by Steven Greenhut
Human Events
SACRAMENTO — Environmentalists are gleeful at the news reported last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that the amount of recoverable oil from California’s Monterey Shale formation — predicted to be the nation’s largest reserve of oil — is a whopping 96-percent below original production estimates.
In response, more than 100 environmental groups signed a letter to the California Legislature calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing and other “stimulation” techniques that ultimately would be needed to develop this oil field. They say the new estimates are “undercutting the misguided rationale” for allowing fracking before more studies are done…
“The fact that the technology doesn’t exist today, doesn’t mean that it won’t exist tomorrow,” said Tom Tanton, with the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, which advocates for “free-market environmentalism.” Apparently, even the anti-fracking groups understand as much or they wouldn’t still be pushing for a moratorium on accessing oil reserves that are not now available.
