Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is perhaps Congress’ most reliable defender of dirty energy and evangelizer against the “hoax” of global warming. This morning, he took his message to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade’s radio show, where he extolled the virtues of hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas known widely as “fracking.” Fracking is a relatively new and untested technique, but Inhofe insisted that there’s nothing to worry about, as he claimed fracking has “never poisoned anyone” nor ever contaminated groundwater:
INHOFE: [There’s] never been one case — documented case — of groundwater contamination in the history of the thousands and thousands of hydraulic fracturing. […]
KILMEADE: Senator, has it ever poisoned anybody?
INHOFE: It’s never poisoned anyone.
While fracking has the potential to create vast new American energy supplies, Inhofe’s claim that it is completely without risk is either stunningly ignorant or intentionally dishonest. Just yesterday, a blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas well engaged in fracking spilled thousands of gallons of toxic chemical-laced water, “contaminating a stream and forcing the evacuation of seven families who live nearby as crews struggled to stop the gusher,” the AP reported. Inhofe referenced the Pennsylvania spill in his interview, but said that it has “nothing to do with fracking” because it was a stream, not groundwater that was contaminated.
I wonder what it is like having so much power and having no conscience or knowledge to go with it. I guess what is notable as that Inhofe is at least, on the record, admitting that the fracking fluid is poisonous to human beings. Since Bush and Cheney made sure that we don’t get to know what is in it, at least we now know for sure that it is poisonous.
Maxwel
Shouldn’t the title be ‘Fracking Clowns’?
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
But remember, Global Warming is a dangerous hoax perpetrated by green fascism that wants to take down our way of life while lining richie rich Al Gore’s pockets and his fat cat scientist friends’ too.
Also, that video of the guy igniting his tap water? Well, haven’t you ever wished for liquor from the tap, that’s all that was.
Seriously, no, fucking seriously, how are these fuckwits winning the war on climate and environmental policies? HOW?!
soonergrunt
You expected different from the Senator from Chesapeake and Devon?
MikeJ
He sure brought that lie in for a landing.
Mark B
Last sentence: ” at least we now no for sure that it is poisonous.” should be ” at least we now know for sure that it is poisonous.” Thank you. It’s a minor quibble…
Bob Loblaw
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
1. Money
2. Money
3. Fucking money.
Also, racism. Since only mostly brown and black people will have to deal with the full brunt of climate change. And we all know how much wealthy white westerners love to care about that little iniquity.
opie jeanne
@Bob Loblaw: They’ll just turn up the AC if global warming is real. I have heard these idiots say that.
Citizen_X
“I reject your reality and substitute my own” may make for a decent t-shirt, but it ain’t so funny when it’s coming from the people that make the rules, is it?
@MikeJ: Hey, Inhofe has NEVER HIT ANYONE on a runway, NEVER.
Came pretty damn close, but he didn’t actually HIT them.
Kmeyer the lurker
well, it has become known that most fracking fluids contain Deisel, so yeah, it’s poisonous. As if there was any doubt.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@opie jeanne:
They’ll also turn it up the moment someone suggests to turn it down to save money or energy. Just because fuck you hippie and your green fascism.
MikeJ
@Kmeyer the lurker: Are there any regulations on what fluids can be used? If so, who regulates? EPA? Interior? Energy?
Stillwater
Just a coupla more links from Krugman…
Sentient Puddle
So…I don’t know, wouldn’t the name alone bring concerns to anyone who is marginally aware of Battlestar Galactica? I mean, that doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing you’d call it if you want to make positive imagery.
mellowjohn
“I wonder what it is like having so much power and having no conscience or knowledge to go with it.”
in today’s republican party in general, and in oklahoma in particular, that’s a selling point!
gwangung
@MikeJ: Does it matter, when the republicans either vote to defund or fill the enforcement agency with cronies?
Gravenstone
OT, but it relates to another Senator so what the fuck…
Ensign finally pulls the plug, effective 5/3. Let the circus for his long term replacement begin.
Stillwater
@Maxwel: Shouldn’t the title be ‘Fracking Clowns’?
Win!
Yutsano
@Gravenstone: Republican guv, so the plan looks like naming who was going for his open seat in 2012 early to give him the incumbency edge. Fortunately the Democrats aren’t conceding that easily.
schrodinger's cat
John Cole@top
You can has typo, no should be know…
2th&nayle
@MikeJ: REGULATES?? Are you shitting me?
joeyess
I would like to duct tape Inhofe to a chair, duct tape his eyes open and force him to watch “Gasland”.
Just Some Fuckhead
@schrodinger’s cat: Shh. Knowone will no.
Yutsano
@Just Some Fuckhead: I knoz. But I can be eliminated should it become necessary.
Alex S.
I like Kilmeade’s question.
‘Has it ever poisoned anybody?’
Find me the person who would say ‘yes’.
Stillwater
@Yutsano: If it wasn’t pointed out, I never woulda non.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Stay where you are; someone will be along to “assist” you shortly.
Mark S.
@opie jeanne:
Not only that, but when the polar ice caps melt, it will be easier to get to all that oil in the Arctic. I’ve heard idiots say that.
Hell, Cheney’s probably said that.
Warren Terra
On the subject of water, there’s an interesting story in the New York Times:
It hasn’t rained in 6 months, including the whole winter, they’re at something like 10% of reservoir capacity heading into the summer – and now they’re reducing lawn watering a bit? I mean, I know that high school football is the local religion, closely followed by climatically inappropriate lush green lawns, but this is absurd. And high school football has been over for something like four months, anyway.
Oh, and those water use restrictions? Well, here they are:
This is like starting your diet by getting a Big Mac but not supersizing your fries. Actually, it’s not even that serious:
But for those of you worried about the true priorities, there is hope:
Spaghetti Lee
@Warren Terra:
I’ve always that that millions and millions of Americans packing themselves into deserts with no water and triple-digit heat while water-abundant places like Michigan and Ohio hemorrhage population is one of the great illogical moves in human history. Animals in the African savannah who follow the water supply have more sense than we do.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Warren Terra: Wonder why God is judging Texas?
Yutsano
@Just Some Fuckhead: It’s the hair. Someone has GOT to do something about Perry’s God-awful haircut. Get that man a West Hollywood gay hairstylist stat!
AAA Bonds
If you can stand to read a movie critic on this subject, Andrew O’Hehir has a great piece about the intense – and expensive – effort by the natural gas industry to malign and discredit Josh Fox over his documentary Gasland, which focused on hydrofracking and its effects.
The whole “guy lights his tap water on fire” scene seemed to spook them.
maya
Inofe’s just exercising his 1st Amendment right to lie through his fracking eye teeth on FOX. That issue was settled years ago in a lower court decision.
Why do you hate the 1st Amendment so?
Just Some Fuckhead
@AAA Bonds:
Tap water flambe is my signature dish.
Jay C
@The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
Apparently, in Pennsylvania, by buying a legislative majority, and then either paying it (or letting it rely on its “instincts”) to give the gas industry virtually blanket immunity from regulation or oversight.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: What do you recommend? Mme Omnibus forced me to ditch the Hugh Grant floppy hair thing a few years ago on the theory that I was too old to look like I was at a British boarding school and that , if I want to keep my hair longish, I needed pick up a guitar and get good at playing it.
opie jeanne
@Warren Terra: I noticed something about the state of Texas being on fire. I didn’t notice if any of the wildfires were near Midland, but if they are then the good people of that area are in deep shit, with the water reserves that low.
Some pictures and info here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/pictures/110420-texas-wildfire-fire-drought-winds/
There is supposed to be a map but I don’t have time to look at it.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Some product to hold floppy hair in its place, like styling putty or gel. Mr schrodinger’s cat has straight and floppy hair too, which I adore. I think it makes him look boyish and adorable.
JonF
People want to believe the lie because its become a partisan touchstone and Inhofe is paid handsomely to keep the carnival wheel spinning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: Don’t start on signature dishes, aimai hates them.
Xoebe
West Texas, about eighteen months ago, a high pressure gas drilling/fracking operation blew out every water well within a mile of the well. This didn’t make the news, I heard about it from my father, who is a part owner of one of the leases. The water was badly contaminated by the gas as well. I don’t know if the wells ever recovered, but I doubt it. The wells were all for livestock, the local ranchers were pretty pissed off, but they aren’t the types to take it to the media, either.
opie jeanne
@AAA Bonds: I think CSI had a program where a farmer’s well had been contaminated by fracking nearby. He set fire to his tap water, then later blew himself up by dropping a match in his own water well. I was surprised that a fictional show picked up that story and showed it to us.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I laughed when I saw his comment. I’m pretty sure JSF saw aimai’s comment and that’s exactly why he posted that in the first place.
Or maybe that was the point of your comment?
Mark S.
Politifact has weighed in and decided the statement “Fracking fluid is poisonous” is half-true. If you’re careful, you can just drink around the toxic substances.
Mark D
@AAA Bonds:
You mean this one, correct?
I hope so, because if there’s a bunch of those videos … um …
// blinking blankly //
EDIT: Hatin’ the auto bold, and the fact there are so many Mark [Initial here] nyms around this place. I’m gonna have to find a new name. :-)
danimal
@Warren Terra: This is why I’m hopeful we’ll eventually get some positive action on global warming.
Brain-dead Real Murkins will eventually have to deal with the ramifications.
Annie
Watch the documentary Gasland. Shows how families have had to deal with water from their faucets exploding, animals have lost their hair and worse, and the emergence of health conditions among families with wells on their properties. And, then come back and tell me how safe fracking is….
burnspbesq
@Omnes Omnibus:
For Guv Goodhair? A neon green Mohawk.
burnspbesq
@Warren Terra:
Well, there’s your tipping point on the subject of climate change. Anything that threatens the integrity of Texas high school football has to be dealt with, and right the fuck now if not sooner.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq:
I would pay serious bread to somehow make that a reality.
Villago Delenda Est
@danimal:
No they won’t.
The baby Jeebus will wisk them way from the ramifications on a magic carpet ride to his paradise in the sky.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not telling.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
This clip from Three Days of the Condor (early 70’s) was prescient.
The Bcfs of natural gas need to keep flowing. The random farmer who has his pond spoiled or the small town that has its drinking water contaminated is just collateral damage. It is capitalistic and utilitarian at the same time.
Dave C
I can’t think of a single American Congressperson that I despise more than Inhofe.
AAA Bonds
@Mark D:
Wow, thanks for linking that up. That’s it exactly.
What strikes me about it is that the guy isn’t even fazed until the entire contents of his sink start burning. Clear that he’s done this plenty of times for plenty of people.
And straight messed up that he or anyone else ever had to have the experience, even once.
AAA Bonds
@opie jeanne:
Better than murderous furries, for sure.
Omnes Omnibus
@burnspbesq: I think he could carry it off. At least, I would like to see him try.
Villago Delenda Est
@Dave C:
I can think of three.
Ron Paul. His vile spawn, Rand. And that fuckwit Paul Ryan.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dave C: Issa? Gohmert? Sensenbrenner?
Omnes Omnibus
@AAA Bonds: Boy, are you judgmental. It is a lifestyle choice. Be tolerant.
schrodinger's cat
@Dave C: Bachmann?
eileen
If you are near Philadelphia, there will be a “River to River March to Fight Fracking,” on Saturday, April 23rd. More information is available at http://www.protectingourwaters.com
A very recent blowout in PA
http://srs444.blogspot.com/2011/04/bradford-county-well-blowout.html
Check this site
http://marcelluseffect.blogspot.com/
Save our waters while we can. You really don’t want to fuel your car with your tap water.
Linnaeus
@Spaghetti Lee:
It’s more logical when you consider the various ways in which the movement of people to the arid West and Southwest has been subsidized by massive federal spending, both directly and indirectly. To oversimplify a bit, cheap energy and massive water diversions made these deserts more cost-effective places for more Americans than they would have been otherwise.
existential fish
Wait a second, Brian Kilmeade has a radio show? That sitting Senators go on?
existential fish
Wait a second, Brian Kilmeade has a radio show? That sitting Senators go on?
Dave C
@schrodinger’s cat:
Bachmann is certainly crazier but I think the influence she has had on this country has not been nearly as severe as Inhofe’s–at least not yet.
D-Chance.
The Radio BJ silence in regards to Wonkette continues, it seems…
Yutsano
@D-Chance.: What the duck are you talking about?
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: The boat. Stay in it.
Mark S.
@Yutsano:
This.
MikeJ
It’s been hours since anybody has denounced Stalin here.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mark S.: Aha, a website that can be crass was crass. This is a huge scandal. The silence of the FPers is suspicious.
Mark S.
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, I just come here to get news about Sully.
MikeJ
@Omnes Omnibus: Especially since everyone knows Tunch writes under the pseud Ken (whateverthatguysnameis). That makes it urgent that John Cole denounce wonkette and all her pomps.
AAA Bonds
@Omnes Omnibus:
What, the lifestyle choice of being a murderous furry? :D
Seriously, though, you’ve misread the comment. I’m not being judgmental of kinks, lifestyles, or anything of the sort. Exactly the opposite, in fact. My complaint wasn’t against furries but in defense of them.
The problem I was bitching about is that CSI decided a few years back that the best way to introduce Middle America to furries was to portray the attendees at a lifestyle convention as creeps, freaks, and killers, albeit accidental killers if I remember the episode correctly.
Standard stereotyping on those shows: if someone has a private fetish, they’re primed to participate in a criminal cover-up of someone’s death. It’s about as nifty as the 10,000 Law and Order episodes about the pressing dangers of violent video games and exactly as helpful to our culture.
Omnes Omnibus
@AAA Bonds: @ I was just being snarky. I got your meaning in the original comment.
AAA Bonds
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hey, just wanted to make sure. You will never, ever catch me pointing fingers in that area, not without consent anyway.
Omnes Omnibus
@AAA Bonds: I didn’t know fingerpointing was a kink. But whatever floats your boat.
AAA Bonds
@Omnes Omnibus:
Depends on the area.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
**sigh**
I’m just trying not to get massively depressed over yet another sphere of influence where we seem to have lost without any recourse. I mean, fuck all, somehow, Exxon and BP are more fucking credible on this issue than all the thousands of scientists talking about the climate and the increasing instability? It’s taken as a fucking obvious truth that anyone who talks up climate change is just in it for the funding and to defraud the world through green fascism? How? How the fuck can we even fucking win this anymore, apparently, because it seems like any fucking sense or logic has been fucking totally fucking stonewalled because hey, obviously anyone who criticizes our oil dependency or energy policy is a greedy fatcat fuck that hates America and wants to destroy the economy!!
I mean…EPA, gutted. Folks like Inhofe, Upton, etc. in charge of energy and climate concerns. The fracking trend continues fucking totally unabated despite protests and attempts to raise consciousness. All because, I suppose, if any fucking hippies raise an issue, obviously all real fucking Americans have to be on the opposite side of it. And anyone who tries to raise consciousness is a devious, evil huckster that needs to be fucking eliminated, huh.
Fuck, just…let it all burn. It’s going to anyway. What’s the goddamn point anyway, they’ve already totally fucking won.
Little Boots
weird. will we destroy the entire planet rather than inconvenience some millionaires? we just might. it’s bizarre.
TenguPhule
For death by Irony, he needs to have a hose pump fracking fluids into his stomach until it explodes.
MikeJ
@TenguPhule: I thought shot down by Air Force 1’s escort after refusing to read the NOTAMs.
Lysana
@AAA Bonds:
Yep. And the bitch of it is, the vast majority of furries don’t wear fursuits and most of the fursuiters don’t do it for kink. But sure enough, you find someone whose info is based on CSI and Vanity Fair articles and they think it’s all about sexually explicit mascot suits.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Villago Delenda Est:
What’s really sad is that I know people who believe exactly that; there is no reason to do anything about anything because it is futile and man is doomed to failure, so why should they even try to do something? They think that the Big Sky Guy gave us this planet to use as we wish without worry because one day he will send his son to save their sorry asses, consigning everyone they hate to the deepest pits of Hell and delivering them a wonderland of delights to live in forever.
What’s really hilarious is that many of these nuts are the same people who think cults are dangerous…lol!
Jeroen Janssen
@Warren Terra:
Don’t worry, something is being done:
debbie
Someone should take a cue from Clockwork Orange: Strap Inhofe in a chair, prop his eyes open, and make him watch the 60 Minutes story where the guy turned on his kitchen faucet, flicked his Bic, and the water exploded.
rickstersherpa
Meanwhile, has everyone notice how Fukushima has just disappeared off the radar of our “all deficit, all the time, its a “crisis” because, well because need some reason to gut Medicare and Social Security while giving more tax cuts to rich people media.” Dicussing Donald Trump and his Birtherism is more important. Meanwhile on little politically incorrect blots like Econospeak you can learn that it might be time to start taking those potassium iodine pills and cut back on milk.
http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-in-last-9-days.html
Dave Whitefield
I guess Sen. Inhofe never got around to seeing the documentary film “Gasland”… seemed to be plenty of documented proof of contamination caused by fracking in that piece…