America Goes Fracking Mad!

A report that the USA is intent on becoming independent of oil and gas production in other parts of the globe, including the Middle East is interesting(http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/15/shale-energy-implications-geopolitics-america?INTCMP=SRCH). It would, of course, be beneficial to cut out the impact of political vagaries in 'difficult' parts of the world on availability and prices as well as negating the environmental and fiscal costs of transporting the hydrocarbons. Having said that, much of the proposed  independence is linked to a proposed dramatic increase in the fracking of oil shale deposits in the country. Even if this extraction causes no environmental problems (perhaps a big ask), there are claims that increasing dependence on this technology will increase the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere over and above that that would be generated by using traditional hydrocarbon products. I certainly think that oil and gas independence is a benefit that has to be balanced against not making climate change more likely.