S. Thomas Bond: The shale game in a nutshell

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Shale drilling has the dumbest industrial development in history. The technology was brought into existence, to some considerable extent, by Morgantown Energy Research and federal government subsidy and by one determined individual, George Mitchell. There was no scale up phase with examination of the effect on surroundings.

The estimate of vast quantities of gas available to new technology by Terry Engelder of Cornell University enabled an old industry in decline and short of reserves to tell a story to investors of a prospective bonanza. That brought oodles of money in from all over the world. Financial buccaneers over leased, over drilled, and now have had to slow down production because of a lack of market. Existing storage is full. It's as though all that gas has to come out of the ground before it goes out of style.