There are so many issues intertwined here.

First off, the historian writing in the first article seems not to buy into economics. Shame. Natural gas drilling cooled down because the price of natural gas is so low in this country, as previous fracking has shown its potential and flooded the market.

However, these natural gas wells deplete, and some very quickly, so new wells will always have to be drilled.

As with all other resources, the most likely to be profitable ventures are done first, and over time lower and lower quality of resources will be left, meaning the return on drilling will go down over time.

So fracking is not a permanent solution. NO resource that depletes, and all fossil fuels are such, will ever be a long term solution for energy needs.

Then we have the global warming problem, to which natural gas contributes.