The Luddites are taking over. Stopping energy bit by bit

First they attacked coal. 

It is making electricity far more expensive. 

Now they are going after oil.....

Obama's answer to energy

"............Federal officials said Thursday that crude oil being shipped by rail from the Northern Plains across the U.S. and Canada may be more flammable than traditional forms of oil.
A safety alert issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warns the public, emergency responders and shippers about the potential high volatility of crude from the Bakken oil patch. The sprawling oil shale reserve is fueling the surging industry in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, which is now the nation's second-largest oil producer behind Texas.
Thursday's announcement declares that the Bakken's light, sweet crude oil may be different from traditional heavy crudes because it is prone to ignite at a lower temperature. Experts say lighter crudes, which contain more natural gas, have a much lower "flash point" — the temperature at which vapors given off by the oil can ignite."

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China stakes claim to S. Texas oil, gas

State-owned Chinese energy giant CNOOC is buying a multibillion-dollar stake in 600,000 acres of South Texas oil and gas fields.......

With the announcement Monday that it would pay up to $2.2 billion for a one-third stake in Chesapeake Energy assets, CNOOC lays claim to a share of properties that eventually could produce up to half a million barrels a day of oil equivalent.

It also might pick up some American know-how about tapping the hard-to-get deposits trapped in dense shale rock formations, analysts said.

As part of the deal, the largest purchase of an interest in U.S. energy assets by a Chinese company, CNOOC has agreed to pay about $1.1 billion for a chunk of Chesapeake’s assets in the Eagle Ford, a broad oil and gas formation that runs largely from southwest of San Antonio to the Mexican border..................

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Is BP getting scammed on payouts?

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has sold
2,200 licenses since the spill,
Lt Col Jeff Mayne of the LDWF Law Enforcement Division told the BBC today.
(If things are so bad in the Gulf, why are people still getting licenses in Louisiana?)

So far BP has paid $308million to those whose livelihood has been threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But to receive compensation, fishermen must display a valid fishing licence - and applications for such licenses have spiked by nearly 60 per cent, despite most fishing grounds being closed by the disaster.

Three people suspected of abusing the system have been arrested in the past week in the U.S.
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Oil? Just Sayin....

The Encyclopedia Brittanica estimates the surface of the Gulf of Mexico to be 1,550,000 km2 that is 1,550,000,000,000 m2 The maximum depth of the Gulf is 5203 m. The average depth is somewhere between 0 and that value. 1/4 of the the maximum depth is about 1300 m. Multiplying 1,550,000,000,000 m2 x 1300m = 2.015 x 10 E 15 m3 or 5.3 X 10 E 17 US Gallons (give or take 1223gallons) or about 650 Quadrillion gallons (650,000,000,000,000,000)according to Wikianswers It's 643 Quadrillion gallons according to the EPA's official site.

AP Reports...A federal oil spill task force says about 172 million gallons of crude made it out in the Gulf of Mexico after the well blew out. The estimate Monday is smaller than a previous one saying the busted well leaked as much as 184 million gallons. The group says about 206 million gallons total gushed out of the mile-deep well between the April 11 rig explosion and July 15. That's when engineers placed a temporary cap on the leaking well. But the fleet of boats and other efforts were able to contain more than 33 million gallons. The task force says its estimate is the most accurate to date. It has a margin of error of about 10 percentage points.

Doing the rough math, with some rounding... 206,000,000 divided by 650,000,000,000,000,000 = 1 gallon of oil was spilled for every 3 Billion gallons of water in the Gulf. Let us look at the gulf as a bath tub. If we estimate that your bathtub hold 75 gallons of water, then the the oil is the equivalent of 1/4,000,000 of a gallon in your tub. Since there are about 90,000 drops of water in a gallon of water, the oil spill is equivalent to roughly 1.5 drops of oil in your bathtub.
Maybe that is why the government is saying..........
The “vast majority” of crude from BP Plc’s damaged Gulf of Mexico well is gone and the rest is being broken down by waves and bacteria, reducing the threat of further pollution from the largest maritime oil spill, White House energy adviser Carol Browner said.

NSFW. Cover your kids ears. UNF**K The Gulf

They sound like they are in NYC at 3AM in the morning

Oil Spill Charity "F-Bomb-A-Thon" from UnF--kTheGulf.com on Vimeo.

But it’s not political, it’s environmental. It’s charity. Right. The funds go to one of four non-profit groups with no political motivation at all ......
Yeah, the money goes to charities that want to clean up the Gulf. Sure it does.... Yeah, Greenpeace and Earth Justice.
See more here

A little PJTV Parody with aid from Johnny Horton.

Goodlatte: Let's Explore here ! ! !

GOODLATTE INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO OPEN VIRGINIA’S OCS FOR OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION

Washington, DC: Today Representative Bob Goodlatte introduced the “Virginia Access to Energy Act”. This important legislation, H.R. 4942, removes the regulatory road blocks that are impeding the exploration for natural gas and crude oil in Virginia’s waters of the Outer Continental Shelf. This bipartisan legislation requires the Department of Interior, at the request of Virginia’s governor, to proceed with the Virginia lease sale no later than one year after passage of this legislation.

In 2008, it seemed that the Commonwealth would be able to make OCS development a reality when Congress, and then President George Bush, removed hurdles that had previously blocked access to energy resources located on the OCS. However, since that point, Virginia has been confronted with a series of regulatory road blocks. Although a lease sale has been proposed in Virginia’s OCS, the first scheduled lease sale for energy development in the Atlantic, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has continued to postpone this Virginia lease sale. This delay is happening despite the strong support for the lease sale by the Virginia Congressional Delegation, the Governor of Virginia, the Virginia General Assembly, and the citizens of Virginia.

“Every day, folks across Virginia and the nation are confronted with the rising cost of energy, from the cost at the pump to soaring electric bills,” said Congressman Goodlatte. “I believe that Virginia should have every tool available to access its energy supplies. The ‘Virginia Access to Energy Act’ will remove the regulatory hurdles that have impeded development and create a path for Virginia to become ‘the Energy Capital of the East Coast.’”

It has been estimated by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service that Virginia’s OCS has 130 million barrels of recoverable oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. This translates into a significant boost to the economy of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In fact, some estimates have shown that development of Virginia’s OCS will create over 2,500 full-time equivalent positions on an annual basis, induce capital investment of $7.8 billion, yield nearly $645 million in direct and indirect payroll, and result in over $270 million in state and local taxes.

---more---



The “Virginia Access to Energy Act” authorizes that all revenue generated from extraction of these resources may be shared evenly with the state and federal government, with the federal share going to an Alternative Energy Fund and to deficit reduction. Seventy-five percent of the Commonwealth’s share will be used to fund various state projects including education, transportation, tax reductions, coastal and environmental restoration, energy infrastructure and projects, alternative energy development, and energy efficiency and conservation. The other twenty-five percent would be split 12.5 percent to provide assistance to Virginia through the Land and Water Conservation Fund and 12.5 percent to a reserve fund to address other environmental issues.

Representatives Rob Wittman (VA-1), Glenn Nye (VA-2), Randy Forbes (VA-4), Tom Perriello (VA-5), Eric Cantor (VA-6), Rick Boucher (VA-9), and Frank Wolf (VA-10) joined me and are original cosponsors of my legislation, which has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources for further consideration.

Goodlatte continued, “Virginians understand that a major component in lessening energy costs is to produce more energy. In addition to helping us become energy independent, this legislation will help create thousands of jobs for Virginians and infuse the Commonwealth with new capital growth.”

To move America toward energy independence we need a comprehensive and strategic plan that increases the supply, security and diversity of American energy, promotes conservation and puts real alternative fuel sources in the hands of consumers to lower costs. We must lift the moratorium on drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, potentially producing nearly a million barrels of oil a day. We must diversify our energy supplies with alternative sources, including renewable fuels and wind, solar and hydrogen power. But we must do so without the government mandates and subsidies that are today driving up the cost of food and animal feed due to producing ethanol from corn. We should develop a renewable policy where the government incentivizes the development of new technologies but does not mandate the use of any particular fuel like corn-based ethanol which drives up food costs for consumers. Finally we should encourage the production of more nuclear power which provides CO2 emission-free energy.

Drill Baby Drill... Russia is.

How Stupid ! ! !We can't drill, but everyone else can?
Oooooh lets put up more windmills ! ! !

The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast. Reported in Wash Times

....From Russia's perspective, this is another way to gain leverage inside what traditionally has been America's sphere of influence. It may not be as dramatic as the Soviet Union attempting to use Cuba as a missile platform, but in the energy wars, the message is the same. Russia is projecting power into the Western Hemisphere while the United States retreats. The world will not tolerate a superpower that acts like a sidekick much longer.

I wonder if President Obama knows what the Monroe Doctrine is?