Category Archives: evil polluters

The Big Energy Issues Of 2010 – And the commenters from the oil industry

Posted on by
1

This may not seem to be related BUT…When my wife and I went to California on the Zypher I was looking on the net for cheap hotel rooms. I picked a couple of places in Berkley and Oakland because the intent was to a) avoid high San Fransisco prices, and b) to be close to my cousin in south Oakland. I checked a bunch of “review sites” and the reviews were nasty. There were complaints about bed bugs and filth, noise, and crime. You name it. So eventually I went with the La Quinta in Berkley because it was cheap and the car rental place was in the same building. Well when we got there, I decided to check the other places out since they were on the way to my cousins.

They were all FINE. They were in a trendy little area where Cate and I had lunch. The rooms were great and clean. Yes the Metra line went by one of the hotels but you could get a place in back if that really bothered you. So who were all those “reviewers”. Well they were probably the competition, or a marketing company paid to carry out disinformation campaigns.

Well, I have noticed this same trend in commenters on energy issues. So called “people” write comments like – those lying global warming tree huggers or they want our gas prices to go to $5 or even – how could they possibly think that the human population can change the weather on the planet. Just all kinds of garbage with facts that are lies. So I am betting that the commenters to this piece are either directly employed by the energy business. Or they work for one of the multimillion dollar marketing firms the energy companies employ. Though knowing the Koch Brothers, I am sure they hire their own.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/135031-five-energy-issues-to-watch-next-year

From greenhouse gases to green agenda: 5 energy issues to watch

By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman – 12/27/10 06:00 AM ET

It’s been a dynamic past 12 months on the energy front. The massive Gulf oil spill dominated much of the news cycle. And while Democratic efforts to pass comprehensive climate change legislation in the Senate failed, the Obama administration is moving ahead with plans to use its existing powers to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

With the end of the year drawing close — the 111th Congress is over and President Obama is in Hawaii with his family for the holidays — it seems only fitting to turn our attention to next year.

Without further ado, here are five things to watch out for in 2011:

Attempts to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate regulations:

On Thursday, just hours before most people in Washington left town for the holidays, the EPA made two major announcements in its efforts to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The agency laid out a timetable for phasing in emissions standards for power plants and refineries, and announced it would issue greenhouse gas permits in Texas, where the governor had refused to align with federal rules. On top of that, beginning in January the EPA will, on a case-by-case basis, begin phasing in rules that require large new industrial plants and sites that perform major upgrades to curb emissions.

The move is certain to fuel the fire of opposition against the Obama EPA’s efforts. Republicans, emboldened by their majority in the House and swollen numbers in the Senate come next year, have promised to fight the EPA. While Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-W.Va.) effort to delay the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by two years failed, he’s promised to try again next year. Other Republicans have promised to get in on the action.

All eyes are on the new Republican House and energy and enivornment committee chairmen: Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.) will chair the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (Wash.) will chair the Natural Resources Committee and Rep. Ralph Hall (Texas) will chair the Science and Technology Committee. All three lawmakers are planning to turn a critical eye toward the Obama administration’s climate change policies.

The continuing fallout from the Gulf oil spill:

For the many months that oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, the oil spill stayed on the front pages of the country’s newspapers and at the fore of lawmakers’ minds. But almost as soon as the well was capped, lawmakers’ priorities shifted, and talk of passing an oil spill response bill in the Senate died down.

However, the spill is still very much a part of daily life in the Gulf. Spill victims continue to work to receive adequate compensation for the losses they suffered. Next year, Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of BP’s $20 billion oil spill compensation fund, will continue to determine how best to dole out money to victims.

At the same time, the Department of Justice will advance both its criminal and civil investigations into those companies responsible for the spill. DoJ announced earlier this month that it is suing BP and eight other companies involved in the spill. The department also reserved the right to expand the lawsuit and add new defendants. And DoJ’s criminal investigation continues apace.

On the congressional front, it’s likely that lawmakers will address a few oil-spill related issues

:}

Check out the comments for yourself and finish the article. It is pretty good and much better than the top ten lists we shall see soon. More tomorrow.

:}

This Is Probably A Huge Exaggeration – But

Posted on by
Reply

But sometimes the Peak Oil people get all wound up and I want to put their stuff up in a timely fashion. So without further adieu (god I have always wanted to say that ) here it is:

http://phoenixrisingfromthegulf.wordpress.com/

The Gulf of Mexico is Dying

A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill

It is with deep regret that we publish this report.  We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet.  Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.

The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas.  Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament.  We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations.  It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a better condition than that which they inherited from their forbears.

After conducting the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference for over seven months, we can now disseminate the following information with the authority and confidence of those who have thoroughly investigated a crime scene.  There are many research articles, investigative reports and penetrating exposes archived at the following website.  Particularly those posted from August through November provide a unique body of evidence, many with compelling photo-documentaries, which portray the true state of affairs at the Macondo Prospect in the GOM.

:}

dot dot dot as they say
:}

As the diagrams clearly indicate, the geology around the well bore has been blown.  This occurred because of drilling contiguous to a salt dome(1), as well as because of the gas explosions which did much damage to the integrity of the well casing, cementing, well bore, well head, and foundation around the well head.  Eighty-seven straight days of gushing hydrocarbon effluent under great pressure only served to further undermine the entire well system.  Finally, when it was capped, putting the system back under pressure forced the upsurging hydrocarbons to find weaknesses throughout the greater system, which revealed all sorts of compromised, fractured and unsettled geology through which the hydrocarbons could travel all the way to the seafloor and into the GOM.

:}

This is a really long post and a really long blog space so I can not really do it justice. Please go there and read it all. Is it truth. I don’t know but there is a lot of destruction in the Gulf with or with out some kind of continuing seepage. More tomorrow.

:}

I Just Had An Unexpected Experience With An Astro Turf Group

Posted on by
Reply

You won’t believe this, what with Google’s image as Mr. Clean and Green. BUT when you type in the simple phrase “household energy usage” into their search engine, the first hit you get is Energy Citizen. This is the astroturf  nonprofit front group sponsored by the Koch Brothers, Don Blankenship and Peabody Coal that wants the Federal Government out of the mining business. They want safety laws repealed and they detest global warming and Cap and Trade policies. Massey Energy is up for sale by the way so Blankenship may not be able to play with the big boys much longer…Ahhh poor baby.

http://energycitizens.org/jobs-red/default.aspx?utm_campaign=Q4_2010&utm_source=EyeTraffic&utm_medium=SEM&utm_content=ENERGY&utm_term=Domestic-Energy&gclid=CIWdkNbLt6UCFcms7QodoA00Gw

:}

Not only that but they land you write on the “To Join” page without even a chance to be repelled. How repelling is that?

Help Keep Our Recovery Going … Join Energy Citizens.

Businesses can thrive and create new jobs when energy is affordable and available. But when lawmakers hinder energy development, we all lose.

We need YOU to help Washington hear our message: American families and communities need sensible energy policies that power our economy and create jobs. Become part of our movement today — join Energy Citizens and let Congress hear your concerns about American energy and American jobs.

We need solutions that increase access to all reliable domestic energy: wind, solar, nuclear, and — yes — oil and natural gas. Our nation has ample energy reserves that can contribute to our economy for decades to come.

The tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the risks involved in energy development — and the need for improved safety. But this tragedy should not make us forget that our economy and way of life depend on affordable energy. We must not allow opponents to use the tragedy to stop domestic oil and natural gas development. Even with increased conservation, our nation’s energy needs are growing.

You can make a difference by joining our citizens’ movement for sensible energy policies. Help us win a national energy plan that creates jobs, promotes economic growth, and increases our security. Please join us TODAY — and tell Congress where you stand

:}

Instead of here, where at least you can reject the party line if you want to.

http://energycitizens.org/ec/advocacy/default.aspx

:}

Google should be ashamed of themselves. More tomorrow.

:}

The Atlantic Energy Article – Why are both of these articles so bad

Posted on by
Reply

What is up with these major news sources. Both the Christian Science Monitor and the Atlantic ditch alternative energies and go for coal or something more esoteric. They make it sound like alternative energies will be a failure.

:}

Dirty Coal, Clean Future

To environmentalists, “clean coal” is an insulting oxymoron. But for now, the only way to meet the world’s energy needs, and to arrest climate change before it produces irreversible cataclysm, is to use coal—dirty, sooty, toxic coal—in more-sustainable ways. The good news is that new technologies are making this possible. China is now the leader in this area, the Google and Intel of the energy world. If we are serious about global warming, America needs to work with China to build a greener future on a foundation of coal. Otherwise, the clean-energy revolution will leave us behind, with grave costs for the world’s climate and our economy.

By James Fallows

Image credit: Bryan Christie

Through the past four years I’ve often suggested that China’s vaunted achievements are less impressive, or at least more complicated, seen up close. Yes, Chinese factories make nearly all of the world’s consumer electronic equipment. But the brand names, designs, and most of the profits usually belong to companies and people outside China. Yes, China’s accumulated trade surpluses have made it the creditor for America and much of the world. But the huge share of its own wealth that China has sunk into foreign economies ties its fate to theirs. Yes, more and more Chinese people are very rich. But hundreds of millions of Chinese people are still very poor. Yes, Chinese factories lead the world in output of windmills and solar-power panels. But China’s environmental situation is still so dire as to pose the main threat not just to the country’s public health and political stability but also to its own economic expansion.

This report will have a different tone. I have been learning about an area of Chinese achievement that is objectively good for the world as a whole, including the United States. Surprising enough! And China’s achievement dramatically highlights a structural advantage of its approach and a weakness of America’s. It involves the shared global effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, of which China and the United States are respectively the No. 1 and No. 2 producers, together creating more than 40 percent of the world’s total output. That shared effort is real, and important. The significant Chinese developments involve more than the “clean tech” boom that Americans have already heard so much about. Instead a different, less publicized, and much less appealing-sounding effort may matter even more in determining whether the United States and China can cooperate to reduce emissions. This involves not clean tech but the dirtiest of today’s main energy sources—coal.

:}

I know. Kinda leaves you hanging doesn’t it. Go there and read more.

More tomorrow.

:}

India To Burn More Hydrocarbons – That should clear the air

Posted on by
Reply

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101101/sc_afp/indiaenergyoilpolitics

India predicts 40% leap in demand for fossil fuels

by Penny MacRae Penny Macrae – Mon Nov 1, 7:12 am ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) – Premier Manmohan Singh told India’s energy firms on Monday to scour the globe for fuel supplies as he warned the country’s demand for fossil fuels is set to soar 40 percent over the next decade.

The country of more than 1.1 billion people already imports nearly 80 percent of its crude oil to fuel an economy that is expected to grow 8.5 percent this year and at least nine percent next year.

Demand for hydrocarbons — petroleum, coal, natural gas — “over the next 10 years will increase by over 40 percent,” Singh told an energy conference in New Delhi.

“India needs adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices to meet the demand of its rapidly growing economy,” he said, as rising Indian incomes spur industrial demand and more people buy energy-guzzling cars and appliances.

Singh’s call comes as India is locked in a race with emerging market rival China for fuel supplies to feed their booming economies in which analysts say Beijing has taken a strong lead.

India faces “immense competition from China which has been far quicker to react when an asset becomes available,” Kalpana Jain, senior director of global consultancy Deloitte, told AFP.

:}

More tomorrow

:}

Drill Baby Drill – ANWR yields dry holes

Posted on by
2

I said all along that the idea that there were huge new oil fields in Alaska was both dangerous and wrong. Dangerous, because if there was oil there, drilling could destroy the ecosphere. Wrong, because like the North Sea, the oil companies always claim there is “oil next door” and then drill dry holes. I have often thought they use this technique to drain capital from smaller investors.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/27/alaska.oil.reserves/index.html

Alaska’s untapped oil reserves estimate lowered by about 90 percent

By the CNN Wire Staff
October 27, 2010 1:35 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a revised estimate for the amount of conventional, undiscovered oil in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is a fraction of a previous estimate.

The group estimates about 896 million barrels of such oil are in the reserve, about 90 percent less than a 2002 estimate of 10.6 billion barrels.

The new estimate is mainly due to the incorporation of new data from recent exploration drilling revealing gas occurrence rather than oil in much of the area, the geological survey said.

“These new findings underscore the challenge of predicting whether oil or gas will be found in frontier areas,” USGS Director Dr. Marcia McNutt said in a statement. “It is important to re-evaluate the petroleum potential of an area as new data becomes available.”

The organization also estimates 8 trillion cubic feet less gas than a 2002 estimate of 61 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, conventional, non-associated gas — meaning gas found in discrete accumulations with little to no crude oil in the reservoir.

“Recent activity in the NPRA, including 3-D seismic surveys, federal lease sales administered by the Bureau of Land Management and drilling of more than 30 exploration wells in the area provides geological information that is more indicative of gas than oil,” the geological survey said.

:}

Of course the nutcases still believe this and will until their dieing days.

http://www.pushhamburger.com/hidden.htm

Huge Alaska Oil Reserves Go Unused

After 30 years, an insider finally acknowledges the United States
has all the oil and gas it needs.

By Marie Gunther

The United States has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia but this happy though shocking information has been covered up for years.

The wells have been drilled, it’s merely a matter of turning on the faucets to supply America’s needs for 200 years.

These astounding revelations have been confirmed by a 30-year veteran oil exe cutive with leukemia who has decided to speak out.

In 1980, Lindsey Williams wrote a book, The Energy Non-Crisis, based upon his eye witness accounts during the construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. As a chaplain assigned to executive status and the advisory board of Atlantic Richfield & Co. (ARCO), he was privy to detailed information.

“All of our energy problems could have been solved in the ’70s with the huge discovery of oil under Gull Island, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska,” Williams said. “There is more pure grade oil there than in all of Sau di Arabia. Gull Island contains as much oil and natural gas as Americans could use in 200 years.”

Oddly though, immediately after this massive discovery, the federal government ordered the rigs to be capped and oil production shut down.

Developing Alaskan oil would make the United States completely independent of oil imports, Williams said in his book.

Why is the government covering up such good news? Why does it want to be dependent on imported oil? Do international financiers who are heavily invested in the oil industry want to keep the supply limited and prices up?

Will the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), investigate what could be a criminal cover-up? Will the appropriate House committees in quire? Or the Justice Department? Since the cover-up has extended through four presidential administrations, only public outrage can force action.

“Everything you hear on the evening news and out of Washington is garbage,” said Jim Lawler, an oil production manager with ARCO. “Eight wells have already been drilled in the areas environmentalists are claiming we must not go in. We have already been in and out. There was no damage done. All we need to do is start production.”

:}

More tomorrow

:}

Global Resource Depletion OR Recycling A Waste Of Time – Which is it

Posted on by
Reply

shhh It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntXAO_Rq7c

OK so which is it, are we running out of stuff or not? Is 6 Billion people too many or not? Have we cut down way too may trees or not? I believe these answers are knowable. Are the Ocean’s fished out or not?  Is Global Warming happening? The issue seems to be Price. If Global Warming were happening then carbon would be expensive. But what if price isn’t the issue when capitalists and nations treat resources as if they were “free”.

:} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9sraruD8ho&feature=related :}

http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=3267

Blog item: Recycling? What A Waste.

By Jim Fedako

This fall, school kids across the country will again be taught a chief doctrine in the civic religion: recycle, not only because you fear the police but also because you love the planet. They come home well prepared to be the enforcers of the creed against parents who might inadvertently drop a foil ball into the glass bin or overlook a plastic wrapper in the aluminum bin.

Oh, I used to believe in recycling, and I still believe in the other two R’s: reducing and reusing. However, recycling is a waste of time, money, and ever-scarce resources. What John Tierney wrote in the New York Times nearly 10 years ago is still true: “Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America.”

Reducing and reusing make sense. With no investment in resources, I can place the plastic grocery bag in the bathroom garbage can and save a penny or so for some more-pressing need. Reducing and reusing are free market activities that are profitable investments of time and labor.

Any astute entrepreneur will see the benefit of conserving factors of production. Today, builders construct houses using less wood than similar houses built just 20 years ago. In addition, these houses are built sturdier; for the most part anyway.

The Green’s love for trees did not reduce the amount of wood used in construction; the reduction was simply a reaction to the increasing cost for wood products. Using less wood makes financial sense, and any entrepreneur worth his profit will change his recipe to conserve wood through better design or by substituting less dear materials for wood products.

:}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojL_35QlSI&feature=related

:}

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2010-10-20/global-resource-depletion

Published Oct 20 2010 by The Oil Drum: Europe, Archived Oct 20 2010

Global resource depletion

by Ugo Bardi

André Diederen’s recent book on resource depletion

I have been thinking, sometimes, that I could reserve a shelf of my library for those books which have that elusive quality that I could call “modern wisdom”. Books that go beyond the buzz of the media news, the shallowness of politicians’ speech, the hyper-specialization of technical texts. That shelf would contain, first of all, “The Limits to Growth” by Meadows and others; then the books by Jared Diamond, James Lovelock, Konrad Lorenz, Richard Dawkins, Peter Ward and several others that have affected the way I see the world.

I think I’ll never set up such a shelf, I have too many books and too few shelves; many are packed full with three rows of books. But, if I ever were to put these books together, I think that the recent book by André Diederen “Global Resource Depletion” would make a nice addition to the lot.

The subject of resource depletion, of course, is well known to readers of “The Oil Drum”. So well known that it is difficult to think of a book that says something new. Diederen, indeed, succeeds in the task not so much in reason of the details on the availability of mineral commodities that he provides, but for the innovative way he describes our relation to the subject. In other words, Diederen’s book is not a boring list of data; it is a lively discussion on how to deal with the implications of these data. It is a book on the future and how we can prepare for it.

To give you some idea of the flavor of the book, just a quote:

(p. 43) “… it isn’t enough to have large absolute quantities (“the Earth’s crust is so big”) and to have all the technology in place. (p. 33) … we have plenty of water in the Mediterranean or Atlantic Ocean and we have ample proven technologies to desalinate and pipe the water to the desert, so, why isn’t the Sahara desert green yet?”

This is, of course, the crucial point of resource depletion: what counts is cost, not amounts (I plan to use this example in my next talk!). Diederen is an unconventional thinker and he goes deeply into matters that, in some circles would be thought to be unspeakable; for instance (p. 41)

:}

Price? Really. More next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a9mx1IVZzU&feature=related

:}

Hungarian Responsible For Toxic Spill – Doesn’t think he is

Posted on by
Reply

It’s Jam band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1bxlDAjGCo

This appears to say it all:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/15/hungary.sludge.ceo/

CEO doesn’t ‘feel’ responsible in Hungary spill, but will aid efforts

By the CNN Wires Staff
October 15, 2010 10:55 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — The CEO of the Hungarian company behind a huge toxic spill on Thursday said he doesn’t know whether he’s responsible for the disaster, but added, “I have moral duties and I will fulfill them.”

Zoltan Bakonyi, the chief executive of the MAL aluminum plant, spoke with CNN’s Diana Magnay a day after he was released from jail pending trial. Bakonyi was detained on Monday, accused of public endangerment and harming the environment.

:} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBc9B8JXCP0&feature=channel :}

“It’s said I should be responsible although I don’t feel it,” Bakonyi told Magnay. He insisted that MAL was in compliance with all Hungarian safety regulations and pointed out that he has only been CEO for two years. Bakonyi argued that the problems presented by the reservoir and the accumulation of toxin in it stretched back 25 years or more.

But he added that it is his “moral duty” is to “help” and put his energies “120-percent into the aid effort.”

Bakonyi categorically denied that a hole was present in the reservoir in the days or weeks before the spill happened. Bakonyi said he had visited the reservoir in the weeks before the spill happened. But, he said he hadn’t seen the photo released by the The World Wildlife Fund showing one of the pools of sludge — a byproduct of the process to turn bauxite ore into aluminium oxide — leaking into a nearby field. The WWF says the photo was taken in June.

Bakonyi also denied the spill was a consequence of overproduction or improper payment of workers. He maintained that there was no way to anticipate the accident. “The only way anyone could have imagine this happening,” he said, “was in a terrorist attack.”

MAL has “an idea” about how the spill occurred, but Bakonyi won’t comment on what it is. He says no statement on causes will be released until Hungarian authorities complete their own investigation.

:}

He may have an idea??? More next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkWGwY5nq7A&feature=related

:}

The Massive Hungarian Toxic Spill And ME – You may wonder

Posted on by
Reply

I put off posting about the nasty and unconscionable toxic spill in Hungary because I felt a little guilty. I said in an earlier post that I was kinda bored and having a little difficulty posting because after the Gulf Spew and Russia caught on fire talking about more down to earth topics and residential energy issues was…well…not exciting. Then I said something like we could always wish for another disaster. So then the Hungary Dam Failure happened and I was …ahhh … sheepish. But today and tomorrow we shall make amends.

http://www.peopleandplanet.net/?lid=29373&section=37&topic=23

‘Hungary must lead drive to defuse East Europe’s toxic time bombs’

Posted: 12 October 2010

As efforts continue to prevent a further spill from a toxic reservoir near the Danube, WWF has called on Hungary, as president-elect of the EU, to mount a major push to reduce the large stockpiles of poorly maintained mining wastes across eastern Europe.

The call from WWF comes as emergency operations continue to head off an increasing risk of further large scale flows of toxic aluminium processing sludge from the broken reservoir above the town of Kolontàr. The initial breach of the reservoir walls killed at least seven, inundated six villages and sent a caustic alkaline plume towards the Danube.

Toxic sludge, Hungary
Kolontar, Hungary, inundated by the tide of toxic sludge now heading down tributaries of the Danube. Photo credit: WWF Hungary

WWF has issued a photograph showing that the reservoir wall was clearly degraded and leaking more than three months before the disaster. Work has nearly finished on a secondary dyke, 1500 m long, 30 m wide and 8 m high through and alongside Kolontàr, to reduce damage from any further spills.

“The human and ecological disaster at Kolontàr – the greatest chemical disaster in Hungary’s history – has made clear the need to re-assess current regulation of such mine waste sites and begs the question how many other ticking time bombs there are in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Gabor Figeczky, interim CEO of WWF-Hungary.

Mining and mineral processing tailings dams – presumably including the Kolontàr reservoir – were listed as a priority concerns in a 2004 comprehensive study on mainly eastern European hazardous and toxic waste sites from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.

Overall, however, environmetnal pressure groups say that information on sites,and on the risks they present, is extremely poor. WWF released a list of recent Danube releases of toxic wastes and some of the major hazard areas last week, “but it is by no means provides the kind of exhaustive analysis that is needed,” said Andreas Beckmann, Director of WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme.

:}

More tomorrow.

:}