Sunday Morning Oil & Gas Articles

There are two oil and gas articles worth reading this morning.  The first is a Washington Post opinion article about how the United States' oil policy is becoming more Western-centric and less dependent upon the Middle East.  The new ability to exploit oil fields in Canada, North Dakota and Texas, and new finds off the coast of Brazil are why the reliance on Middle East oil is declining, and the decline is expected to continue. The article was written by Daniel Yergin.

The second article is from the New York Times and reports how hydraulic fracking has impacted Cooperstown, NY.  Neighbors are battling each other over the fracking issue.  This is not a cheery article, especially when you read this paragraph:

As it turns out, despite the furor here, the Marcellus Shale, a vast rock formation under New York, Pennsylvania and other states, is so shallow near Cooperstown it is not clear how much gas would be available and what kind of drilling would take place here. And no one expects that fracking will ever come to Cooperstown itself.

People are creating personal and familial chasms that will last generations, all over a contentious issue that may not ever happen.