Thoughts on the Hydrofracking Panel

Hello Everyone, I am providing some of my thoughts on the hydrofracking panel and am hopeful others can contribute their own. I actually am particularly interested in hearing what your guys thoughts are about hydrofracking, particularly whether it should be undertaken in New York and if the panel led you to have any different opinions.

Overall, I thought the panel was rather interesting and informative. I particularly found the talk on regulating hydrofracking from the former DEC member interesting (though at the same time borring, I bet some of you understand what I mean). It provided us with an insight into the hydrofracking issue from another perspective that I feel as though the papers we read for class did not quite provide.

I do feel as though both panelists were in favor of hydrofracking even if they did not explicitly say so, though I appreciated both their acknowledgements of the dangers of hydrofracking and their insistence on the need to think about it critically and thoroughly before acting.

Going into the panel I was really not sure whether or not hydrofracking should be undertaken in New York. I could not decide if the positives outweighed the negatives or not and also I feel as though big part of me just really wanted hydrofracking to stay out of New York. However, as the panelists discussed hydrofracking I progressively began to feel as though New York should issue permits. I am not entirely sure why I began to have a change of heart, but by the end of the panel I would have described myself, based on the descriptions provided by the panelist,  as an environmental pragmatist. I suppose I define myself this way because I personally fear Global warming more than hydrofracking and have at least some faith in the government to regulate hydrofracking.  I, like most, believe that humans are going to have to make some sacrifices in able to help limit global warming and, unfortunately, the damages of hydrofracking may not only be worth taking on, but also necessary if it can, in fact, help limit our carbon foot print. Further, I also think that the potential for hydrofracking to help limit our need for foreign oil and potentially lessen our dependence on and interactions with the middle east cannot be understated. Though inevitably some of you may disagree with me, I fear that this is the sort of sacrifice we may have to make to stem Global warming, and though it may ruin towns, hurt some economies, and destroy our vistas it may still be worthwhile.

I found the questions, and inevitably speeches, provided by the crowd were interesting and I some of them seemed to be well informed. However, the rather derogatory and negative stance  a few members of the crowd took towards the panelists turned me off and I found that it led me to take a more pro hydrofracking side. Obviously this is not a legitimate reason for supporting hydrofracking, but one can help but be influenced by the human beings around you.

I would like to conclude with a reminder that I, like most of you (I would guess), do not support reckless and radical hydrofracking in New York. I believe it should be introduced slowly and it should be well regulated, in the hopes that it will help solve some of our energy issues.