Choices: Fuels, Efficiency, Transit vs. Drilling

I keep writing that we as a society and a species have choices that we’re continually making today that will affect the climate of tomorrow.  Most choices involve spending some small outlay of money today in order to not have to spend much larger sums just to adapt tomorrow.  The choice I’ll write about today deals with one of the Republican Teabaggers’ favorites: gradually use less fossil fuels in our transportation sector or “Drill, bagger, drill!”  As usual, the Teabaggers are on the wrong side of the issue, as this chart from the NRDC, using data from the Energy Information Administration shows:

The black line on top would be the pathetically measly result of opening up new drilling areas to the dirty energy corporations: less than 1 million more barrels of oil per day by 2025.  Real energy independent, eh?  Aside from the fact that oil corporations will sell that oil to whomever will buy it most expensively (i.e., not in the U.S.), three of the other measures would prevent the use of the same amount of oil by themselves.   Combined with other measures, the total number of barrels of oil that wouldn’t have to be bought and used is 5x the amount made available by opening up new drilling areas.

The results of using 5 million fewer barrels of oil per day by 2025 can’t be understated: less environmental damage in all aspects of the drilling process; real steps toward energy independence; freedom to keep more money in Americans’ pockets (isn’t that what Teabaggers are supposed to be all about, anyway?); more efficient transportation system.  And on and on it goes.

Going the drilling route couldn’t be more stupid.  This choice, as is the case for others, is pretty simple.

[h/t MB @ dKos)

Millions of Gallons of Diesel Fuel Injected into Ground across U.S.

File this under the “I’m Not Surprised” category.  Drilling corporations have spent years and millions of dollars trying to prevent anyone from finding out what the constituents of the fluids they were pumping into the ground to force natural gas and oil up.  Now, thanks to an investigation by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s year-long investigation, part of the answer has come to light.

I will borrow a phrase from all the anti-American voices who came out from the shadows during the Bush Regime: “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear from us looking into your business.”  Hiding behind claims of proprietary business information is just about as cowardly as these corporations can get.

The congressional investigation found that oil and gas service companies have injected over 32 million gallons of diesel fuel or hydraulic fracturing fluids containing diesel fuel in wells in 19 states between 2005 and 2009.  In addition, the investigation finds that no oil and gas service companies have sought – and no state and federal regulators have issued – permits for diesel fuel use in hydraulic fracturing, which appears to be a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

We all know who was “running” the country during these years.  And don’t think I’ll hold back any condemnation if I find out the Obama administration continued these disgusting practices.  I’m not surprised that dirty energy corporations didn’t seek approval for their likely illegal actions – they think they’re above American law.  I also won’t be surprised if they’re never held accountable either – they have worked hard to buy off our elected officials.

Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Worse and Worse and Worse

In light of the fact that BP was not sufficiently prepared to be doing the kind of work they were doing (at immense and obscene profits), the news yesterday that the rate at which oil is leaking from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico where BP was drilling has likely increased day by day for 10 days now is shocking and damning.

Instead of the original 1,000 barrels per day (42,000 gallons) of oil leaking, pro-environmental groups examining satellite data helped convince the government and BP to revise that estimate upwards dramatically – to 5,000 barrels per day (~200,000 gallons).  Further examination indicates that a worst-case scenario is developing that far outpaces that 5,000 barrel per day estimate.

A Florida State University professor has come out with an 8 million to 9 million gallons of oil already leaked estimate.  The Exxon Valdez oil spill back in 1989 totaled 11 million gallons of oil.  This newest spill could easily become the largest oil spill disaster in American history.  That well head isn’t expected to be capped for weeks to months.  How much environmental damage will occur in the meantime as oil sloshes around the Gulf of Mexico?  How many small businesses will be shut down that depend on Gulf wildlife in their jobs?

Oil is dirty.  Oil drilling is dirty.  It’s that simple.  Instead of expanding off-shore drilling, as President Obama outlined earlier this year, drilling should have been placed under more common-sense regulations and problems that have been festering for years should have been taken care of.  As I wrote above, the oil industry’s profits are obscene.  It’s not like they don’t have the money to invest in a little safety.

As I wrote yesterday, wind and solar energy are called “clean” for good reasons.  Oil, coal and natural gas are called “dirty” for good reasons.  Note the dirty energy industry’s attempts to relabel itself as “clean” on dozens of commercials per day.  They’re spending a lot of money in a re-brand attempt.  We need to end our addiction to dirty energy.  Clean energy resources exist in such abundance that the world’s energy needs today are dwarfed by the supply.  We don’t need to suffer through mine explosions, oil spills and environmental disasters that grow worse by the year.

Obama Opens Up Off-Shore Areas For Dirty Energy Exploration

President Barack Obama announced his off-shore oil drilling plan today.  Count me among the folks who are pretty frustrated with the announcement and its details.  I’ll start with what the announcement included, then get into why I think it’s a bad set of proposals.

Atlantic coast drilling would be open for exploration from Delaware to mid-Florida.  Gulf of Mexico exploration would be open off the south and west coasts of Florida.  The Chukchi and Beaufort Sea areas off the north coast of Alaska would be opened.  For now, the West Coast remains off-limits.  Additionally, the Department of Agriculture will work with the Pentagon to use more biofuels in military vehicles.  Thousands of hybrid vehicles will also be purchased for the federal motor pool.

This decision marks a reversal of off-shore drilling policies that Obama campaigned on in 2008.  To secure the Democratic Party nomination and win the general election, Obama distinguished himself from the Bush Regime and Sen. McCain.  Now, “compromise” and “bipartisanship” appear to demand something else entirely.

CO Oil/Gas Output Up in 2009

The amount of oil and natural gas drilled out of the ground in Colorado increased in 2009 from 2008. This occurred in the face of the Great Recession. This occurred despite new rules that Republicans wanted to convince voters would “kill jobs”.

If the Cons want to blame something for the loss of jobs, maybe they should look to the oil and gas corporations instead of the Democrat in the Governor’s seat. If production was up in 2009 (to record levels for natural gas and near-record levels for oil) and workers were laid off, then aren’t the corporations at fault?

In fact, 1,773 new wells were placed in 2009. While that is a decrease from 2008, the number of wells drilled in CO exceeded the number in Wyoming and New Mexico. According to the fear-mongering Republicans, however, the oil and gas industry was going to leave CO for our neighboring states because of the new rules implemented by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. That obviously didn’t happen, just as a couple of us here at SquareState accurately predicted.

Are the rules delaying the permit approval process, another claim the Republicans made time and time again in 2009? No. The average time to approve a drilling permit fell from 96 to 25 days, a huge improvement demonstrating that government works!

To recap: Republicans were flat wrong about drillers leaving the state. Republicans were flat wrong about the oil and gas industry suffering under responsible, common-sense rules that went into effect last year. Republicans were flat wrong about permits taking longer due to too much government interference.

Cross-posted at SquareState.

Quick Hit: Shell Oil Buying Water Rights in Colorado

Shell Oil put forth a water claim on 15 billion gallons of water, as this article details.  I think this is in addition to the 7.2 million acre-feet of senior water rights that Shell and others bought last week, as I covered here.  The older article that I’m just now getting to says the Yampa River water rights are junior rights.  The end use of the water would likely be the same: drilling for oil in shale formations.  That’s why I’m not sure if the articles are actually about the same purchase or not.  If not, Shell is putting down a lot of money in what is likely to be a very bad investment.  If all the claims make their way past regulators and the court system (no guarantee in itself), it would take another decade before the first drilling could occur (if the technology is ready, another thing not guaranteed).  So in 10 plus years, Shell might be ready to drill for oil in formations.  What do you think our energy portfolio and infrastructure will look like by then?  Does anyone seriously think that oil and gas will be viewed as the best sources of energy in 10 more years?  Of course not – they’re not today and that won’t improve with time.  (The fact that absent massive corporate welfare, oil and gas are even worse sources than they are commonly viewed today seems to escape most peoples’ notice.)  For the sake of our environment and our economy, renewable energy sources are where the smart money is.

Once again, as gas prices inch back up toward $2 per gallon this spring (and likely to go higher again this summer), this is what Shell and other fossil fuel corporations are doing with a great deal of their money: securing water rights so that dozens of gallons of water can be wasted to produce one gallon of oil 10+ years from now.  They’re not incresing refining capacity, which would help lower the price of gas for all of us.  They’re planning to start boondoggle projects.  In too many people’s eyes, it’s alright if Shell and other corporations do so because they’re infallible.  It disgusts me.

Update: The Colorado Independent’s David Williams has an article up on this.

Ozone Pollution and Fossil Fuel Drilling

One more reason to stop burning fossil fuels has come out after recent observations of low-level ozone levels were found throughout the inter-mountain (and over-drilled) Western U.S.  Wintertime ozone pollution is quickly becoming as much a problem as summertime ozone pollution.  What amazes me is not what amazes the industry, of course.  Somehow, the last decades’ worth of fossil fuel drilling operations explosion hasn’t factored into anybody’s mind now that the problem has been detected.

The article says that high levels of ozone haven’t been detected yet in Colorado, while Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah have been positively identified as problematic.  I think that’s simply a matter of Colorado being undersampled or sampled incorrectly.  There isn’t anything intrinsically wrong about that, but given the levels of ozone found in neighboring states, I would hope that organizations in Colorado become more aggressive about testing fossil fuel drilling operations next winter.  Some already are:

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is drafting a new ozone- sampling plan that “may require more monitors and in some areas year- round testing,” said agency spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn.

I’ll take this opportunity to point out that this is what the EPA was designed to do.  The Bush “administration’s” mis-use of the EPA frustrated a lot of important efforts, ozone detection among them.

Then there’s this:

Still, the oil and gas industry is already moving to cut emissions, and in the Pinedale area, more than $100 million has been invested to cut emissions, according to a NOAA estimate.

Interesting.  Normally the industry fights and whines about the “enormous” costs associated with mitigating their pollution.  That isn’t evident in this article.

Despite that, this is one more reason to not drill oil and gas in the first place.  What pollution does solar (photovoltaic or thermal) produce when absorbing the sun’s energy?  What pollution do turbines produce when absorbing the wind’s energy?  None.  Now, there is likely to be some pollution generated when the solar and wind infrastructure components are originally constructed.  The same can be said for fossil fuel infrastructure, though.  Overall, solar and wind are far less polluting energy sources than are fossil fuels.  Greenhouse gas and ozone pollution can and should be completely removed from our energy production.  After all, there is more than enough (see here and here – 4th link from the top) renewable energy available for our society’s needs.

Cross-posted at SquareState.

Bush Authorizes New Drilling In Montana

The Bush “administration” has approved increased drilling in Montana. The decision would allow 18,000 natural gas wells to be drilled on more than 1.5 million acres of federal land in the Powder River Basin in southeastern Montana over the next two decades.  Yes, the drilling boom in the West remains stuck in high gear.  Despite a dramatic increase in the number of wells for oil and gas in the past 8 years, prices haven’t decreased for consumers.  During the same time period, oil and gas corporations’ profits have increased quarter after quarter, year after year.  The drilling is solely benefiting corporations while Western residents deal with increases in crime and pollution.  Moreover, the heightened pace of industry is taking a toll on local infrastructure – roads, water, sewage and the like.  Has the fossil fuel industry paid for the increased wear-and-tear of public infrastructure?  No.  They’ve been handed corporate welfare in giveaways by the Bush “administration”.

The biggest drawback to the potential increase in drilling is water concerns:

The Powder River Basin holds a type of natural gas known as coal-bed methane, which companies can extract only after pumping vast quantities of water from underground aquifers that trap the gas. That’s the same water ranchers in the arid region depend on to irrigate fields and fill stock ponds.

That means the corporations padding the pockets of Republican politicians are going to compete for the same resources as the voters those Republicans depend on.  The word is the fossil fuel corporations won’t keep drilling if environmental concerns arise.  This might be likelier under an Obama administration than a Bush “administration”, but I say wait until the concerns arise to see how it’s handled.  We’ve been reassured that drilling has such incredible technologies that the environment is basically left untouched for years by pro-Bushies.  The environment always suffers, the fossil fuel industry always profits and nothing is cleaned up by the corporations doing the damage – it always falls to taxpayers who didn’t get a profit from the drilling.  That kind of socialism is alright for Republicans – privatize the profit, socialize the loss.

This kind of plan is incredibly short-sighted.  As climate change makes its influence felt in the Western U.S., steady precipitation is forecasted to decrease.  While that’s going on, burning more natural gas will generate even more greenhouse gases whose effect won’t be felt for decades.  Mitigating those effects will become increasingly expensive, by the way.  So the climate in the Western U.S. will be forced toward increasingly arid conditions while additional drilling continues, which will require millions of gallons of water from ranchers and other Western interests.  All while drilling corporations privatize the profits and socialize their losses.

On the other hand, we could install wind farms and new transmission lines, which wouldn’t release nearly the GHGs drilling does during manufacture and assembly and wouldn’t compete for water like drilling will.  Americans would get clean energy and the climate and wildlife wouldn’t be as impacted.  I can’t wait until Jan. 20th and our energy nightmare is addressed more honestly.

Colorado Politics: CU Chair; Environment vs. Jobs; Ozone Pollution; Oil & Gas Poll

It’s interesting that this piece of news didn’t garner much discussion: The University of Colorado is looking to hire an endowed chair in conservative thought and policy.  This is the result of something the Cons have perfected: play the refs and get the bonus.

CU is currently developing a $9 million program which will bring nationally recognized conservative scholars to teach on the Boulder campus. The program will allow CU to create an endowment for a visiting chair in conservative thought.

What exactly is the push for this crazy idea?  It all arises from the Republican penchant for self-victimization.  The whole world is out to get every singe Con-servative, according to them.  The push is coming from entities like the American Enterprise Institute and the Independence Institute who have conducted “studies” demonstrating how crazy liberal every public college in America is.  What doesn’t get related by the corporate media is AEI and II are funded exclusively by conservatives.  Their “studies” are slanted from the start to show what they want them to show.  Because they’re so well funded and organized, they can push things like hiring a “chair of con-servative thought”.  How then, you might ask, could a place like CU in “ultra-liberal” Boulder even consider such a thing?  This is what happens when a partisan like Bruce Benson is hired as University President.  I haven’t read any stories about how CU is suddenly swimming in cash due to Benson’s superior fundraising abilities.  But CU is suddenly getting a chair in conservative thought.  Gee, I wonder how that happened.  Can you imagine the screams from the Cons if CU were to hire a chair in progressive thought?

More topics below.

*****

In The News 10/24/08

A campaign volunteer for John McCain in Pittsburgh, PA made up a story about being robbed at an ATM, then being assaulted by the robber once the 6’4″ black man figured out she was driving with a McCain sticker on her car.  The story was ludicrous when it first came out, but that certainly didn’t stop propaganda outlets like Fox from running with the story as hard as they could.  Ashley Todd made up this disgusting story.  She filed a false police report after inflicting the wounds on herself.  Seriously, what has happened to the Republican party?

Lots of economic news again today.  First up: OPEC’s supply decision.  OPEC will cut production by 1.5 million barrels per day.  They think there’s too much supply in the system.  What they’re really saying is that $140 oil makes them more money than $70 oil.  That might sound like a “Duh” type of statement, but it should serve as a lesson to the pro-drilling crowd.  Any additional supply the U.S. might bring to market in 10 years will simply be taken off the market by OPEC.  That means we’ll pay more for gas (not less!) because OPEC wants more for its oil.  The drilling fetish folks are looking to grab some of the profit along the way.  What do we get out of it?

“Too-big-to-fail” insurance giant AIG has not just already blown through the original $85 billion loaned by the government (corporate welfare with taxpayer money), it’s nearly blown the additional $37.5 billion extension loan too.  It doesn’t stop there: AIG may ask for even more money.  Remind me again why American taxpayer dollars are bailing out firms when we’re not allowed to know where the money is really going.

Foreclosures are up 71% over last year’s level.  Nationwide, nearly 766,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in the last quarter, as reported by RealtyTrac.  Remember, RealtyTrac isn’t keeping track of foreclosures in 900 rural counties nationally.  The numbers could have been worse.  Many states have initiated foreclosure-delay programs.  Without additional work, I expect an artificial ‘explosion’ of foreclosures in this quarter.

Meanwhile, the number of new applications for unemployment insurance rose to 478,000.  People without jobs cannot pay their mortgages.  Corporations continue to announce massive numbers of layoffs.  The economy is going to continue to get worse before it gets better.

Cry me a freaking river.  The recession is beginning to hit rich folks’ golf communities.  People that live in the communities are not that upset about the decrease in their home values.  They’re upset because they can’t golf everyday.  They’re upset because they can’t hang out in the clubhouse all day.  These are some of the same people that are upset over inheritance taxes.  They don’t provide labor to the economy, and they think they’re so much better than the rest of us that they shouldn’t have to pay for their fair share of the nation’s infrastructure that they use.  Meanwhile, middle- and lower-class families are becoming homeless and jobless.  The fact that this article was even written is sad commentary on the state of our society.

Inside Colorado, a successful sale of bonds by the state will finance 12 construction projects on college campuses across Colorado:

1. University of Northern Colorado: Butler-Hancock Renovation

2. Colorado Northwestern Community College: Academic Building, Craig Campus

3. Colorado State University at Pueblo: Academic Resources Center Remodel

4. Colorado School of Mines: Brown Hall Addition

5. CSU Fort Collins: Clark Building Revitalization

6. Auraria Higher Education Campus: Science Building

7. Western State College: Taylor Hall Renovation and Addition

8. Mesa State College: Wubben Hall Expansion and Renovation

9. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs: Renovation of Science Building

10. Morgan Community College: Nursing, Technology & Science Building

11. Front Range Community College, Larimer Campus: Science Classroom Project

12. Fort Lewis College: Berndt Hall Reconstruction