We Continue to Rely on Fossil Fuels to Our Detriment
Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Letter to Editor
21 March 2010
Ignorance isn't bliss. In Pittsburgh, "ignorant" is a pejorative term
for not knowing something, yet proceeding blithely unawares. Such
appears to be the case for proponents and beneficiaries of the
extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale -- and for the large
numbers of curiously pleased onlookers. The front page of the Post-Gazette
last Tuesday contained the proud announcement that Consol Energy was
buying for $3.5 billion some 500,000 acres for natural gas exploration
and production ("Consol in $3.5B Gas Deal," March 16).
Largely through serendipity, a few thousand landowners and a couple of
energy corporations prepare for windfall profits generated by producing
new, large quantities of natural gas from the swath of southwestern
Pennsylvania overlying this shale formation. But what are the
underlying message and long-term effects of this project?
Beyond increasing the income of a small minority of residents, the
project will temporarily lower the price of natural gas, increase its
use and perpetuate the effects of fossil fuel consumption by the energy
hogs that we Americans represent. By making more available nonrenewable
fuel, we are welcoming our continued reliance on, and overuse of,
energy, and in doing so we fail to accept or curtail its accelerating
effects on our environment. (For those who claim natural gas is much
"cleaner" than coal, realize that 20 percent of greenhouse gases
currently come from burning natural gas and that natural gas is largely
methane, the same compound emitted from livestock and about which folks
have recently raised a stink.) Should we really embrace this latest
excuse for denying the disastrous effects of business as usual?
Turning beyond Page One of the Tuesday edition, I found that the
Post-Gazette had devoted 52 pages to boast about Pittsburghers and
local businesses "Going for the green." Either green meant greenbacks
or we are all playing the role of ignorant fool!
Mathew Muldoon, M.D.
Shadyside