The rapid spread of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) has temporarily boosted US natural gas and oil production and driven down energy costs. But it's also sparked a massive environmental backlash in communities across the country where the impacts of fracking are being felt. The fossil fuel industry is trying to sell fracking as the biggest energy development of the century, with slick promises of American energy independence and benefits to local economies. On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Richard Heinberg, one of the world’s foremost energy educators, whose new book SNAKE OIL: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future casts a critical eye on the oil-industry hype that has hijacked America’s energy conversation. We'll look at whether fracking is the miracle cure-all to our energy ills, or a costly distraction from the necessary work of reducing our fossil fuel dependence.
Richard Heinberg is the author of SNAKE OIL: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future as well as ten previous books including The Party’s Over, Powerdown, and The End of Growth. A Senior Fellow at Post Carbon Institute, he is one of the world’s foremost energy educators and communicators about the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels.
- KBOO