Our World and Everything in It

Between the presidential campaign and financial crisis, we haven’t really absorbed the enormity of devastation from hurricane Ike. This time around it wasn’t just houses along the Galveston coastline but actual property that disappeared. Imagine being a homeowner without a home or the sandy beach where it once stood. What now? We’ve been told the storms are only going to increase in intensity, but we still refuse to believe we have a connection to any of it.

I’ve been watching the storms that continue up the eastern coastline. If something big makes it to New York—it will be catastrophic. By all indications more and more hurricanes are traveling that eastern seaboard path. It’s only a matter of time, and it’s too bad we will have to be kicked that badly before we pay attention to our role relative to the environment.

The other devastation that hardly got any media play is the half a million gallons of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from damaged oil rigs. Fifty two rigs were hit with thirty two severely damaged according to ABC news.

The Gulf of Mexico already has a “dead zone” that is miles wide where runoff pollution, mostly agricultural fertilizer, has killed the ecosystem in the gulf to the point there is no life all the way to the bottom. It’s caused by oxygen depletion. Fishermen say that they can tell when they’ve entered the dead zone. The water appears deep, murky and lifeless. Well now it’s oily too.

My whole point here is that the little jingle “Drill, baby, drill” that so many seem to want, will add hundreds more of these oil platforms in the gulf and along the eastern seaboard. The platforms are right in the path of worsening storms. Inevitably there will be more oil spills, killing more sea life above and beyond the devastation from the storms. And the storms will get worse as global warming continues to fire up from the pollution created from using oil to begin with. Can we not see we are our own worst environmental enemy in this instance?

It seems to me we’re on a destructive path literally rubbing salt in the wound of global warming by adding yet more oil drills along our coastlines, especially since we are currently witnessing what conservation can do, albeit forced conservation. Over six hundred thousand jobs have been lost in the U.S. so commuting to work is at a low. As a result of lowered demand, oil prices are dropping. In light of this drop in oil prices, doesn’t it seem prudent to conserve first before we rush to drill for more oil? After all, I don’t know too many parents that continuously fuel their kids with money when the kids haven’t shown that they are responsible with the cash in the first place by blowing it on everything they can. Ditto for U.S. oil usage. We consume way too much oil, and just as spoiled children have no business asking for more until we bring our oil habit under control.

Well if you are a proponent of offshore drilling because you want to see pump prices decrease even though you’ve been told over and over it won’t alleviate the high gas problem—then celebrate. The quarter century ban will be allowed to expire after congress recesses for the election.

You may be wondering why I’m taking this so quietly? Well it’s because this bill serves as a stopgap and pushes much needed legislation through. As the article in the AP said: “Lifting the drilling ban gives considerable momentum to the underlying bill, which includes the Pentagon budget, $24 billion in aid for flood and hurricane victims and $25 billion in loans for Detroit automakers in addition to keeping the government open past the Oct. 1 start of the 2009 budget year.” It also doubles funding for heating for the poor to $5.2 billion dollars. Good timing for what might be a bad winter.

Plus, by time anyone actually gets around to drilling, we’ll be on to new and better things. Although congress is opening up drilling off both the east and west coast, it’s still up to the states whose shores will accommodate the drilling and pretty much the new president and his policies.

Enough said. I don’t really think this drilling thing will get much momentum. And by the time the public finally realizes how long it will actually take to see any refined gasoline from it, they will be disenchanted with the idea because it just doesn’t suit America’s penchant for instant gratification. Add to this increasingly powerful storms that continually threaten offshore drills and it’s just a matter of time that we deem the whole fossil fuel thing obsolete, especially when some of the really great alternatives debut and a greener economy starts providing many new jobs.

Working for green industries will serve to educate workers about environmental needs who will pass the information along to family and friends. These jobs will showcase the many possibilities and opportunities available besides fossil fuel energy.  And that will be the end of that—a good thing.

Read the whole article: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gB6bi0EyTozdEPy0KGisTQNaS2PQD93CNNRG0

Gas will more than likely shoot to $6 per gallon because Ike is now the size of Texas itself and will more than likely destroy rigs and pipeline. So we are to drill elsewhere for more? Isn’t that perpetuating a problem?

We’ve been told by science, not politicians that man may have a hand in the rapid global warming we’re seeing. The administration in play for the past 8 years is an oil administration. They would do and say whatever to keep oil flowing and have. As a result, Americans are doubtful about global warming; more so than citizens of other developed countries that don’t simply shrug global warming off on Al Gore. Other countries are trying to affect change.

Meanwhile, this administration has flat out lied to us about a war, what would make us think especially after the latest news that government regulators party with oil lobbyists that maybe we’ve been lied to by this government about the environment?

And what about all the offshore drilling that everyone wants? Those rigs aren’t hurricane proof either. Hurricane Hannah ran up the side of the east coast, the gulf is getting lambasted now, and the west coast took a beating late winter and early spring this past year. There really is not safe place for a rig, except maybe in your backyard.

But why should we open up our backyards to more oil exploration in the first place when we have almost 70 million acres leased for oil that is producing NADA—absolutely nothing. That type of production would boost our oil by 5 million barrels per day, and enough time to progress with alternatives. Alternatives will insure we no longer have to worry about pipelines and oil rigs getting damaged from what will assuredly be intensified storms due to global warming we’re helping to grow. 

The real fear is that hurricanes running too closely together might join into one mammoth and frightening proposition. Ditto for tornadoes.  Oil is only an interim fix, we need to harness the power of some of that nature we’re seeing attack us.

I wonder how much energy Ike is putting out?

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes.

I got a chuckle out of the latest expose of the unethical partnership between big oil and federal govt. regulators. No kidding. My blog below covered some of that, but it was about fed. govt. dept. heads. Might want to read it again. What a crock our govt. is when industry and the feds become too close for comfort.

According to the latest news reports, oil people are partying, doing drugs, and having sex with federal appointees. Well no kidding again. It looks like the news isn’t going to let it pass by quickly either. Gotta admit, mighty juicy stuff here.

It’s a neo conservative administration with govt. regulators passing joints, snorting coke, having sex, and accepting gifts from Big Oil. I wonder what kind of pollution really exists as a result of those cozy relationships.  

We cannot have another Cheney in office with close ties to big energy or we will have another 4 years of oil influenced government. What gripes me is that our money ultimately gives oil the power to lobby like this, the idea being: “party on me, and this is what I want.” So many people cave. Make no mistake, over $40 billion dollars in one quarter is a lot of change to throw around to influence people, and big oil is doing it everywhere.  

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/07/30/another-epa-administrator-bites-the-dust/

Here is the official government report on the what citizens can expect from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An excerpt from it that many refuse to listen to relative to immediate relief at the pumps states:

In all three ANWR resource cases, ANWR crude oil production begins in 2018 and grows during most of the projection period before production begins to decline.  In the mean oil resource case, ANWR oil production peaks at 780,000 barrels per day in 2027.  The low- resource-case production peaks at 510,000 barrels per day in 2028, while the high- resource-case production peaks at 1,450,000 barrels per day in 2028.  Cumulative oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR from 2018 through 2030 amounts to 2.6 billion barrels in the mean resource case, 1.9 billion barrels in the low resource case, and 4.3 billion barrels in the high resource case.

 

In other words it will be 10 years from now before oil production even begins and will not peak until 2027-30. We could be off of all oil by then for Pete’s sake! We have not begun to conserve but we want to drill more? We have not begun to use the land we’ve specifically leased for oil production. Of the 90 million plus acres in the gulf, 70 million go untapped. What is with our penchant for wanting more land to poke holes into, when we haven’t begun to touch the land we’ve already leased to drill?

More, more, more before we’ve even touched what we have is stupid.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/results.html

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes

As a Democrat, I couldn’t be happier with this pick. I had to laugh when it was said her campaign for governor was run on “ethics.” OMG!

Wait until the large environmental groups disclose her ethics.  For example Rodger Schlickeisen of Defenders of Wildlife issued this statement already about Palin’s destructive environmental policies:

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.”

To be to the right of the Bush/Cheney regime is a scary thought. That’s pretty far out there. Sarah Palin is a scary thought for wildlife. Alaska’s predatory management program is barbaric. I recently blogged about 14 wolf cubs shot in the head on the spot after an illegal stakeout by Alaskan Wildlife Agency employees? Bears have been added to the predatory list now. Funny how wolves and bears have always been a part of the Alaskan landscape, but now they are intolerable. Animals in Alaska do not have a friend at the governor’s house.

I don’t think Sarah likes living things as much as money. That will come out sooner or later. Cruelty is not a nice trait to see in a woman. 

The lawsuit is the latest attack on the EPA for not regulating emissions again. This time it’s emissions from oil refineries. The New York Times article stated that 15% of all CO2 emissions comes from oil refineries. The other states are

New York atty. Andrew Cuomo leads the current fight, claiming it’s another example of the Bush Administration’s “do-nothing policy” regarding global warming.

Last year the Supreme Court ruled that it was the duty of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas under the Clean Air Act. The NY Times article said, “Since then, the agency’s director has said it is the job of Congress to regulate them.” Don’t you love it?

The EPA is like Teflon. Nothing sticks. They’ve been sued to set standards for power plant emissions and recently by California to regulate emissions from autos.

As far as the EPA turning out any standards for any of the above, so far nada.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/us/26epa.html?_r=1&ref=environment&oref=slogin

Marvin Odum, the new president of Shell Oil, the second largest oil company, said that Shell would be investing big in alternative energy today on ABC news. How big is big? More than their reported net profits of $27 billion. Incredible. I did a blog that did the math for the percentages that have been offered up by the top 5 oil companies in the recent past. It didn’t amount to a hill-of-beans compared to net profits.

But Shell is stepping up to the plate with the largest investment in alternative energy so far by the oil industry. Odum said it was historic. I would say so. Shell will invest $35 to $36 billion dollars yet in 2008.

Yesssss!  With this mindset, and example, we may just clean up yet.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5632698&page=1 

The U.S. has an overabundant supply of natural gas. We’re being told that it’s a fuel for the future. Other countries are creating cars that run on natural gas and the U.S. is losing out. Are we?

I heard on ABC news the other day that natural gas is going up 22% this winter when we use the stuff to heat our homes. Looking around at some of the country’s newspapers it appears the increase may be higher. Parts of Pennsylvania expect over a 33% increase, and Frankfurt, Kentucky claims that natural gas is up 70% from last year. If you’re wondering why natural gas is going up when it’s oil that’s high not the gas, and oil never seemed to affect the price of natural gas before, it’s because of demand.

So here we are again with a fossil fuel that has to be extracted, and boy are we devastating some beautiful places in America extracting the stuff, while demand continues to rise so the costs are getting out of hand no differently than oil. And we’re still screaming for offshore drilling for more oil? This should be a big kick in the pants to get away from fossil fuel forever. What is it we’re not getting? 

Natural gas prices weren’t all that bad until oil got so outrageously expensive. Industries that can either use oil or natural gas have switched to gas. Meanwhile, we started using more natural gas to produce electricity. Natural gas consumption always used to be predominantly in the winter months, for heating purposes, now because of industry and demand for electricity for A/C, natural gas prices aren’t fluctuating cyclically. They’re just plain going up and up.

Just dandy huh? We need to get off this merry go round and realize that in the future we must adapt to a potpourri of energy sources, like some wind, some solar, some geothermal, etc., or we’re just going to keep hitting the same demand wall.

Calling for the U.S. to move solely to electricity may sound like we’re putting all our eggs in one basket too but electricity is the one source of power that appears to know no bounds for it’s generation. All types of things can be converted to electricity. With the advent of the hydrogen fuel cell and PEM’s, electricity will have even more ways to keep us in power in the future.

There was a reason Bush reluctantly put the polar bears on the endangered list but then curiously omitted protection for their habitat. Not so curious anymore. It seems in the latest round of attacks on the environment by the Bush administration and more than likely in support of oil, coal, and the natural gas industries, the president doesn’t find habitat protection necessary. To quote an article on NRDC’s website, the president will argue, “that studying and protecting the places that are essential to species survival is unnecessary. Specifically, the Department of Interior is planning to insert language into all future critical habitat designations that argues that these protections have no value in species protection.” Ah and Dirk Kempthorne, Secy. of Interior is at it again.

Protecting animals but allowing their habitat to go unprotected is so straight out of the dogma of big oil and other fossil fuel industries that we don’t even have to wonder why this underhanded push is happening. I say underhanded because the same article on Defender’s website stated that: “The first attack, contained in a rider on the House version of the Defense Department appropriations bill, would have arguably given the Secretary of the Interior sole discretion regarding where and when-and whether-to designate critical habitat for endangered species. Although the appropriations bill still contains a damaging ESA exemption for the Department of Defense, the more radical rider was defeated by the House on May 21.” Sneaky.

The Bush administration may not get their way the second time around either but there are other rotten ways of doing things.  The administration appears to be overly restricting funds for species protection by the USFWS. Bush only requested a measly $9 million dollars for it this year even though the agency knows it would take $153 million or more because there is a backlog. Congress even requested more money for the agency in the past to no avail. So no one is actually keeping track of or properly protecting our wildlife habitats because there is no money.

This is a “frightful” disregard for living things. If this administration can so ruthlessly overlook one natural resource for another, oil vs. animal habitat, than it’s not a stretch to think humanity is not being overlooked in the process either. We’re not suffering all that different a scenario from the animals on the endangered species list really. By continuing with the quest for oil and possibly more fossil fuels, our habitat won’t be around much longer either. What is it people don’t get? The earth is a closed system. If we put too much pollution into it, it will eventually break down. If we go on the way we are, we are no better than a cancer to our environment.  Yet this administration is destroying our habitat right under our noses while we go on believing someone is looking out for our best interests.

I hope that someone isn’t specifically Dick Cheney. Because when I watch what’s happening all I keep remembering is an article I read back in 2004 about Cheney. John Perry Barlow, a former Cheney supporter, said, “He has the least interest in human beings of anyone I have ever met.” That explains a lot.

http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/030528.asp.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/6450422/the_curse_of_dick_cheney/.