Urban and Rural Paradigms


This post was originally written in January of 2012.



This morning I attended a forum on the controversy surrounding horizontal fracking. The session was offered by a community minded church to educate the public  on the issues involved in the controversy. The panel was well-organized, prepared and diverse.  The hosts had invited people from the energy/fracking industry to come, but they declined.  So, it seemed that a fairly homogenous crowd gathered - homogenous in this case meaning urbanites against fracking. 


Now, with my background in dangerous manufacturing, I’m sure that there are ways to safely extract gas from shale. If we apply OSHA-like regulations to the storage of the wastewater, then that storage could be done safely as well.  However, I'm really skeptical of energy companies’ willingness to protect people and the environment without regulation and mandated accountability requiring them to do so. 


But something else bothered me. There were several comments about rural people being taken advantage of: That they are not educated and are trusting, "easy marks.”  For example:  a panelist said that in some cases, the banks just take the money from royalties paid to the farmers and that these unfortunate farming folks did not know this would happen.


Banks don't take people's money! They need a garnishment order from a court.  So, in the cases where this has happened, there must have been some sort of foreclosure or loan default or child support garnishment or other court order.  It may be that the farmer didn't know the bank would take the money.  But did the energy company know there was a lien on the bank account?


I have known many people in finance, stock brokerages and commodities trading who grew up on farms.  They're really good at investing because they know seasons and cycles and they don't bet the farm. Is it not possible, then, that rural people know the financial season they are in and that they're making wise choices for their circumstances? 


Two questions: When we urbanites want to advocate for farmers, are we sure we’re not manifesting more elitism? When we are hearing stories of misfortune and want - out of empathy - to help, are we knowledgeable and applying that knowledge?

  

For an update including comments on how leases are arranged and applied, see https://www.ecowatch.com/how-the-fracking-industry-avoids-paying-royalties-to-landowners-1881789849.html published by EcoWatch, August 14, 2013.

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