January 14, 2016

Mary Ellen Klas

The Miami Herald

RE: A comment or two on your article in today’s Herald about the ramifications of a “wealthy developer” trying to force Mother Nature to give up her treasures.

Ms Klas,

“To frack or not to frack. That is the question.”

If the envelope of Journalism can be stretched to include Sean Penn then I feel compelled to abide by its rules, however fluid they may be.

As such, full disclosure requires me to reveal that I fracked my first well in January, 1974. Alas, my involvement in the energy business today is limited to the receiving/using end. I put gas in my car and I am a serial user of electricity. I have a slew of electronic devices that I revel in the use of.  Despite today’s chilly weather I like to use them in an apartment made more temperate by A/C. I like hot water, particularly after a sweaty day of manning my manatee traps. How could I forget ice? When used with gin it is a delightful conclusion to a busy day.

As such, the only dog I have left in the Frack/Don’t Frack fracas is the peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of someone else’s labor.

Broward County is ground zero for the moon-bat, wing nut rabble who proclaims themselves to be modern American Liberals who want to stop this practice here. [How their unicorn breeding stables and their as yet unsuccessful balloon juice/rainbow stew co-operative will power themselves is a question for a different time and place] 

I am not familiar with the protocol of who regulates what. [I do know that Thomas Jefferson warned us about the dangers of “sending hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance”. That last line is from the Declaration of Independence.] Is it possible for some eager agency to stop the 4:00 AM freight train from blowing its Goddamn horn as it goes through Broward?

Is that an example of Think Globally; Act Locally? 

I offer a solution, admittedly imperfect, to the conundrum of making omelets without breaking eggs.

Florida Power & Light breaks out how its electricity is produced. It lists by percentage how much is produced from coal, gas, oil, sun. wind, and unknown.

I have been calling on the Miami Herald since 1997 to turn off all of their A/Cs in the summer. Lead by example. Show us the way. Shame us into doing what deep down we know is the right thing to do. I expanded my list to all buildings owned or operated by Broward County. I even suggested that the use of private automobiles be banned as a condition of employment.

I guess it was a step too far.

I suggest that whatever percentage of electricity is generated by oil and gas wells that have been fracked is the starting point for reaching for the main breaker. 

If it is 10% then we will have 3 days in 30  without electricity. If that is too hard we can limit it to A/Cs. 20% = 6 days.

That way the moral high ground off Gaia worship will not be contaminated by artificially produced temperate climes.

That way, the rest of us can crank up the A/C to meat hanging levels if we so wish.

A win/win, no?

Kevin Smith

PS – Anthony Trollope was noted for his devotion to the ordinary, to the quotidian habits and descriptions of his characters. Thus, when you described John Kanter, a potential fracker, as a “wealthy developer”, I was pleased. Obviously another fan of Trollope plus affirmation of the simple fact that “indigent developer” is a class whose time has not yet come. Also, the pecking order of regulating train horns begins and ends with the Big Dog from the Feds, the one that Jefferson warned us about.