‘Keep It In The Ground’ Activists Optimistic Despite Oil Boom
by Jeff Brady (National Public Radio) The United States oil business is booming and the country could soon be the largest crude oil producer in the world. Despite this record-breaking production, climate change activists campaigning to move away from fossil fuels say they are making progress.
Here’s the idea underpinning the “keep it in the ground” movement: To address climate change, activists say known reserves of fossil fuels will have to be left untouched instead of burned. In the meantime, they want countries to transition to renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind.
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Activists with groups like 350.org are petitioning cities to become “fossil free,” and they’re encouraging institutions — especially colleges — to withdraw investments in oil companies.
But people in the fossil fuel business don’t sound impressed.
“Keep it in the ground — as a movement — has been a failure,” says Texans for Natural Gas spokesman Steve Everley.
Everley says the current drilling and production boom is proof of that failure. Domestic drillers have doubled oil production in the past decade and natural gas is up by about a third. The country is on track to produce even more oil than Russia and Saudi Arabia.
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Keep it in the ground activists point to one key victory as proof their strategy can work: Canada’s oil sands.
Five years back, there were big plans to expand production of oil sands — also called tar sands. But activists rallied opposition by pointing out that it would require more energy than traditional drilling, and so would emit more pollution. READ MORE
U.S. Shale Has A Glaring Problem (OilPrice.com)
