Russell Gold

> They decided to give landowners as much information as possible to calm fears and, hopefully, win over residents. It would soon become clear there was a large downside to this approach. Clean Line was basically giving opponents lots of information to fight the project if they wanted. And because they started community meetings early in the application process—instead of waiting as long as possible—they were giving communities more time to organize.

> federal aviation rules prohibited power lines within three miles of airports of a certain size. Tiny Starbuck, Minnesota, announced a major expansion of its airport to exceed the federal size requirement. Never mind that no one in Starbuck was clamoring to turn the turf airstrip into a mini-O'Hare. The town said it intended to build a much larger lighted runway. The power line was routed north of Starbuck. Later, plans for the new runway were shelved.

> Clean Line had proposed building the wind farm in Oklahoma and sending the power through a 720-mile direct current line to Tennessee. In between, Arkansas received little … Skelly had relented and agreed to add a converter station in Pope County, Arkansas, that would serve as a 500-megawatt off-ramp. It added to the project's overall cost, but was necessary to make the project acceptable. Initially, Clean Line had decided not to put it there for a good reason: Skelly and others worried it would upset the powerful Arkansas utilities.

> Skelly said he expected to be able to come to terms with landowners for 95 percent or 96 percent of the parcels. Eminent domain would be required for the rest. If Skelly had been building a natural gas pipeline, he could have secured federal siting authority and finished this process in a matter of months. But the government had never provided a similar blueprint for transmission lines that crossed from state to state… (mais)

Full disclosure part 1: I received this book as a First Reads Giveaway.

Full disclosure part 2: My husband works for an oil and gas company, though not one of the ones featured in this book.

I was both looking forward to and dreading reading this book. Cracking it open, I was mentally preparing myself for either a virulent anti-fracking campaign piece, or a self-aggrandizing, "drill baby drill" apologist bunk. I found neither, and I am exceedingly thankful to author Russell Gold for this book.

The first (and largest) portion of this book outlines the history of shale gas, and the industries that have risen up to exploit it. This, for me was the most enjoyable part, appealing to the historian in me. And the history of shale gas, in human terms is only about two centuries old, but encompasses some golden moments of human brilliance and creativity, as well as some moments of stunning dumbassery.

The latter part of the book focuses on the controversy surrounding natural gas, and the push and pull between industry lobbyists, environmentalists, ambitious businessmen, and scrambling politicians. The current state of natural gas is complex and shifting, and, unfortunately, becoming highly polarized between the "never" and the "without hesitation" camps.

Gold manages to tread back and forth between the far reaches of each camp, laying out the arguments on both sides, and presenting, to my mind, a fair picture of the pros and cons of our country's use of natural gas. In an ear where everything seems to have some underlying political agenda, I found this book to be refreshingly objective, especially considering the subject matter is one that currently lends itself to an "I'm right, and you're wrong" mentality.

In sum, Gold's book paints a fascinating picture of the Oil and Gas Industry from historical (and prehistorical) times through to the modern era. For anyone looking for a better grasp of the current debate, I feel he excels at laying out the argument from both sides without rancor or excessive judgement.

I am especially appreciative that he uses this history, and the current status of the industry to make an all important point: Natural gas is not Satan, but nor is it our savior. We must do the best we can with what we have now, and use this time to pursue new and better fuel sources that will sustain us through the centuries ahead.
… (mais)