Posted on 03/05/2022 3:48:56 AM PST by Kaslin
"WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to introduce the American Energy Independence Act of 2022, which reverses President Biden's shutdown of the American energy sector and returns American energy to full production."
"Shortly after taking office, Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline, blocked new oil and gas leases, (especially offshore) issued regulations designed to stymie domestic energy investment and advocated for measures that focus more on Green New Deal priorities than on American security. As energy prices soared at home, Biden turned to Russia and the global oil cartel OPEC for help driving down energy costs. Now more than ever, we need to reclaim our energy independence … That's why I'm proud to support the American Energy Independence Act, which will take critical steps to lower gas prices and unleash energy production right here in the United States," Grassley said.
Mega kudos to these lawmakers for introducing this vitally necessary act —though I doubt that they're aware of the collateral environmental benefits that will result from an upswing in offshore oil production.
"Huh," you ask?
You see, amigos, more than 70% of federal oil production comes from offshore drilling. Yet 94% of federal offshore acreage remains off-limits to development, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
Environmental superstitions account for most of this exploration ban. Because if bonafide science has crowned "Global Warmists" with 10-foot dunce caps, then over half a century of scientific evidence has crowned anti-offshore drilling activists with 50-foot dunce caps. That offshore oil drilling—far from an environmental disaster, is empirically an environmental bonanza—has been pounded home with a vengeance in study after study. The science, you might say, is settled.
To wit: According to the Energy Information Administration, "Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 17% of total U.S. crude oil production." Yet with over 3,000 of the 4,000 plus offshore oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico off her coast, Louisiana provides almost a third of North America's commercial fisheries.
Astoundingly enough, Hollywood once hailed the environmental benefits of offshore oil drilling. The first offshore oil production platforms went up off the Louisiana coast in 1947. By 1953 Hollywood was already hailing the pioneering wildcatters who moved major mountains – technological, logistical, psychological, cultural – to tap and reap this source that today provides a quarter of America's domestic petroleum.
In the 1953 movie "Thunder Bay," Jimmy Stewart plays the complicated protagonist, Steve Martin, the hard-bitten, ex-navy oil engineer who built the first offshore oil platform off Louisiana in 1947. "The brawling, mauling story of the biggest bonanza of them all!" says the Universal ad for the studio's first wide-screen movie.
Much of the brawling by Stewart and his henchmen was against the local Cajuns who fished and shrimped for a living. Their livelihood, it seemed obvious at the time, would soon vanish amidst a hell-broth of irreversible pollution. The movie covers a time period of barely one year yet ends on a happy note of conciliation as the fishermen reaped a bonanza almost as big as Jimmy's itself. The oil structures had kicked in as artificial reefs and made possible a bigger haul of seafood than anything in these fishermen's lifetimes.
Fast forward half a century, and a study by LSU's sea grant college showed that 70 percent of Louisiana's offshore fishing trips target these structures. "Oil platforms as artificial reefs support fish densities 10 to 1,000 times that of adjacent sand and mud bottom, and almost always exceed fish densities found at both adjacent artificial reefs of other types and natural hard bottom," revealed a study by Dr. Bob Shipp, professor at the Marine Sciences department of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. "Evidence indicates that massive areas of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico were essentially empty of Red Snapper stocks for the first hundred years of the fishery. Subsequently, areas in the western Gulf have become the major source of red snapper, concurrent with the appearance of thousands of petroleum platforms."
In brief, "villainous" Big Oil produces marine life at rates that puts to shame "wondrous" Earth Goddess Gaia. "The fish biomass around an offshore oil platform is ten times greater per unit area than for natural coral reefs," also found Dr. Charles Wilson of LSU's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Science (emphasis added): "Ten to thirty thousand adult fish live around an oil production platform in an area half the size of a football field."
"Oh, SURE!" comes the Greenie-Weenie retort, "but you're very conveniently 'forgetting' the infamous BP oil spill!"
Glad you mentioned that. Because only one year after the infamous spill, the FDA's Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Seafood Inspection Laboratory, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, along with similar agencies from neighboring Gulf coast states, have methodically and repeatedly tested Gulf seafood for cancer-causing "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons."
"Not a single sample [for oil or dispersant] has come anywhere close to levels of concern," reported Olivia Watkins, executive media advisor for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
"All of the samples have been 100-fold or even 1,000-fold below all of these levels," reported Bob Dickey, director of the FDA's Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory. "Nothing ever came close to these levels."
"Huh," you ask?
You see, amigos, more than 70% of federal oil production comes from offshore drilling. Yet 94% of federal offshore acreage remains off-limits to development, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
Environmental superstitions account for most of this exploration ban. Because if bonafide science has crowned "Global Warmists" with 10-foot dunce caps, then over half a century of scientific evidence has crowned anti-offshore drilling activists with 50-foot dunce caps. That offshore oil drilling—far from an environmental disaster, is empirically an environmental bonanza—has been pounded home with a vengeance in study after study. The science, you might say, is settled.
To wit: According to the Energy Information Administration, "Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 17% of total U.S. crude oil production." Yet with over 3,000 of the 4,000 plus offshore oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico off her coast, Louisiana provides almost a third of North America's commercial fisheries.
Astoundingly enough, Hollywood once hailed the environmental benefits of offshore oil drilling. The first offshore oil production platforms went up off the Louisiana coast in 1947. By 1953 Hollywood was already hailing the pioneering wildcatters who moved major mountains – technological, logistical, psychological, cultural – to tap and reap this source that today provides a quarter of America's domestic petroleum.
In the 1953 movie "Thunder Bay," Jimmy Stewart plays the complicated protagonist, Steve Martin, the hard-bitten, ex-navy oil engineer who built the first offshore oil platform off Louisiana in 1947. "The brawling, mauling story of the biggest bonanza of them all!" says the Universal ad for the studio's first wide-screen movie.
Much of the brawling by Stewart and his henchmen was against the local Cajuns who fished and shrimped for a living. Their livelihood, it seemed obvious at the time, would soon vanish amidst a hell-broth of irreversible pollution. The movie covers a time period of barely one year yet ends on a happy note of conciliation as the fishermen reaped a bonanza almost as big as Jimmy's itself. The oil structures had kicked in as artificial reefs and made possible a bigger haul of seafood than anything in these fishermen's lifetimes.
Fast forward half a century, and a study by LSU's sea grant college showed that 70 percent of Louisiana's offshore fishing trips target these structures. "Oil platforms as artificial reefs support fish densities 10 to 1,000 times that of adjacent sand and mud bottom, and almost always exceed fish densities found at both adjacent artificial reefs of other types and natural hard bottom," revealed a study by Dr. Bob Shipp, professor at the Marine Sciences department of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. "Evidence indicates that massive areas of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico were essentially empty of Red Snapper stocks for the first hundred years of the fishery. Subsequently, areas in the western Gulf have become the major source of red snapper, concurrent with the appearance of thousands of petroleum platforms."
In brief, "villainous" Big Oil produces marine life at rates that puts to shame "wondrous" Earth Goddess Gaia. "The fish biomass around an offshore oil platform is ten times greater per unit area than for natural coral reefs," also found Dr. Charles Wilson of LSU's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Science (emphasis added): "Ten to thirty thousand adult fish live around an oil production platform in an area half the size of a football field."
"Oh, SURE!" comes the Greenie-Weenie retort, "but you're very conveniently 'forgetting' the infamous BP oil spill!"
Glad you mentioned that. Because only one year after the infamous spill, the FDA's Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Seafood Inspection Laboratory, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, along with similar agencies from neighboring Gulf coast states, have methodically and repeatedly tested Gulf seafood for cancer-causing "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons."
"Not a single sample [for oil or dispersant] has come anywhere close to levels of concern," reported Olivia Watkins, executive media advisor for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
"All of the samples have been 100-fold or even 1,000-fold below all of these levels," reported Bob Dickey, director of the FDA's Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory. "Nothing ever came close to these levels."
The Norwegians pump almost all their oil offshore, making them one of the richest nation in the world.
Yet Norway is famous for its pristine waters!
If Norway can extract oil offshore without hurting the environment, the US should certainly be able to do it too!
Has oil shale production ramped back up?
I reccomember the BP oil spill very well. I also remember a friend, a former Crew Boat Captain, telling me at the time, (paraphrasing here) “Oil is a natural part of the environment and the Gulf is constantly ‘burping’ oil from the seabed,
Then he said something I found amazing and almost
unbelievable. He said, “ Within a year, the ocean will ‘heal it’s self’ like it has been doing for millions of years.”
Well, it did. I guess the guy that spent years on the water knew as much or maybe more as the “experts”.
“Not a single sample [for oil or dispersant] has come anywhere close to levels of concern,” reported Olivia Watkins, executive media advisor for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.”
.
Nope, and it's not going to anytime soon. Texas frackers are not increasing production, preferring to raise cash, pay down debt, and increase distributions and dividends.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/frackers-hold-back-production-as-oil-nears-100-a-barrel-11645150760
For now, most large shale companies aren’t answering the White House’s call, sticking to commitments they made to limit production and return more cash to shareholders, an effort to win back investors who fled the industry after years of poor returns.
And the fishing is superb.
What on earth are you going on about?
Read this:
Permian Oil Output Hits Record
By Irina Slav - Jan 19, 2022,
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Permian-Oil-Output-Hits-Record.html
Where offshore?
Offshore production areas appear to be adjacent to shorelines with onshore production. This includes the Gulf of Mexico and off Los Angeles.
Probably more could be extracted off Los Angeles, since that was shut down after the Santa Barbara spill. The only other hot prospect would be off the north coast of Alaska, but that is pretty hostile conditions for production.
None of this would be necessary if the GOPe had not betrayed President Trump in 2020 when they allowed Joe Biden to illegitimately occupy the White House. The GOPe APPROVED!
Great item, thanks for posting.
Yes it has. A lot of new wells being drilled and a lot of old wells that were drilled earlier are now being fraced. We’ve drilled 6 in the last year and have eight more to go just on the ranch. We’re drilling two wells per location. The Permian Basin is already starting to show an increase in production and it’s going to get bigger. 100 dollar oil get’s everybody moving fast.
There’s things in the ocean that attack oil like it’s a steak dinner.
Well that’s complete horse shit, we’re drilling an fracing as fast as we can.
(Texas frackers are not increasing production,)
I don’t know it that’s your words or theirs but it’s a rather stupid comment. Those in the FRACING business have nothing to do with the production side. They show up on location after drilling is completed and gone before oil hit’s the battery’s. They’re just a contractor involved in the process. The producers are the ones determining production and right now they’re going all out.
Uh, the article contains the same content twice...copy/paste error....
Oil is as natural substance as water. If it is not consumed, it will eventually leach out. Over the Earth history, there are many remnants, like the famous La Brea tar pits in LA.
No need for profanity, FRiend.
Are you both saying the WSJ's quotes from these executives bogus?
We have at least a one, closer to two, year hole in our production pipeline. In addition to that we have a sustained threat on may fronts to continuing or expanding production thanks to this administration. Just the one cancelled lease sale makes a hit. It will take years of higher than normal drilling and completion activity to not just make up for the short fall but to cover increases in consumption.
We are at least five years from normalization of oil and gas prices settling somewhere in the $75 to $90 a barrel price range and so get used to higher prices at the pump they will be with us for a long time.
Distillate / diesel prices will remain high relative to gasoline. One reason is the banning of heavy fuel oil (HFO) for ships and switching that to diesel which is less efficient owing to btu content so it takes more of what is already in short supply. Large ship engines were made for HFO, not diesel. Now we are more “green”. Feel better?
Other commodities spike up and down because of their short production cycles. Oil and gas, not so much so, except for wars their production cycle and price changes are longer term.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.