No Matter How It’s Spelled, Fracking Is Good
Cherie MessorePublic Relations Consultant
No matter how it’s spelled
hydraulic fracturing, fracing or fracking is good for our economy, our
environment and our nation–a fact that seems to get missed too often.
It was a big day for word nerds.
Every year, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary creates a media opportunity and lots of happy talk fodder for news anchor teams when it announces the addition of new words and definitions to this standard reference source.
The 2014 list of 150 additions included this gem of a misspelled nickname: fracking.
Fracking Is Good, Even If Misspelled
Yup, 65 years after the first commercial
hydraulic fracturing job, this sobriquet is now officially part of our
lexicon. But wait a minute: what’s with the k, Merriam-Webster? More
industry sources prefer – when it’s appropriate to use shorthand –
spelling it f-r-a-c-i-n-g. Common use (or misuse) added the K, but this
is hardly news. I wrote about this almost three years ago.
Six months later, Fuel Fix posted a more complete explanation, complete with a TV trivia reference that attributes the extra letter to Earthworks.
Natch, leave it to an opposition group to impose its need to twist an industry practice into something else.
That leads to a larger (rhetorical)
question: Does popularizing something make it more accessible,
comfortable, and ready-to-be-accepted? Two years ago, in writing about
the popularity of the iPhone 5, a blogger on Freakonomics.com cited this:
The iPhone 5, which does more without costing more, is cheered for possibly lifting fourth quarter GDP growth by as much as half of a percentage point, or by $12 billion. Shale gas, which does what coal does while costing fewer dollars and fewer carbon emissions, boosted GDP by an estimated $76-118 billion in 2010 and will annually contribute an incremental $230 billion to GDP by 2035. Where are the throngs to welcome it?
Message to New York: Fracking Is Good, Very Good, Better Than Turducken
And this is what has dogged the industry
in New York for almost six years. Those who oppose shale gas development
have willfully turned their back on the opportunity to learn from
industry’s experience in Pennsylvania and beyond.
Freakonomics authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner wrote in their latest book Think Like a Freak, that “until you admit what you don’t know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.”
30 lb. Roasted Terducken
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