Posted on 08/25/2004 8:59:39 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON — Placing a heavy emphasis on energy production in the American West, the Bush administration has moved aggressively to open up broad areas of largely unspoiled federal land to oil and gas exploration.
The administration has pressed for approval of new drilling permits across the Rocky Mountains and lifted protections on hundreds of thousands of acres with gas and oil reserves in Utah and Colorado. In the process, it has targeted a number of places prized for their scenery, abundant wildlife and clean water, natural assets increasingly valuable to the region's changing economy.
Soon after taking office in 2001, the Bush White House set up a little-known task force that acts as a complaint desk for industry, passing energy company concerns directly to federal land management employees in the field. Although the creation of White House task forces is commonplace, experts on the executive branch say it is unusual to have one primarily serving the interests of a single industry.
In addition, the Bureau of Land Management has been pushed to issue drilling permits at a record pace for three of the last four years, an increase of 70% since the Clinton administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
LA Times? Can you beleive the RATS?
But what about the environment? the Trees and the birds???? No this can't happen!!!
"it has targeted a number of places prized for their scenery, abundant wildlife and clean water, natural assets increasingly valuable to the region's changing economy. "
Who cares about the animals and other 'natural assets'? Go to a zoo or look at pictures on a PC.
I want cheap gas and I'm willing to sacrifice these natural niceties for both me and my small children because hey - if Bush says it's the right thing to do, then it must be true.
They are drilling new wells everyplace I drive here in OK and our other wells are pumping more then I have ever seen since moving here. Some wells I would never see pump before and now I see them pumping a lot. Lot of trucks on the roads to empty the tanks -- many more than before.
Expect a new John Kerry...er...MoveOn.org ad soon comparing Bush to a small nuclear weapon...
Love those toy rigs!
Boy, that is a tiny one.
How old are you?
Kerry is for clean coal.
Kerry's clean coal ... have the maid wash it.
Wasn't there some lawsuit in OK about oil leases on Indian territory that weren't being paid. It might be that the lawsuit was settled and wells are again pumping.
The other possiblility is that the high oil prices make recovery of oil from shale profitable.
That's one of the best sights there is. It should be neat and clean, of course, but rounding a bend in a road and finding purposeful concrete, gravel, and steel at work adds considerably to the scenery.
Drilling in the west and even in ANWR won't solve our long term energy problems. Conservation and new technology can.
Timing of this is suspicious.
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Oil and gas drilling can be done and not harm the local environment. The whole work area is less than a football field and the road in is made with due regard to erosion and other disturbance.
Once the well is producing, the work area shrinks even more and the collecting tanks or pipeline are not that noticeable.
We can have affordable energy as well as a nice view of nature.
Of course, if no one can afford the gas to drive to those places as tourists, they ain't going to be such valuable assets...
Yeah, Right. ANd the old Clinton apointees have increased the number of hoops to jump through, too.
One well I worked in CO was delayed 3 months so as not to interfere with the 'elk breeding season'. As if anything could stop a bull elk in rut. (Just get out of the way!)
If the fanatics can be reined in, this might help.
Have 'em just shut off the valves and go home, then.
When we are done with this (dual lateral horizontal) well, we will have tapped 640 acres of reservoir from one site.
Trucks are only used to haul oil here until the pipeline tie-in is completed.
There are at least 10 other rigs in the immediate area, and we've been busy for three years now.
I'm liking it. I enjoy getting a steady paycheck. Not like the Clinton Years.
About FReeping time. Most anyway to get oil is better than continuing to subsidize the Jihadies.
"How old are you?"
My original post was meant to be sarcasm...
How old are YOU?
But they will help in the short run. Short meaning a few decades. In the long new techology is the only answer. It's raining soup just a few tens of miles up, we need to build some big soup bowls.
Little workover rig. Looks like they are pulling 30 ft singles. Probably a shallow completion. I can't quite make out the signage on the equipment on the right side of the photo. That might be a clue to what they are doing.
"How old are you?"
And speaking of age, why did you feel it necessary to post a reply to a sarcastic comment to the AM?
"Drilling in the west and even in ANWR won't solve our long term energy problems. Conservation and new technology can."
Agreed. My first post in this thread was meant to be sarcasm.
That case is not settled yet. It involves royalty accounting by the Dept. of the Interior.
They should just pay them and get it overwith.
The whole city of Los Angeles is sitting on a field of crude and natural gas that it was forced to purchase after bankrupting the surviving Manley family members and there are pockets of methane and hydrogen sulfide all over the Fairfax District which makes for some shaky living at times.
We could build some soup bowls. Money is not a problem. There is a massive stash of money on the sidelines waiting for something to do.
"How old Are you?"
86.
The case involves records, or lack thereof, over the span of several decades. Several billions of dollars are involved and it is not simply a case of non-payment. There are also allegations of Indian embezzlement, graft and corruption.
By way of example, the Los Padres National Forest, north of the Los Angeles and Ventura area is very scenic. I hike there and also have in the past taken educational field trip there. Oil production has been occuring, harmoniously and unobtrusively, in the area now designated National Forest, wilderness areas, and condor preserve for over 125 years. In fact, the access to the area is by old oil field roads and trails.
Changing to a minimum wage, seasonal, tourism economy instead of a resource extraction, high wage system that traditionally existed in the west.
I'll take energy self sufficiency and growth over tree hugging any day!
I agree.
Given the general laziness and stubbornness of all human beings, I say let's hurry up & suck all of Earth's oil out of the ground as quickly as possible so we can then force ourselves to find a cheaper, healthier alternative.
There's no way that we'll stop sucking the oily teats of the Earth until it's (oil) all gone, so the quicker we do that, the quicker we'll be forced to find an alternative.
And as you said, this can be done with minimal environmental intrusion so that limp-wristed, bunny-hugging argument can't be used.
"This is the story of a man named Jed,
a poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
and then one day he was shooting at some food,
when up through the ground came a bubbling crude!"
That's what I call a "shallow completion."
We have Senator's over in Iceland looking at geothermal as we speak. Where are the active geothermal areas in the United States? Yellowstone, Long Valley (Mammoth lakes area) in California, the Salton Sea area on the Mexican border, and the Geysers area north of San Francisco. Not withstanding three of these four areas are in anti-everything California, do you think any of these areas could be developed for national needs. No way.
How about wind power. That mean massive "wind farms." One has been proposed for off of Cape Cod. The Kennedys are against it - it would impact their view. There are a couple of projects in the boonies of California, but they are out in the desert or tucked away in the mountains. And they don't supply all that much power.
Solar energy, you say? That means the manufacture of solar cells, which use polluting materials, and of course, the storage question. Lead-acid or other metallic batteries on a large scale? Perish that thought.
Well, what about "clean burning coal"? There is no such thing. "Cleaner" burning maybe, but not because of the coal, but from the expensive scrubbing apparatus involved."
Okay then - oil shale. Which mountain range in Utah or Wyoming do we level? And its no cleaner than any other oil source, it's just mined instead of pumped.
In the long run, the most viable and cost-effective petroleum replacement for non-transportation needs is nuclear. And we know how that has been accepted.
The point you allude to, in reality, and one I agree with, is this nation needs an energy policy that looks past the next election cycle.
A beautiful sight!!!
Yep, it is a Capstar, I used one over in Jackson, Ohio.
Scape the ground with a dozer, dig a pit, set 15 ft of surface casing, and drill to maybe 3000 ft.
Results, six dry holes.
Well blow me down.
Now this is one I never expected to see again. Hallelujah!!
This is what, we were looking for.
South Texas, 18,000'.
In most places, the wellheads can be sunken so that you can't even see them.
We drilled several wells across from and behind the Ramada Inn in Laurel, MS. You won't see them unless you know where they are.
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