Clipmarks | Oil shale Clips

Great Barrier Reef Saved- No Shale Oil Exploration

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:19:51 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Australians said no to more oil exploitation and future pollution. What a wise people with strong grass roots engagement. Engage people, engage.

Clip Source: www.greenpeace.org

Great Barrier Reef saved from shale oil exploitation

Australia — It's a victory for the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, with a 20-year moratorium on all new shale oil projects in the region. Led by the Save Our Foreshore group, the success shows just how powerful local, grassroots campaigns can be.

The ban has been welcomed by just about everyone but the Queenland Resource Council, whose proposal was set to mine millions of tonnes of shale rock each year on a site just 10 km from the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. The shale oil mine threatened to drain precious water supplies, and to risk toxic leaching and air pollution from waste rock. Shale oil production is extremely greenhouse gas intensive – emissions from this project, combined with the company's other planned operations, would have raised Australia's current total emissions by 30 percent within 20 years.

Aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the Whitsunday Islands.

America: Don't Wait For Pelosi, Seize Our Energy Future Now!

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:27:34 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Only today, they have energy as a weapon.

One premise of the new Putin Doctrine is that oil prices will stay high and that Russia, with its plentiful reserves, can use oil profits to fund its global ambitions.

This is where Congress comes in. Since President Clinton refused to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1995, Democrats have stood in the way of any rational energy plan. Today, we pump just 25% of our oil; 40 years ago, it was 60%. We send about $900 billion a year overseas to buy oil, money that helps fund Russian and radical Islamic mischief. This is a problem.

Now for the good news: The U.S. is the world's largest potential oil supplier — with as much oil, the Institute for Energy Research says, as has been used by the entire world over the last 150 years.

Just offshore, we have 86 billion barrels of crude. The U.S. Arctic region, including Alaska, holds 30 billion barrels. In the Far West, we have more than 800 billion barrels of shale oil.

Clip Source: townhall.com

Clip Source: theoilpatchplug.blogtownhall.com

Russia's rampage in Georgia was calculated to intimidate the former Soviet slave states of Eastern Europe. But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also wants to control Georgia's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline — the main conduit from the oil-rich Caspian Sea to Europe. That would give him a chokehold on 25% of Europe's energy supply — and veto power over EU diplomacy.

As part of this geopolitical strategy, Putin is also forging new alliances in the Mideast, ranging from this week's deal with Iraq to build power plants, to a military accord for arms, energy and a possible Russian military base for Syria.

In our own hemisphere, Putin is reviving Russia's long-dormant relationship with Cuba and selling advanced planes and weapons to socialist dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a major oil supplier.

This is a plain attempt to resurrect the old USSR strategy of stirring up trouble around the world, encircling the U.S. and its allies with enemies, then daring us to stop it.

Tags: georgia's baku-tbilisi-ceyhan, putin, cuba, advanced planes/weapons sales, ussr strategy

US oil reserves estimated over 3x that of Saudi known reserves

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:29:22 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners
clipper's remarks: And Pelosi thinks drilling for all that oil wouldn't effect oil and gas prices.

Clip Source: www.cnsnews.com

In 2006, the Interior Department estimated that about 85.9 billion barrels of “undiscovered technically recoverable” oil sits offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf within U.S. territory.

In 2007, the Energy Department’s “Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels” reported that: “America’s oil shale resource exceeds 2 trillion barrels

as much as 800 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recoverable from oil shale resources

This combined 885.9 billion barrels of recoverable oil that the government estimates lies undeveloped within U.S. territory is almost three and a half times as much as the 260 billion barrels in proven oil reserves that lie under Saudi territory.

Unless Congress enacts a new law banning offshore leases and oil-shale leases, Interior can legally start selling these leases on Oct. 1.

Tags: oil, usa, saudi arabia, politics, gas

FREE email: Drill Now -- Stop the Gang of 10

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:43:07 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The compromise plan offered by the Gang of 10 limits drilling to 50 miles off the coast of a few states, not all, and depends on an opt-in by those states. There is no mention of ANWR or of developing America's oil shale.

Doing nothing is actually a better option than the compromise of the Senate's Gang of 10 because the oil drilling ban imposed by Congress expires on September 30. Democrats in Congress must renew this ban in order to continue to block America's access to her own oil. Due to Senate rules the minority may be able to block that renewal unless the Gang of 10 prevents it.

Sen. McCain has not yet agreed to this compromise.

Tell the Senate, the Gang of 10 and especially John McCain that voters don't want compromise with Democrats. Voters want to Drill NOW!

Clip Source: capwiz.com

Drill Now -- Stop the Gang of 10
Drill Here! Drill Now! Drill American!

Tell the Senate Gang of 10 not to undermine the will of the American people!

GOP House members have spent nearly two weeks demanding that they be allowed an up or down vote on drilling for our oil.

House Republicans expected to fight Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats for the right to drill for American oil but did they also expect to fight members of their own party?

As explained by GOPUSA's Bobby Eberle the Senate Gang of 10 is comprised of 5 Republican and 5 Democrat senators who claim to have reached a "bi-partisan energy compromise." A summary of the New Energy Reform Act of 2008 can be seen here. This misplaced effort will cost taxpayers at least $84 billion in new subsidies with only the possibility that very limited areas may be opened to drilling.

Gang of 10 are, Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Thune of South Dakota

Tags: senate gang of 10, gop senators, chambliss, isakson, corker, graham, thune

Rising ocean acidity slows marine fertilisation: study

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:22:14 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: It doesn't matter if you call it global warming (Or global weirding as Bear suggested, I think). It doesn't matter if it was caused by us or not. The ocean are dying. The land is dying or changing. And we say it is bad to mine shale oil, but the oil companies don't give a shit about anything but the dollar. It is time to do. Time to convince politicians that the abusers have to be stopped.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Rising acidification of the ocean could reduce fertilisation of marine invertebrates and might eventually wipe out colonies of sea urchins, lobsters, mussels and oysters, according to a study.

Scientists already knew that ocean acidification was eating away at the shells of marine animals, but the new study has found that rising acidity hindered marine sperm from swimming to and fertilising eggs in the ocean.

Climate change and the subsequent acidification of the world's oceans will significantly reduce the successful fertilisation of certain marine species by the year 2100, said the report by Australian and Swedish scientists.

"If you look at projected rates (of acidity) for the year 2100, we are finding a 25 per cent reduction in fertilisation," Macquarie University lead scientist Jane Williamson said.

Tags: the, saying, "eat, shit", may, take, on, a, new, meaning

Could gas drilling taint NYC drinking water?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:55:03 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: It's certainly happened elsewhere.

Clip Source: www.grist.org

NYC officials fear natural-gas drilling would taint water supplies

New York City officials want to ban natural-gas drilling within a mile of six major upstate reservoirs for fear that the city's drinking water could become contaminated. Extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale rock layer, as some state regulators and lawmakers are pushing to do, would require shooting millions of gallons of water and unidentified chemicals underground to break up the rock. Similar drilling in other states has caused more than 1,000 wastewater spills that have tainted drinking-water supplies. The pristine water that quenches the thirst of 9 million New Yorkers requires no filtration; if it became tainted, a water-treatment facility could cost nearly $10 billion -- approximately the same amount that the state estimates it could earn from natural-gas development in the next 10 years.

source: ProPublica

Tags: environment, water, oil

Uncle!!!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:09:37 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: Pelosi gives lip service to drilling. The democrats will be trying to dance around this one with all the voters watching.

Clip Source: www.powerlineblog.com

Nancy Pelosi now says that she is "open to drilling," but It's probably more accurate to say that she is open to not being crushed in November. She can read the polls, and an overwhelming majority of Americans support the Republicans' position, that it is important to develop our own energy resources. Pelosi says she could support drilling (or a vote, anyway) if drilling is part of a broader strategy. But of course the Republicans in Congress are pushing the "all of the above" approach, so that isn't really the issue.

One of the Democrats' problems is that Congress's ban on offshore drilling and shale oil development will expire in 49 days. The Democrats would like to extend the ban, thereby damaging our economy further, but it's hard to see how they can.

The Existing Ban On Drilling Expires Sept 30, 2008

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:43:11 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Now, here's (excerpt) of the letter from AFP

On behalf of our millions of members and all American consumers suffering from high energy prices, we urge you to allow the current restrictions on much-needed American energy resources to expire as scheduled under current law. Unless Congress acts affirmatively to prevent it, October 1st, 2008 will be a day fittingly described as "American Energy Freedom Day" as those restrictions expire.

Now that President Bush has lifted the executive branch moratorium, the only thing prohibiting development of these energy resources is a temporary ban that is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year.

We urge you to oppose the creation of any new moratorium for fiscal 2009, even if it is attached to what some people in Washington consider "must-pass" legislation.

Clip Source: rightwingnews.com

Americans for Prosperity alerted me to the fact that the election issue of all election issues has been dumped into the GOP's lap.

October 1st, 2008, "the existing bans on Outer Continental Shelf drilling and oil shale leasing expire -- unless Congress specifically votes to extend the bans."

according to AFP is that "Congressional leaders will likely try to sneak an extension into supposedly 'must-pass' last-minute spending legislation."

Republicans, including most importantly, John McCain, should refuse to support ANY legislation that extends the drilling ban. That means they should speak out against it, they should vote against it, and George Bush should veto it if it comes across his desk.

This should not be a issue in the 2008 election, the GOP should make it THE ISSUE of the 2008 elections.

Even with gas prices as high as they are, the Democrats want to keep a drilling ban in place while Republicans want to take action that will help reduce prices, in the short and long term.

Tags: drilling ban, gop, ban expires sept 30

Ventura County hot spot puzzles experts

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:04:15 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

A patch of land in Ventura County's section of Los Padres National Forest where the ground recently heated up to 812 degrees continues to puzzle firefighters and geologists after weeks of monitoring.

Firefighters responded to reports of a blaze there a month and a half ago, when observers noticed smoke rising from the parched scrub. But when they arrived, they found no flames.

geologist with the U.S. Forest Service who went to the site Friday, said the smoking ground is "a normal occurrence" that does not appear to be the result of human activity.

The hot spot is in an area considered to be an active landslide that has shifted for more than 60 years. Several hundred feet below its cracked surface lie pockets of gas, tar and oil.

King said he suspects cracks along the landslide's slope allow oxygen to enter into the earth and hydrocarbon material to "seep out" of the fine-grain shale. The combination can create underground combustion, he said.

Major-League "Beat-Down" On Obama's Energy-Less Policies

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:09:31 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: During yesterday's Special Report, Charles Krauthammer unleashed a major-league beat-down on Barack Obama's unhinged "energy" policy. Batten down the hatches..

The amount we would save in our tires generously calculated is about 1/200 of what you get from offshore oil alone, and the amount of oil shale is in the West would give us 10,000 years worth of the gasoline saved by inflating our tires.

The problem with the Democratic position is they always say 'let's do x' instead of drilling. What the American people understand is you do x, y, and z, and everything.

But the reason not to drill is untenable. You drill as well, and that will help us as well...

...BAIER: So inflate your tires.

KRAUTHAMMER: It is not even a tenth of a hundredth of the solution.

If that much.

Clip Source: astuteblogger.blogspot.com

KRAUTHAMMER: The gas tax holiday was hokey and cheap, and this is hokier and cheaper, because to take from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to jeopardize our national security. It really is for supply interruption, which would be a catastrophe for our country.

The amount he wants to take out is about a week's worth of imports. It's absurd.

And if you wanted to remove from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, at least you should be in favor of drilling so that, domestically, in a few years, we will have essentially new strategic reserves in the Arctic or offshore, which would substitute for draining the reserves we currently have.

So his position is contradictory, cheap, and political.

And the stuff he said only a week ago in Missouri on Wednesday of last week, if we only inflated our tires it would substitute for all the oil that the Republicans want to drill for is a towering absurdity

Tags: obama's energy solution, tap spr, inflate tires, "tune-up"

Someone needs a trip to Teleprompter's Are Us and Some Remedial Math

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:48:17 GMT

clipped by: bmeuppls
clipper's remarks: Properly inflating your tires can improve gas mileage by 3%. Let's be generous and assume that one-half of the total possible savings would be realized if we all inflated our tires properly. Americans drive approximately 2,880 billion miles per year. If we average 24 mpg, we use around 120 billion gallons of gasoline in our vehicles. If, through perfect tire inflation, we improved our collective fuel efficiency by 1.5%, that would be 1.8 billion gallons. A barrel of oil produces around 20 gallons of gasoline, so the total savings available through tire inflation is approximately 90,000,000 barrels of oil annually. How does this stack up against "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling?"

ANWR: 10 billion barrels
Outer Continental Shelf: 18 billion barrels
Oil shale: 1 trillion barrels

So, on the above assumptions, it would take only 11,308 years of proper tire inflation to equal "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."

Clip Source: www.powerlineblog.com

Barack Obama is a lot like Sean Penn or George Clooney. If you give him a script, he can deliver it pretty well. But if he tries to talk without a script that has been written for him by others, he quickly reveals that he is poorly-informed if not downright ignorant. Today he delivered another classic, by claiming that if only we would all properly inflate our tires, we could save as much gasoline as "all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling."

The stunned silence with which the crowd greets this howler suggests that most Americans have a more practical understanding of energy consumption than Obama.

Tags: energy, politics

Hard to Reach Oil a Significant Climate Risk

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:23:00 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: We seem to be reaching the point of diminishing returns. As oil gets hard to find, oil drilling becomes more energy-expensive.

Clip Source: www.enn.com

Exploitation of North America’s shale and tar-sand oil reserves could increase atmospheric CO₂ levels by up to 15%, a new report from WWF-UK and the major UK financial group Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS) has warned.

Extraction of the projected 1,115 billion barrels of recoverable oil from unconventional fuel sources such as Alberta’s oil sands and Colorado’s oil shale, which involve much more energy intensive procedures for extraction than traditional oil reserves, would significantly increase global risks of dangerous climate change, the report said.

"Most oil companies have hardly begun to factor in the externalities that are currently imposed on the environment."

These externalities include mass deforestation, such as Alberta’s Boreal forests, which lie above 140,000 square kilometres of oil sands, and are now crisscrossed with seismic lines and open-cast mines.

Tags: news

New York Governor Paterson Signs Drilling Law

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:21:25 GMT

clipped by: merrie

Clip Source: www.nysun.com

ALBANY — Governor Paterson has signed legislation to permit horizontal drilling for oil and natural gas while promising enforcement of environmental safeguards to protect water quality.

Mr. Paterson says the measure revises New York's rules for siting drilling rigs to include additional wells and the new drilling should lead to more efficient recovery of oil and gas while reducing unnecessary disturbance to the land.

The Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner, Pete Grannis, says the natural gas industry has shown interest in drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier and Catskills, and the DEC has so far received three applications for gas wells in Chenango, Tioga, and Chemung counties.

Tags: gov paterson, new york, oil/gas drilling

Volcanoes trigger for mass extinction

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:54:11 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: There's more than one way to become extinct.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Ninety-three million years ago a series of volcanoes erupted on the ocean floor starving the oceans of oxygen and wiping out swathes of marine life, according to a new report.

Black shale rocks off the coast of South America and in central Italy provide clues to what occurred

The answer to the catastrophe, contend scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada, lies in fire fountains that erupted on the ocean floor, altering the chemistry of the sea and possibly of the atmosphere too.

The report appears in the latest edition of Nature.

in a geological instant, a mass extinction, helped by a suddenly sluggish shift in ocean circulation, occurred. The remains of dead sea organisms

became transformed into oil

One possibility is that the volcanoes

seeded the upper level of the ocean with micronutrients, he says

Tiny plantlife on the sea surface, called phytoplankton, gorged on the food, storing up carbon as they grew. They then sank to the sea floor and decayed, stripping the ocean of oxygen.

Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:18:49 GMT

clipped by: jatfla
clipper's remarks: At last! A tiny step and only one. I hope America's industries are making all-out efforts to finally deal with our energy-producing block. Follow all the avenues and options to end our begging for energy. Think of what it might mean for our foreign policy options.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling

WASHINGTON - In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.

"They haven't even held a single hearing," Perino said. "So we are going to move forward, and hopefully that will spur action by the Congress."

echoes a call by Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, to open the Continental Shelf for exploration.

the president has proposed opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, lifting restrictions on oil shale leasing in the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming and easing the regulatory process to expand oil refining capacity.