Misinformation Fuels Leftists Attacks on Natural Gas

The extraction of shale natural gas is set to become a major growth industry in the United States. Recently, Amy Myers Jaffa wrote in the Wall Street Journal that natural gas could become “the game-changing resource of the decade.” Already Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Louisiana, and other states are beginning to reap the economic benefits of a natural gas boom. A study by Penn State University predicted that the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania alone will be responsible for the creation of 111,000 jobs and for bringing in an additional $987 million in tax revenue to the state by 2011. Natural gas extraction has been one of few industries growing (without government subsidies) during this recession.

However, this promising “game-changer” is under attack. Some assert that the extraction of shale gas is harmful to the environment. Josh Fox’s documentary “Gasland,” airing on HBO this week, is full of misleading allegations, inaccuracies, and occasionally outright lies. Fox, for instance, alleges that Dunkard Creek fish were killed from natural gas drilling (the EPA and West Virginia Department of Environment Protection cite other causes), that residents of Dish Texas grew ill from gas drilling (the state Department of Health disagrees), that no one knows what goes into fracking fluid (though a complete list is available online), and numerous other myths.

When fracking is carried out responsibly under current regulations, the process poses no threat to humans or to the environment. Fracking has been well documented, with no confirmed cases of groundwater contamination in 1 million applications over 60 years. Further, over 98% of the fracturing fluid is composed of water and sand, with most of the remaining 2% presenting low to very low risks to human health and to the environment. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study determined that fracking posed no danger to water quality. In Pennsylvania, eight federal and eleven state laws regulate drilling, and hundreds of inspectors routinely inspect each drilling site.

These environmental scare tactics are often used by those who simply want to tax the emerging industry to fund ever-growing government spending. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell has pushed a severance tax on natural gas, under the aegis of environment protection, though 90% of the funding would go directly to fill a budget deficit. In fact, natural gas would be taxed to subsidize the energy providers Gov. Rendell favors. While many states do have severances taxes on natural resources, those that have been successful in letting these industries flourish have delayed taxes until firms became profitable, lowered tax rates in hard-to-drill areas, and used severance taxes to lower other state taxes.

Many expressing concern about natural gas drilling are well-meaning stewards, and due vigilance to protect the environment is always warranted. Yet the push to regulate and tax this “game-changing” resource to death is driven by special interests who feed off government spending and mandates. These rent-seekers are attacking job creators who are simply trying to keep the government from taking more of the money they’ve earned through developing clean and affordable energy.