I know it sounds kind of strange, iron mining and oil and gas drilling, but both industries are at least similar in their final goal, extract something from the ground that has taken millions upon millions of years to create. I am not suggesting that we leave natural elements underground in their pristine state, quite the opposite, I think that we should use the nature's elements as we please and for whatever purpose we deem necessary.
I do however feel that there are kind of "rules of thumb" that should be followed by these "extracting" companies, and that these rules should be "cut in stone." Of course new technology may tweak the cut in stone rules, but operational rules should never be changed to "speed up the process," or to "stream-line" licensing rules.
Ore and oil exploration really are quite similar; both use techniques to "sniff out their respective elements." There primary goal is to extract their respective natural underground products, refine them and then to sell them to industry, both in the United States and internationally. That is the long and the short of the process.
Restrictions were, and are set in place to protect a variety of issues, mostly human, unless you feel that as a species we can get along without water. Many of the protecting rules have come about through painful experiences in the past that have proven necessary to almost protect us from.....us.
There is much mis-information out there, actually on both sides and this mis-information does nothing that could be termed good. For instance, I heard a former iron ore ship worker actually say that "he was somewhat an expert on iron mining, and that they, (mining companies) could throw the waste rock, "rock without iron ore" back in the holes created in searching for ore."
Well sirs, if that were the case, please tell me how you think open pit mining works? Here are the facts, trenches are dug in the search for ore, the excavation continues deeper and deeper as the ore body is followed. Using the former ship workers analogy would mean that the mining company would have to continually remove the dirt that they had put back in the hole that they had just created and then remove it all over again in their search. This former ore boat work is a prime example and poster child of what an idiot looks like.
Fracking is a process used by oil and gas exploration companies inject water, sand and other liquid elements to force out the elements that are then separated, refined and sold to people just like you and me for a variety of a reasons.
As I have stated in the past, "exploration groups that probe the earth" need watching, they are dangerous, always. They need to be some of the most highly regulated businesses in the country, and when they threaten to take their derricks, or shovels and picks and go home, let them, it’s a bluff, they don't really mean it, they'll be back, and they are like politicians, only worse.
When Wisconsin didn't pass a "fast track" for opening up state iron mining in the northern portion of the state, it wasn't a victory for environmentalists, or a defeat for business or employment. Only a fool would applaud the prospect of lost jobs for an economically depressed area. Only an ass would applaud circumventing safety rules put in place to protect.....anything.
There were no winners or losers, just people with different opinions, driven by either money, or ethics, and those in the middle, "average Joe America" again do the suffering, and actually are the losers, no matter who wins.
No comments:
Post a Comment