As Energy Misinformation Proliferates, The Need For Myth-Busting Grows

I was in a meeting this morning in which the subject of myth-busting on energy issues arose.  Unfortunately, we live in a world in which there exists a great deal of misinformation, both deliberate and accidental, on the subject.  I try not to get too bent out of shape about this; it is, after all, a fairly complicated subject with dozens of different vectors pushing and pulling the discussion in various directions simultaneously. 

One of the myths in today’s meeting came from a memo I happened to see from an extremely senior U.S. Marine Corp leader, a Ph.D., who teaches at a university local to where I sit writing this in Washington D.C.  The memo extolled the virtue of fracking, and suggested that size and growth rate of the U.S.reserves means that America can and should use fracking for gas and tight oil to achieve energy independence by 2020. 

In the first place, the figures the gentleman quoted are a considerable exaggeration – but that’s not the real issue.  The glaring part is this: here’s a well-educated person taking a doctrinaire pro-fossil-fuel position without even mentioning the externalities.

And this comes from the armed services, of all places!  These are the people who are so ardently pursuing electric transportation in the field because of the extreme difficulty, expense, and danger to our soldiers presented by guarding oil supply lines.  This, of course, is an issue specific to the military; most of us are more familiar with garden variety externalities:  the ecological and health-related issues that are costing us $700 billion per year in the U.S. alone, according to the Harvard University Medical School – and that’s a figure that will only grow as the concentrations of carbon dioxide, aromatics, and other emissions continue to grow, poisoning our skies and oceans. 

Apparently, this is a detail that some people can simply overlook.  I happen not to see it that way.