Before the country went ga-ga three months ago over gun violence, fracking was America’s favorite all-day lollipop obsession.
Fracking had to be banned immediately, activists chanted.
Otherwise, great numbers of people surely would die.
No one has yet. Or even gotten sick. Or even turned pale. Or even lost part of his sense of humor.
But someday, somewhere, somebody might, opponents chillingly warned.
Gotcha, said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a few weeks ago when he pronounced the drilling method banned.
In California, however, fog, typically, surrounds the suddenly cooled down debate over fracking.
Last autumn, proposed state guidelines, awash in amorphous language, was published, with a promise of public debating at some vague, unscheduled future date.
What Do You Say?
[img]1762|left|Mr. Kuechle||no_popup[/img]That seemed to be a good point at which to contact attorney John Kuechle, chair of the CAP, the Community Advisory Panel that oversees drilling and other activities by the drilling company PXP at the Baldwin Hills Oil Field.
Besides being smart, Mr. Kuechle has been a wry, disciplined, keen observer of the oil scene ever since a chilly January overnight five years ago when a gas leak rattled his Culver Crest neighborhood at 2 a.m.
Politically – or geographically _ speaking, Mr. Kuechle is perfectly positioned as a centrist. He sides neither with the end-of-the-world anti-frackers or those who cavalierly dismiss the fuss. He is agnostic. When all about him are aflutter, wagging their arms and tongues, Mr. Kuechle wordlessly and calmly rows toward more serene waters.
Surveying fracking nationally, Mr. Kuechle concludes that “there are some real technical problems in a lot of areas. But my sense is, the only oil field I personally give a damn about, the one right next door to me, does not have any of those issues.
“I just don’t see fracking as one of the top three or four issues that I am concerned about up there. The kind of fracking (the anti activists) are talking about and the kind of production (PXP is) doing up there is so different from the stuff that has been causing problems in Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania. I may be wrong. I am not an expert, but I haven’t seen anything that makes me think I should worry about it.”
Of True Believers
How would Mr. Kuechle counsel the most rabid opponents of fracking?
“Nothing I could say would calm them,” he replied.
“I have tried, at times, to be a peacemaker. But all I have done is convince people I was out to get them.
“No good deed goes unpunished. I am convinced it isn’t worthwhile to try and be a peacemaker.”
What can be done to soothe the anti-fracking fever that appears to course through the entire state?
“I don’t see it happening,” Mr. Kuechle said. “The people who oppose fracking are true believers. To be fair, they might be right. I am not an oil-and-gas expert, and I just haven’t seen anything that convinces me.
“Assuming they are not right, I think they are such true believers that they never will be convinced of that fact. They will go to their graves thinking this is a critical issue.”
(To be continued)
