Gov. Dannel Malloy and the General Assembly don’t want fracking waste in Connecticut. That much I get, but I am really confused on where our political leaders stand on fracking.
Apparently, the administration wants to supply the frackers, buy fracked gas and even wishes we could frack.
Connecticut’s comprehensive energy strategy says fracking is good because Connecticut gets cheap natural gas (p. 119):
For decades, the prices of natural gas and oil have been linked, with gas historically being the more expensive of the two. Over the last several years, the price of the two commodities have diverged, or “decoupled,” from one another. The emergence of new extraction techniques (most notably horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or ―fracking) have made it economic to bring enormous amounts of new domestic natural gas supply to the marketplace from shale basins across the country (including in the mid-Atlantic states).
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This recent development presents Connecticut residents and business owners with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to switch to a cheaper, cleaner fuel source.
Basically, fracking saves money and reduces emissions. That was in February 2013.
The month before, Malloy announced a $5 million state loan to Wallingford-based APS Technology to support an expansion project the company announced in April 2012.
APS is “a leading provider of MWD/LWD (Measurements-While-Drilling / Logging-While-Drilling), drilling & optimization and vibration management products for the oilfield.”
What exactly APS does is over my head – you try parsing this jargon – but I have a hunch their equipment has fracked a shale deposit or two.
In December, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty told WNPR, “In fact, the governor often says he’s very disappointed we don’t have any ‘frackable’ areas. We have shale; it just happens to have no gas in it.”
The latest fracking news, again from WNPR (h/t Chris Healy):
Speaking on WNPR’s Where We Live on Monday, Governor Malloy voiced his strong support for a temporary ban. “We want to stop, right now, fracturing waste at the borders of the state,” he said, “at least with respect to a moratorium, until we have time to understand what’s in it.”
For more on fracking waste, go here.