Too Soon to Tell

I received comments on my first post which was titled "Not a Good Fit for Huerfano".  They add enough as to make it worth reposting with the additions in italics:

Why shale oil, also known as light tight oil or LTO, and shale gas also known as natural gas, of which coal bed methane is a type found nearer the surface, are not a good fit for Huerfano County:

  First is water scarcity. Water use for fracking is very high. Water is highly mobile and if you dislike the city telling you not to water your grass, trees and shrubs, and you think that using water from one place will not effect water availability at another, you are sadly mistaken. Just ask the folks in the San Luis Valley. And if you think a future of difficulty getting your animals to water, let alone ensuring your own clean water at home will remain unaffected, just remember that many of your fellow citizens sounded the alarm. Ask any neighbors that have tried to sell their home or ranch when there is no potable water on the property how quickly they sold their land. Petroleum tank and waste processing pads and access roads and waste water collection ponds will cover the county and strip the grassland cover. Less rain will fall due to decreased water evaporation from grass cover, and rain will run off faster with less seeping into the ground and aquifers. Everything in life is eventually paid for and while I fully understand the allure of relatively easy money, especially compared to how hard it is to earn money at ranching these days, we must ask ourselves, what is this water really worth once it is polluted and much remains forever out of reach thousands of feet below us? When ethanol was first introduced into our gasoline, almost everyone hailed its arrival. Farmers liked the increase demand for corn, environmentalists liked the idea of decreased pollution. But then we began to learn that the diesel fuel used in growing and harvesting the corn virtually offset the environmental benefits. We learned that decreased corn available to our neighbors to the south was causing hunger issues in Mexico. When such stories remain so vivid, is it not wise to wait awhile until we know more about the dangers? The future of water in the West IS the future of the West.

  Second is the health of humans and livestock. Polluted water and polluted air from fracking affects us all, as well as the health of all our animals and wildlife. It is a reasonable objection to assert that we are not yet knowledgeable about all the possible health risks. But this much we can say. There is growing evidence that health concerns may be warranted. It is all too easy, at first, to deny initial concerns about cigarettes, Agent Orange and countless pharmaceuticals causing side effects. But equally frequently those initial denials (often strenuously posited by multinational corporations) turn out to be wrong. Cigarettes were once advertised as being healthy! Again, is it not wise to wait and gather more information? The carbon based fuels beneath us, if there are any, are not going anywhere.

  Third, is the threat to our strongest asset, our beautiful countryside. Tanks, pads and burn-off stacks everywhere, along with heavy truck traffic, will drive away people who come here because of its beauty. Forget the tourists for a moment. What about US? Do we want hundreds of semis barreling down our streets? Do our kids? Everyone seems to agree that eventually we simply must convert to renewable sources of energy. Just as many people claim the need for natural gas as a “cross-over” fuel, so many others, equally well-informed experts, are convinced that if Americans stood up and demanded a more speedy transition to renewables, America would in fact surprise us all, and through its entrepreneurial ingenuity, could lead the world into this new and brighter future. Again, isn’t the wise path to wait, gather more of the information that is constantly and rapidly becoming available?
  The deck is stacked in favor of the oil and gas industry and the regulators. How do we fight back? We must not accept the power of corporations and regulators to make these decisions for us. Many residents have collected lease sign-up checks, but now see that to go further may well destroy our way of life in exchange for brown skies, traffic hazards, and depleted water. This can be stopped. As a county, we simply have to say "No, not here. At least not yet, not until we know more. Our county commissioners are on notice...we will remember who sold us out too soon and for too little and without enough information." All over the United States communities are standing up for their rights. Let's do it in Huerfano County. More could be added here, such as the effect of 25,000 acre units which consolidate mineral leases, where your lease can be extended indefinitely as long as there is exploratory drilling in the unit. And how drilling units will spread the royalties evenly so that no one lease gets all the benefit of what is directly underneath. In short, before leasing or renewing, read that fine print, or better yet think about it, just as we need to think about all of the other factors before committing to something we all will wind up regretting.