Jobs Hell! GOP Attacks Climate, Scientists and EPA

by Steven D

Everybody expects there will be a host of Congressional subpoenas flying as soon as the next Congress is seated to investigate -- whatever. And first up to feel the wrath of the coming Republican inquisition may very well be any scientist who works  in the field of climate science.  

According to Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic, the House Republicans, likely led by Joe Barton, ranking member of the Energy Committee and its presumptive new Chair, or Darell Issa, intends to hold hearing to investigate scientific fraud concerning global warming.

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Some thoughts on offshore drilling

by Thunderthief

Some thoughts on offshore oil drilling.... crossposted at my blog, http://lurkerspace.blogspot.com/

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12.5 Trillion Reasons to Keep Drilling the GOM

by War on Error

2003 Report

According to MMS’ 2000 resource assessment of conventionally recoverable hydrocarbons in the Gulf, 65 billion barrels of oil equivalent total reserves have been produced, but 71 billion barrels of oil equivalent remain.

According to the MMS the undiscovered resource assessment is approximately:

For the western Gulf of Mexico, 37 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
For the central Gulf, over 92 billion BOE.
For the eastern Gulf, about nine billion BOE.

"Of course, our resources estimates are likely to be revised upwards due to new discoveries in entirely new geologic frontiers such as deep gas targets on the shelf," Oynes said.

History and quotes from:  http://www.aapg.org/...

The Math:

71 + 37+ 92+ 9 = 209 Billion Barrels of Oil Remain in the Gulf

@ $60 Average/Barrel =

$12.5 Trillion Reasons to Continue Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

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US Offshore Oil Drilling Began Late 1800s

by War on Error

http://www.pennenergy.com/...

Never underestimate the USA's long-term planning abilities.   Off shore drilling is living proof of the private/public sectors long-term marriage made in heaven, well (no pun) if you are an oil Baron and/or their heirs.

I am beginning to understand Revelation's reference to seas turning red and fish being dead.

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New Offshore Drilling Rules Issued

by Senor Unoball

The Interior department has issued revised offshore drilling rules that are designed to replace the rules that were recently thrown out by the courts.

See New York Times story.

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BP's Well May Leak For 55 Years Or More Into The Gulf Of Mexico?

by Edger

On June 15, 2010 the US Department of Energy announced that a group of federal and independent scientists convened by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and Chair of the National Incident Command's Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) Dr. Marcia McNutt (Director of the U.S. Geological Survey) had developed a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico that indicated the leak could be spewing up to 2.52 million gallons of crude oil per day into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from British Petroleum's Macondo Well.

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It'd Cost You 7 Cents A Gallon To Ban Offshore Drilling!

by slinkerwink

You ready to pay seven cents per gallon in 2011, and eleven cents per gallon in 2035? That's exactly what would happen if we ban offshore drilling. Here's more on this from RFF Fellow, Stephen P.A. Brown, at the Resources For Future:

"If such risks are not taken fully into account, offshore oil and natural gas production will be too great; oil and natural gas prices will be too low; and the consumption of oil and natural gas will be too high," Brown writes. "Are tighter controls or a permanent ban on deepwater drilling in the United States a reasonable response to such externalities – or an overreaction?"

Brown assesses the implications of a permanent tightening of U.S. government control on deepwater offshore drilling through three scenarios. The first case represents business as usual. The second imposes additional regulatory safeguards that would increase the cost of exploration, development, and production in U.S. deepwater and ultra-deepwater areas by a combined 20 percent. The third case examines the implications of a permanent U.S. ban on drilling in deepwater and ultra-deepwater areas.

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Gulf Coast Attorneys File RICO Class Action Lawsuits Against BP

by bdemelle

Gulf Coast law firms Levin Papantonio, Eastland Law and others have begun filing a series of civil RICO actions in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to hold BP accountable for the false assurances it gave the American people that it could handle a worst-case scenario deepwater oil spill. The suits allege that BP committed mail fraud, wire fraud and potentially other RICO predicate act violations when the company sought permits from the federal government for deepwater offshore drilling, knowing that it did not possess the technical expertise or equipment necessary to respond to an emergency such as the ongoing Deepwater disaster.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

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Gulf Oil Leak May Be Over 4 Million Gallons Per Day

by Edger

Last week on June 15 the US Department of Energy announced that a group of federal and independent scientists convened by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and Chair of the National Incident Command's Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) Dr. Marcia McNutt (Director of the U.S. Geological Survey) had developed a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico that indicated the leak could be spewing up to 2.52 million gallons of crude oil per day into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from British Petroleum's Macondo Well.

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Regulation, Litigation & "Canada's Deepwater Horizon"

by StepLeftStepForward

Hello, Kossacks!

A friend of mine, Susan Dodd, is currently writing a book on the tragic Ocean Ranger offshore drilling accident that killed all 84 of its crew off the coast of Newfoundland in 1982. After reading a letter she wrote in response to a NYT editorial, I encouraged her to address this forum, as I believe Kossacks would find her perspective of the BP's Gulf gusherf*ck interesting and valuable. She has joined DKos but has to wait a week before publishing a diary, and so she asked me to go ahead and post what she has written for her. Hopefully, Susan will be able to take some time out of her busy schedule to respond in the comments section and perhaps continue diarying on DKos in the future.

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Why the BP oil spill is nothing like a 'plane crash'

by ProgressiveSouth

With public support for offshore oil drilling slipping and Washington pushing for new regulations on the industry, what's a pro-drilling politician, pundit or lobbyist to do?Apparently, something like this: Minimize the Gulf oil disaster, compare it to a freak accident, and suggest that drilling for oil 5,000 feet beneath the ocean is just as essential to our daily lives as, say, flying in an airplane.

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Diary on YouTube "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" removed by author....

by Earthfire

Apologies -- diary removed by author  

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"A Strange Corporate Oil State"

by Edger

Author and activist Naomi Klein has been visiting Louisiana, and conducted a short on camera interview with Al Jazeera about her impressions of the disaster response to BP's oil leak catastrophe... Senator Dick Durbin once described Capitol Hill as being owned by the banks. He said the banks 'own this place' describing why it was so hard to get financial reform through in Washington, and  all I can say from having spent the week here in Louisiana is that it really feels like the oil and gas industry owns this place. I think we're dealing with two factors here. One is an election strategy for the Obama Administration, they want to keep some distance, they don't want to own the disaster fully, they want to still have somebody to point fingers to. But then there's also just this major attitude in this administration from day one really, to trust industry.

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BP Blaming Employees For The Gusher

by Edger

Crossposted from Antemedius It now appears that BP, while attempting to plug the gusher with their so called "top kill" operation, has moved to trying to blame the Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and the BP oil gusher in the Gulf on it's employees who were on the platform at the time of the explosion. In this short clip from CBS Wednesday, beginning at the 1:26 minute mark, you hear CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassman say that... BP officials have told congressional investigators that right before the rig exploded, workers on it ignored strong warning signs - equipment readings that something was terribly wrong, including contaminated cement and leaking gas, signs that the rig could blow - and two hours later, it did.

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Salazar Delays Arctic Drilling!

by Senor Unoball

In light of the Gulf gusher, the Obama administration is apparently backing down from proposed oil drilling that was slated to begin this summer in the Arctic Ocean. Shell had proposed exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas; this drilling is now said to be on hold for at least a year. This is great news for environmentalists and those who care for the Arctic ecosystems!

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The End Of The Beginning?

by Edger

In the nineteen sixties and seventies the western world was in the throes of a cultural and psychological revolution of awareness that at times threatened to bring down the governments and destroy the societies of some of the most powerful countries on earth, and terrified many who were unable to step outside of the structure and limitations of the worldviews they had constructed for themselves in the course of their lives.

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Baked Alaska: Minerals Management Stupidity

by DWG

The conclusion of a New York Times article on the actions of the Minerals Management Service office in Alaska left a bad taste in many mouths. Shortly after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed reconfiguring the agency, John Goll, the head of the Alaska region, called an “all hands” meeting, according to a staff member there. Afterward, people lingered to eat a cake decorated with the words, “Drill, Baby, Drill.” Interesting choice of cake decoration by an agency pushing drilling in the Arctic Ocean while oil chokes the Gulf of Mexico.

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