The purpose of this post is to point out the flaws in our rival group, Buff Against Fracking.
The biggest platform that the anti-fracking group has focused on are the environmental impacts that fracking has had. A recent article from that was posted on their Twitter page reported the closure of 37 oil wells in Oklahoma (CNN, September 3rd, 2016) due to seismic activity which the U.S. Geological Survey believes may be linked to recent fracking activity. Fracking is still a relatively new technological advancement that is going to have some costs associated with it. These costs can be reduced if funds are allocated to make the fracking process safer. Fracking requires more oversight, that much is clear, but what the anti-fracking group doesn’t take into account or address are the impacts that closing oil wells and drill sites (such as in Oklahoma as well as the recent ban on fracking in New York as mandated by Governor Andrew Cuomo) has on jobs. Hundreds of people have lost their jobs due to these closures, and the people responsible behind these closures have done nothing to help those who have lost their jobs because of it. Another benefit of fracking is cutting our reliance on foreign oil. Oil has become a costly commodity that is become harder and harder for Americans to purchase. Anti-fracking groups provide little evidence on what should be done in order to stop our foreign oil dependency, and provide no ideas or solutions to address this pressing issue.
A large issue facing the group, Buffs Against Fracking, is that they are playing off of people’s lack of knowledge when it comes to fracking. They claim that fracking and poverty are related and that the people who live in fracking communities have little access to information. Lucky for us they chose the wrong article to site in one of their sources. In their blog post from September 29th, they referenced the 2016 Gallup poll pointing out that Democrats are more likely to be against fracking. This is a given so they were clearly trying to just beef up their word count. They failed to continue reading the Gallup poll because we too looked at that survey and found some interesting bits that Buffs against Fracking seemed to have left out. When looking at that survey we found that 13% of people were undecided about fracking. Along with that, we found that while people might have an opinion on fracking itself, the general public really does not know much about the policies that go behind fracking. This is a sensitive time for both our group and the group against fracking because this is where actual information comes in. The Buffs against Fracking are railing into their supporters trying to get them on board with policy changes while very few of these people are educated in that subject. They claim for the flat out ban against fracking when they know that nearly half the population is for fracking or does not know enough about it. When they clamor to the uneducated about banning fracking they are failing to hit on their own point of educating the people first.
As I was exploring their Twitter page, blog, and reading any relevant articles that they posted on Twitter, these are some of the things that stuck out to me that the anti-fracking groups have yet to address:
- There still isn’t a lot of scientific evidence that proves fracking is bad for the environment and impacts health. This includes the increase of methane gas in the air as well as other pollutants. There also isn’t enough evidence to support the theory that fracking causes increased seismic activity
- Domestic fracking: those who live in communities oppose fracking in their community, but where do they stand on fracking that’s done in other states? Oppose? Support?
- Party Divisions: while fracking has begun to split parties (oppose vs. favor), for the most part, both parties tend to have their reservations about fracking. Support and opposition of fracking tends to shift quite often between both parties, and this is often fueled by any incidents that happen at fracking sites (blog post on Thursday, September 22nd, clearly states the Democrats still aren’t completely on board to ban fracking)
- There is also no mention of the impact that fracking has had on Native American Reservations. This surprised me, especially with all of the protests that have been going on to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Referencing these protests would have given the anti-fracking group a very real and human reason for why fracking should be banned
