The environmental left views the incredible rebirth of the American fossil fuel industry, wrought by unconventional methods (fracking and horizontal drilling), with alarm and disgust. The idea that the United States could easily fulfill all of its energy needs by utilizing its great domestic reserves of fossil fuels arouses their collective anger, and they have been battling this technology via every means at their disposal.
The enviros have run a massive and effective propaganda campaign with documentaries and advertising suggesting that fracking contaminates water supplies and is killing animals and people. They have waged interminable lawsuits at the local, state, and federal level to stop or slow the expansion of the extraction of unconventional oil and gas. And they have used the regulatory agencies — especially the EPA, Department of the Interior, and Department of the Agriculture — to halt the use of this technology on private lands and to keep it from expanding onto public hands.
There should be no sniffing at this latter point. The federal government currently owns huge chunks of land, including: 85% of Nevada; 69% of Alaska; 57% of Utah; 53% of Oregon; 50% of Idaho; 45% of California; 42% of Wyoming; 42% of New Mexico; and 37% of Colorado. All of these states are huge repositories of fossil fuel reserves, all crying out for development. But these riches will not ever be developed under this administration.
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