When oil and gas reserves underground can be recovered and delivered to market, they find the path of least resistance and they go. Their value make them unstoppable. That's the true nature of the challenge that Progressives face.
The battle to stop fracking has been lost. Take a look at this interactive map of the 3,143 counties in the US, if you're interested. You may pan to a location, zoom in or out, and click on a county for information about employment and wages there.
For the last 50 months of private sector jobs growth:
- dark orange = rapid growth
- pale orange = moderate growth
- white = minimal gain or loss
- pale blue = moderate loss
- dark blue = rapid loss
Here's a preview of the map for reference.
Of the 100 counties with the fastest rate of jobs growth, 70 are in the shale formation regions of North Dakota, Texas, and Oklahoma where fracking has taken hold. These are mainly in sparsely populated rural areas. Williams County in North Dakota, where the town of Williston is located, is the epicenter of the Oil Rush. It's touted for the lowest unemployment rate in the country. However, even where the number of jobs doubled, it doesn't amount to big numbers. The New York metro area added more jobs than all the oil patch counties combined. It's the
rate of jobs growth where fracking is widespread that stands out.
The Bakken region of western North Dakota and eastern Montana now produces over a million barrels of oil a day. That's 25% more than a Keystone XL pipeline's worth of oil. At terminals not far from producing rigs, the crude is loaded onto oil trains typically pulling 110 tanker cars, or about 85,000 barrels, for delivery to refineries. From southeastern New Mexico, across Texas to Oklahoma, three shale formations have been fracked and drilled to produce even more crude oil than the Bakken region. US production is rising to levels unseen since the 1970s, changing patterns of international trade.
Oil is worth more than dollars. Around the globe, oil and gas mean geopolitical power and influence.
- Russia's economy depends on its oil and gas.
- Iran is cooperating with nuclear non-proliferation inspections so that it can resume exporting oil at pre-2011 levels.
- Last month, the first shipment of tar sands arrived in Europe, prompting protest demonstrations and debates about the route it followed to get there.
Alpine County in California's Sierra Mountains was dead last for jobs growth on the list of 3,143 counties. In the last 50 months it lost 36% of its jobs. At first, it doesn't seem to be a reason to be too shook up. In this sparsely populated county, the loss amounts to only 350 jobs. As a statistical outlier the data must be verified and it's obvious that Alpine has a seasonal economy. The number of people employed fluctuates predictably, from 350 in the summer to around 700 in winter during the height of the skiing and snowboarding season. Oddly, the winter of 2013-2014 was an exception. As the winter months rolled by, the number of people employed in Alpine County barely budged.
Month
|
# of people employed in Alpine
|
Jul-2013
|
349
|
Aug-2013
|
349
|
Sep-2013
|
333
|
Oct-2013
|
330
|
Nov-2013
|
343
|
Dec-2013
|
350
|
Jan-2014
|
350
|
Feb-2014
|
349
|
Mar-2014
|
348
|
The skiing season was wiped out because
California had its hottest winter on record. If you live in the West, you may remember it. In Pasadena, where we usually have Christmas Eve with a house full of people and a fireplace going, it was 84° and everyone moved outside where it was cooler in the evening. The
NASA Earth Observatory image below shows land surface temperature anomalies for North America for December 1, 2013, to February 28, 2014—the period known to scientists as meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, showing the land surface temperature anomaly in North America during the winter, 2013-2014.
Another NASA Earth Observatory image puts the North American winter in wider context. On a global scale, land temperatures for the December through February period were actually the tenth warmest in the modern record.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, showing global land surface temperatures during the winter, 2013-2014.
The lack of snowfall in Alpine county meant that there was no ski season last winter when the local population earns a disproportionate share of its income. In neighboring Mono County, a similar effect shows up in the employment data. The normal fluctuation in seasonal employment that peaks every winter was skipped in 2013-2014. Looking back on the Bureau of Labor Statistics data to 2004 confirms that last winter was the only one when the usual spike in winter employment was absent. It should be noted that the winter snowpack in the Sierra also provides water for the state of California when it melts in the spring.
The challenge for Progressives is to understand the value of oil reserves underground and how the greed for profits overcomes any attempt to stop them from being marketed. They will find a way. It's important to remain engaged with this dynamic.
Carbon in the air isn't the only hazard fossil fuel brings. From the moment that oil trains leave the Bakken region travelling the rails to unloading terminals and refineries around the country, they present a danger as they pass through populated areas. You can learn the location of oil train destinations and the route they take to reach them if you have concerns about them travelling through the area where you live. The Energy Information Administration provides a mapping utility on its website.
On the West Coast, the Puget Sound area, the San Francisco bay area, and Los Angeles receive oil transported by rail. On the East Coast, Portland, Boston, Albany, Union and Middlesex Counties along Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Baltimore have facilities that receive oil by rail.
Alpine County and the rest of the Sierra Mountains of California are wonderful to visit anytime of year. I love the piney scent in the air on summer days. If it's hot where you live this summer, it's always cooler up in the mountains. I'm ready to go.