Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1908-05-14

ing or key to deliver to our homes
and factories, heat and light, and
power. Partial nature has apparently
denied this great boon to many other
lands. 1t is practically unknown in
France, Germany and Great Britain,
our chief competitors in the world OF
industry. Even wood and coal must
first be converted into gas before they
will burn, but here is a fuel of which
nature has given us a practical mon
opoly, lavish in abundance, already
transmitted into the gaseous stage
and stored under vast pressure to be
released wherever wanted at our bid
ding. The record of waste of this our
best and purest fuel is a national dis
grace.
At this very minute this unrivaled
fuel Is passing into the air within our
domain from uncontrolled gas wells,
from oil wells, from giant flambeaus,
from leaking pipe lines and the many
other methods of waste at the rate
of not less than one billion cubic feet
daily and probably much more.
Very few appear to realize either
the great Importance of this hydro
carbon fuel resource of our country,
or its vast original quantity. Some of
the individual wells, If we may credit
the measurements, have produced this
fuel at the rate of 10 million cubic
feet daily, the equivalent in heating
value of 20 thousand bushels OF coal,
or nearly 1900 barrels of oil. In my
humble opinion the original amount
of this volatile fuel in the United
States, permeatlng as II does every
undisturbed geologic formation from
the Oldest to the most recent, rivaled
or even exceeded in heating value, all
of our wondrous stores Of coal.
Suppose that it were possible for
some Nero inspired by a mania Of in
cendiarism. to apply a consuming
torch to every bed of coal that crops
to the surface from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and that the entire coal
supply of the Union was threatened
with destruction within a very few
years, what do you think would hap
pen? Would our state legislatures
sit undisturbed panoplied by such a
carnival os fire? Would the govern
ors of thirty states remain silent
while the demon of flame was ravag-
ing the coal resources of the repub-
lie? Certainly not; there would be a
legislatures of all the states in the
Union to stay the progress OF such a
direful conflagration; even the sacred
constitutional barriers wisely erected
between staIe and federal authority
would melt away in the presence of
such an awful calamity, and the
mighty arm of the nation would be
invoked to help end the common per-
II.
imaginary case is an actual one with
the best and purest fuel Of the coun-
try, equal probably in quantity and
value for heat light and power to all
of our coal resources. This blazing
zone of destruction extends in a
broad band from the lakes to the gulf,
and westward to the Pacific embrac-
ing in its flaming pathway the most
precious fuel possessions of a contin-
ent. No one can even approximate
the extent of this waste. From per-
sonal knowledge of conditions which
exist in every soil and gas field, I am
sure the quantity will amount to not
less than one billion cubic feet daily,
and it may be much more. The heat
ing value of a billion cubic feet OF
natural gas is roughly equivalent to
that Of one million bushels of coal
What an appalling record to transmit
to posterity!
There can be no doubt that for
every barrel of oil taken from the
earth there has been wasted more
than ten times its cqu vaIcnt in eth
er heating power, or weight even of
this the best of ell the fuels. and also
that much more than half Of this
frightful waste could have been
avoided oy proper care in oil produce
tion and slight additional expcndi-
lures.
In justice to the great oil produc-
ing corporations. it must be acknowl-
edged that they have not permitted
much waste of petroleum except what
has been sprayed into the air by their
awful waste of gas, and also that their
handling of petroleum has been from
the beginning a model of business
economy and management. The great
mistake of the oil producing interests
has been In not properly appI ehend-
ing the enormous fuel value of the
natural gas they were destroying. and
n not demanding legislation for its
protection instead of succt ssfully
throttiing and preventing it in every
state of the Union except one-Indi-
ana.
Why should a few oil producers in
their insane haste to get rich quick
ly, or add To fortunes already swollen
beyond safety To the republic, be- per
mittod thus to despOil tn. entire
country Of its choicest rurI.
But surely if men have thus per-
mitted the loss of our gaseous fuels, |
often because they could neither see
the substance itself nor realize the
extent Of what they were doing. GER |
tainly they would not be SO wasteful |
Of the solid fuels the coal beds, |
something they can readily perceive |
and handle and weigh. The record /
here is also one to make every citizen |
of our nation feel distressed and hu- |
inflated for Of the total quantity OF !
coal we have produced since mining /
for commercial purposes began, |
amounting to about five billion tons, |
at least an equal amount and possi- |