Thanks, Charlie. Your criticisms of the piece in The Nation are well taken; however, there’s an emotional side of this issue. Your argument may carry the day from an engineering standpoint while still failing to impress the anti-fossil-fuels leaders in Congress such as Ed Markey.*
The central issue, IMO, is laid bare in this passage from the article:
Some bloggers and message-board posters have been saying that the Deepwater Horizon accident is bullish for shale-gas companies. I respectfully think they have it backwards. Regards, Dew
*I lived in Markey’s congressional district for two decades, so I know what a jerk he is.