Huntsman said as president he would clear the way for the "continued safe use" of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," a method of extracting fossil fuels which has been criticized for its environmental impact, as well as encourage more domestic oil drilling.

And... he lost me.

Call me when that industry isn't mysteriously exempt from the US Safe Drinking Water Act.

The EPA recently looked into some of the water contamination claims. 17 of the 19 wells they examined shows signs of contamination by nearby fracking. They wrap up by noting that they don't know the scope of the contamination because they haven't taken enough data points yet.

Fracking disposal wells were recently banned in Arkansas. I can't imagine what you have to do to get anything banned in Arkansas.

I'm on board with pure research. If we manhattan project'd the everliving fark out of some clean renewable energy research I'm sure we'd come up with something useful.

incendi: I'm on board with pure research. If we manhattan project'd the everliving fark out of some clean renewable energy research I'm sure we'd come up with something useful.

That's what I was thinking. Energy is the future of everything and it runs just about our entire economy, at one level or another. Find a cheap, clean, renewable energy source, and you've solved one of the biggest problems of our foreseeable future. I like Huntsman's take on a lot of stuff. Now, if only he could stop obsessing over deregulation and go with a more direct route... oh well.

At the very least, though, Huntsman takes a means-end approach to analyzing politics.
Problem: energy is dirty, expensive, and finite in supply.
Desired outcome: Come up with a renewable, clean, cheap source of energy.
Approach: Deregulate???

That's where it falls apart for me. How does deregulation spur innovation? Wouldn't it be better for the biggest financial player in the game to look 50 years in the future and fund innovation and invention in the energy industry? Instead, he seems to think we need to deregulate the fossil fuel industries, who only look a couple of quarters ahead in the future because that's what the stock market demands, because for some reason if they're making bigger profits they'll invest that money into renewable energy research? They've been making enormous profits for years, and mostly they just pay it in dividends to their stockholders, who, incidentally, are also their executives and leaders.

You know what would be nice......pointing to which regulations to eliminate.

I believe we probably do have layers of useless regulation along with layers of good regulation. Would someone be kind enough to tell me which regulations they are planning to repeal or do more of?

Ezy Ryder: I expect more from a presidential candidate than not being the dullest knife in the drawer.

Yeah, but would you wanna have a beer with him? That's the real litmus test in this country.

/barf

MrSteve007: Tyrone Slothrop: From your link: John Forney, a former energy trader who invented various strategies such as the "Death Star," was indicted in December 2002, on 11 counts of conspiracy and wire fraud. On August 5, 2004 John Forney plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and in 2007 was given 2 years probation and a $4,000 USD fine.

Wow, there's an amazing disincentive to commit fraud!

Yep, that's how the system works. Defraud the citizens of California out of some $36-billion via their deregulated electrical market Link (new window) - make one guy pay a $4,000 fine and 2-years probation.

While collar justice served.

Get caught with an ounce of crack? That'll be 20 years of your life, please.

Minus1Kelvin: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! (new window)

/Skeptoid FTW

I'll see your skeptoid and raise you a This American Life (new window)