformed argument do not quelch ANY concerns regarding this issue.
2. It does not matter where the water comes from. The leeching ponds that used fracking solution/saline waters are dumped into are disgusting places, which are bad for the environment everywhere, even if they aren't directly affecting GNP. Nobody has said they are treating this solution/saline water on site, so why even bring it up?
3. Your logic on this point is extremely laughable. Sure, Anschutz would have some sort of incentive to prevent accidents at their oil/ng wells, that is just plain business 101, regardless of whether their sister company Xanterra is the concessions contractor or not. You yourself have stated that there is absolutely no 100% safe way to extract oil and natural gas. Given this fact, in addition to the Concessions Prospectus #1 Principle for Selection (that the concessions contractor is indeed a steward of GNP and the GNP area), it is quite easy to see the conflict of interests. The extraction process is not 100% safe. Anschutz interest is making as much profit as possible, and attempting to minimize damage caused. Xanterra is supposed to be a major steward of the park. Let's see... one company risks environmental damage every time they drill/frack... the sister company is awarded the concessions contract to preserve and conserve the GNP area. How do you not consider this a conflict of interest?
As for your assertion that the NPS would "fire" Xanterra if an incident occurred... do you think that is good publicity for Anschutz/Xanterra/GNP/NPS? Do you think that would be fair to individual workers who planned their entire year around going to work in GNP? How about all of the visitors who will lose their vacation? This is a clear illustration of why Xanterra should not be given the concessions contract. The conflict of interest and high probability of an enormous public outrage alone should be enough to keep Xanterra from getting the contract, not to mention the environmental concerns.
4. Again, your hyperbole is ridiculous. Nobody called the Kiowa fire a "giant fire". Stick to reality my friend, you will be better served by it than hyperbole.
Furthermore, I know people who live in the Kiowa area who had to flee their homes because of the smoke it produced, so don't try to tell me the "only problem was that they had to use foam fire retardant". These are good people who had to flee their home because Anschutz was not doing their job properly ALREADY. Have you ever had to flee your home because of someone else's mistake? How would you feel about that if it happened to you? Would you still be apologetic for the offender?
Furthermore, this was in winter conditions. If you knew anything about wildfire at all, you would know conditions in summer are completely different and far more conducive to spreading wildfires than winter. Anschutz simply got lucky in the timing of the incident, plain and simple.
5. This following point you made has to be the most ridiculous of all and completely discredits anything you have to say: "Ack what about the grizzly bears and moose. Oh wait, those oil fields are improving the water quality as they are "cleansing" the ground of shallow oil that often polluted the local streams and rivers everytime there was an earthquake." You seriously have to be kidding me. Who are you trying to convince, 5 year olds? I am a highly educated individual, so you can try to play your little games with someone else.
As far as your little rant at the end, again, I am not an alarmist and I do not hate society or technology. I am using a laptop, which is most likely powered by burning coal. I understand very thoroughly how humans rely on modern energy sources. I do not get mad at people who drive cars, use refrigerators or any other modern technology for use in their daily lives, so again STOP PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH. I am not somebody out to battle society and I have a great solution to the fracking problem on the Blackfeet Reservation: Keep it out. This is a special place, and fracking is a completely inappropriate use of this special land. Have you even considered the economic value of the wild and pristine lands of the western Blackfeet Nation and Glacier? Have you even considered that tourism is a far more sustainable source of income for the area ON TOP OF being able to stay that way for generations to come? Oil and natural gas would likely be extracted within 50 years. Then what? The ecological health of Glacier National Park and surrounding areas are FAR more important to the long-term sustainability and economic health of the region that any amount of oil and natural gas could be. Your opinions and views on this matter are extremely short-sighted, to say the least.
Let's keep this game up friend, I am having a lot of fun making you look bad in each and every point you make. I am glad you have at least come to your senses and joined in on this conversation with civility, even if you are completely 100% overly apologetic for Anschutz... is that you Philip?