Archive for the 'Big Oil' Category
October 8th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Now that the spineless Democrats have caved and allowed big oil to drill on more offshore sites I thought that I would point out another example of what we have to look forward to.
Hurricane Ike’s winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
And let’s not forget Katrina which had it’s own environmental issues despite what many big oil surrogates have claimed.
In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) published their offshore damage assessment: “113 platforms totally destroyed, and 457 pipelines damaged, 101 of those major lines with 10 inches or larger diameter.”In all, the two hurricanes caused 124 offshore spills for a total of 743,700 gallons, including six spills of 42,000 gallons or greater.
So feel free to enjoy the few pennies in savings we will soon be seeing (like 10 years from now)…
September 30th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
While we were all fixed on the the banking bailout shenanigans, the Senate passed another bailout when they approved $25 billion in taxpayer funded loans for US Automakers yesterday. Oh and the Democrats completed their total capitulation on offshore drilling at the same time…
Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.
The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.
September 22nd, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Quick question for the “drill here, drill now” crowd. Oil has jumped $40 a barrel in a week so how many more wells will we need to drill to offset traders fleeing the stock market in favor of oil futures? I can probably make some room in my backyard if that helps.
September 19th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
It seems that John Thune isn’t the most popular guy these days in the right-wing blogosphere. He along with the other 19 Senators from the so-called gang of 20 (that includes our other Senator, Tim Johnson as well) have drawn the ire of the “drill holes everywhere” crowd because of the restrictions their compromise bill would place on offshore drilling.
Luckily for the blindly faithful, the gang of 20’s compromise has been shelved until after the election causing a short reprieve and sigh of relief.
Breathe a small sigh of relief. A capitulationist bullet has been dodged. Looks like the Gang of 20 sham energy bill won’t come up for a vote before the November elections.
And poor GOP golden boy John Thune is caught in the middle, or should I say far left.
Lawmakers have run into roadblocks as the election-year dynamics have shifted. For instance, in a dramatic reversal, the House passed a Democratic energy bill this week that allowed coastal states to drill more than 50 miles off their shores. Plus Democrats are signaling that they will not try to renew the offshore drilling ban after it expires on Oct. 1.
As a result, the group was negotiating how far to take the drilling provisions.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), one of the negotiators, said the bipartisan group wasn’t looking to end up “on the left of Nancy Pelosi,” referring to the House Speaker.
But not to worry John, your image will surely be repaired soon enough once the Democrats completely capitulate and allow the big-oil Republican’s to drill everywhere and who knows maybe you have learned something. Like not worrying about bi-partisan compromises as all that does is piss off your base and postpone the inevitable cave by the spineless Democrats whom as usual give in to the wishes of the right eventually anyways.
September 10th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
The “war on terror” wink, wink, has finally started showing the type of dividends our fearless leaders were looking for when they first ordered our troops into Iraq. Shell has become the first Western oil company to get their hands on Iraqi gas since the war started.
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to a gas joint venture with Iraq worth up to four billion dollars, the Iraqi oil ministry said Tuesday, becoming the first Western oil major to gain access to the violence-wracked country’s vast energy reserves.
The deal to capture unwanted gas burned off during oil production for sale both inside Iraq and abroad is expected to be signed in Baghdad next month, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told AFP.
And who said were not making any progress?
August 26th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
6 more Senators crossed the imaginary “drill now” line making the bi-partisan “Gang of 10″ the “Gang of 16″ and South Dakota is well represented. As we all know John Thune was a founding member and he is now joined by our other Senator Tim Johnson making it a clean sweep.
The group supports a bill that would lift a ban on oil and natural gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the southeastern U.S. coast, invest $20 billion in the development of petroleum-free motor vehicles and extend tax credits for renewable energy.
Can you tell it’s an election year with all this bipartisan co-operation? We just might get more offshore drilling leading to more oil on the world markets and little if any changes in prices afterall.
August 21st, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Never mentioned in the oil company endorsed party currently being given by House Republicans is this little tidbit. Apparently the US is exporting a record amount of oil, to the tune of 1.8 million barrels a day that is flowing onto the world markets.
the United States’ record export levels this year amounts to nearly 10 percent of all the oil the United States consumes every day. U.S. oil exports increased to 1.806 million barrels a day in May 2008 — the most recent month for which data is available — from last year’s average export level of 1.433 million barrels a day of oil and petroleum products. In addition, the United States reached the highest level of oil exports in our nation’s history in February of this year.
So while the GOP led “drill here, drill now” stunt continues on the House floor, is anyone going to ensure that what we produce here stays here once the Democrats cave as we all know they will? If not all we will be doing is helping those in China and the India meet their ever growing demand while doing little to drop prices here.
By the way, if you are looking for some perspective on what 1.8 million barrels means in the grand scheme of things, one of the latest countries that Bush and McCain are rattling their “war sabres” towards, Iran, currently exports around 2.5 million barrels a day.
August 20th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
As T. Boone Pickens gets set to do the town hall thing this afternoon in Rapid City to promote his wind energy plan, we should be reminded that it’s not all about doing the right thing with T. Boone. The billionaire oilman who up until now was probably best known for his $1 million prize for anyone that could disprove anything his $3 million donation bought in the Swiftboating of John Kerry and then pulling it back when someone did, has a lot to gain monetarily if his energy plan is implemented.
What could an oilman gain by reducing our dependence on oil other than feeling good? To figure that out you need to know where that oilman currently has his money invested. In Pickens’ case that would be in natural gas and emerging technology hedge funds as well as wind energy companies that would see big returns if T. Boone’s plan goes forward. You see, any energy gained from wind power, much of which would be generated by Pickens’ Mesa Power, would free up more natural gas for use in other places which in the T. Boone plan would be as fuel in the next generation of automobiles.
Pickens said that the United States could generate at least 20 percent of its electricity by tapping power from the nation’s “wind corridor,” a vast stretch of territory from west Texas to the Canadian border.
That would then enable the nation’s abundant natural gas resources, now widely used to generate electricity, to be used for powering transportation. American automobile manufacturers should dramatically ramp up natural gas-powered vehicles, he said, and government vehicle fleets should be powered exclusively on natural gas.
So while under Pickens’ plan we would reduce our dependence on foreign oil by up to $230 billion a year (according to Pickens), that dependence would be replaced by a larger dependence on natural gas and who will be sitting there waiting for the money to roll in?
I am more than willing to give Mr. Pickens credit for trying to solve the problem of oil dependence especially being from a so called “wind corridor” state that will directly benefit from his plan. But the next time you see one of his feel good commercials, remember it not all about doing what’s best for the country, it’s about doing what’s best for T. Boone which this time just might benefit the country. More than enough to make any self respecting Republican proud.
August 18th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
That is what Murdoch Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel thinks. It seems that his energy plan along with the other members of the “Gang of 10″ sounds eerily similar to that of the Nancy Pelosi led House plan (or vise versa) and vulnerable oil state Democrats couldn’t be happier.
That’s because the plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast — putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska’s oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go.
The highlight is instead $84 billion in tax credits, subsidies and federal handouts for alternative fuels and renewables. The Gang of 10 intends to pay for all this in part by raising taxes on . . . oil companies! The Sierra Club couldn’t have penned it better. And so the Republican Five has potentially given antidrilling Democrats the political cover they need to neutralize energy through November.
Could it be that Thune, unlike many of his own GOP colleagues, realizes that “Drill here, drill now” is just a slogan that will in reality do very little to affect prices at the pump either now or in the future? And how are the rest of his big oil Republican’s buddies going to react to their plan that would raise taxes on oil companies?
August 9th, 2008 by Bob Schwartz
Oh, not here or not now.