Free Republic

Leadership: As Palin jousts with Biden on energy independence, the government reports that we lead the world in energy reserves. From oil to gas to coal, we are sitting on prosperity. So why are we importing anything? One of the interesting sidelights of the NY-23 race was an exchange on energy independence between Vice President Joe Biden and the former governor of energy-rich Alaska, Sarah Palin. Biden, who came in to campaign for Democrat Bill Owens, was reminded of the issue of energy. "The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was 'Drill, baby,...

The United States could be energy independent if it possessed the collective political will to make it happen. After all, the country has the largest energy reserves on earth, according to a recently-released Congressional Research Service report.

The Culver City Council on Monday unanimously approved a moratorium to halt drilling in the Inglewood Oil Field until next August, by when city officials hope to have drafted a new ordinance that ensures the public’s safety and welfare. The new moratorium will extend one that expires Oct. 8 by 10 months, until Aug. 23, 2010. Plains, Exploration & Production Company, the primary operator of the oil field, has already sent four notices of intent to drill new wells to the State Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, even though the oil company agreed with the Los Angeles County...

The government is, increasingly, the enemy. Imagine the jobs, the wealth, the independence, and cutting the jihad snake off at the head. There is no downside. We could easily extract that oil with minimum impact to the trees. ..... For decades, Democrats have blocked efforts to responsibly develop this nation's energy resources, transforming vast areas of opportunity into "The No Zone." (hat tip Jim)

OKLAHOMA CITY — A new technique that tapped previously inaccessible supplies of natural gas in the United States is spreading to the rest of the world, raising hopes of a huge expansion in global reserves of the cleanest fossil fuel. Italian and Norwegian oil engineers and geologists have arrived in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania to learn how to extract gas from layers of a black rock called shale. Companies are leasing huge tracts of land across Europe for exploration. And oil executives are gathering rocks and scrutinizing Asian and North African geological maps in search of other fields. The global...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Energy Policy: Ignoring peak-oil Cassandras, BP has made another giant oil find in the Gulf of Mexico. We're not running out of oil. Our government just doesn't want us to look for it.The world is running out of oil and good riddance. That's the environmentalists' mantra. But since the first well was drilled near Titusville, Pa., 150 years ago, the prophecy has gone unfulfilled. Trouble is, those darn greedy oil companies keep finding the stuff. Oil has been produced in the Gulf of Mexico since the first well was drilled by Kerr-McGee Corp. in 1947. Some of the wells are...

Energy: We balk at importing "dirty" oil from Canada, but others aren't so reluctant. Exempt as a "developing" nation from Kyoto-like agreements, China has decided to help Canada develop its energy-rich oil sands.The Financial Post reports that PetroChina International Investment Co. has struck a deal to buy a 60% interest in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s McKay River and Dover projects for $1.9 billion. China has been establishing energy beachheads around the world in its quest to keep its growing economy fueled. With possible conflict brewing between Israel and Iran, Beijing recognizes the need for reliable suppliers like Canada in an...

Here is a copy of Glenn Beck's "5 Pledges" from his 8/28/09 TV Show. Use it by copy/paste for emails,etc. "We are sending you "The 5 Pledges" from the Glenn Beck TV Program that we endorse and want you to endorse. We support the concept that unless you are "IN" on these concepts we will work so that you are "OUT" in 2010 or your next Re-Election Run. ......to Congress, ** 5 PLEDGES ** 1. I believe in a balanced budget and therefore will vote for a freeze in government spending until that goal is realized. 2. I believe government...

It appears that the EPA, under the "RFS2 - Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007," is going to cause problems with how biodiesel will be viewed as a source of pollution, rather than as a means to reduce it. According to the National Biodiesel Board, the EPA has wrongly calculated the negative impact of biodiesel. As a result, the Board would like to enlist the help of supporters of biodiesel in a mail campaign to the EPA and, I assume, others. The points they most want to drive home are mentioned in the following letter: Honorable Lisa Jackson Administrator...

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy? Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale...

Energy Policy: New York's governor wants to tap into a shale formation that can supply the entire U.S. with natural gas for 65 years. Will NIMBY environmentalists let him stimulate New York's and America's energy economy?Last week, David Patterson released a draft report of his Energy Planning Board that does something Democrats are loath to do: It proposes developing a domestic energy resource — the huge amounts of natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation. New York produces 5% of its natural gas in-state and imports more than 95% from the Gulf Coast and Canada. The Marcellus Shale stretches...

Cap-And-Trade: The administration likes to defend bad policies with analogies to the post office. New studies from a business group and the administration itself confirm that cap-and-trade belongs in the dead-letter bin.Along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Rep. Ed Markey likens the cost of the Waxman-Markey cap-and trade bill to "about a postage stamp a day," based on estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office and the EPA. But as we and others have shown, they arrive at this magical number in part by ignoring the hit on gross domestic product and employment that will occur. As Garret Vaughan, economist...

Stimulus: Brazil, a leader in the use of biofuels such as ethanol and in the face of falling oil prices, still plans to spend huge sums to expand its offshore oil resources. Drilling rigs are infrastructure too.With oil prices scraping the bottom of the barrel, pun intended, there wouldn't appear to be much incentive to pursue the development of new oil resources. And in tough economic times worldwide, the necessary investment required would appear to be prohibitive. As the U.S. seeks to get its economy going by building roads, bridges and bicycle paths, Brazil has decided to create jobs and...

Energy Policy: The chief economist of the International Energy Agency says the world is running out of oil. We've been told that for the last 150 years. The only thing we're running out of is the will to drill.Ever since the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pa., in 1859, experts have been predicting we would soon run out of oil. The latest is Dr. Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency in Paris, whose job it is to assess future energy supplies by OECD countries. In an interview with the Independent, Dr. Birol says that based...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Dozens of fruitful wells beneath the rich Bakken shale in North Dakota continue to fuel a hunch among oilmen and geologists that another vast crude-bearing formation may be buried in the state's vast oil patch. Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said recent production results from 103 newly tapped wells in the Three Forks-Sanish formation show many that are "as good or better" than some in the Bakken, which lies two miles under the surface in western North Dakota and holds billions of barrels of oil. "I think it's a big deal...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

Both projects involve small reactors that would be buried underground and operate for many years without the need for refueling. Toshiba’s reactor, dubbed the 4S for “Super-Safe, Small and Simple,” is designed to produce 10 megawatts of electricity for 30 years without refueling. It would be cooled by liquid metal. (Toshiba is also developing a 50MW version.) Hyperion is promising a reactor that can produce 25MW for five to 10 years and uses uranium hydride as a combination fuel and temperature-moderator. Alaska’s governor supports the concept. “Absolutely I can see nuclear playing a role in our energy agenda,” Gov. Sarah...

Thursday, June 11, 2009 TransCanada and Exxon Join Forces on the Natural Gas Pipeline to the Lower 48 - Major Victory for the Palin Administration! By Joseph Russo Alaska Governor Sarah Palin celebrates a landmark agreement between TransCanada and ExxonMobil to partner together in building Alaska’s natural gas pipeline – the largest and most complex construction project in North America. Governor Palin, center, is joined by (left to right) Marty Massey, Joint interest Manager for Exxon Mobil; Alaska Department of Natural Resources Deputy Commissioner Marty Rutherford; Rich Krueger, President of Exxon Mobil Production Company; Hal Kvisle, President and CEO of...

The giant Russian energy company, Gazprom, which controls the world's largest reserves of natural gas, has issued a stark warning to the European Union saying it must decide if it wants to continue receiving supplies of Russian gas.Speaking in an interview for the BBC's Newsnight programme, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev warned that Europe was now at a crossroads. "Only three countries can be suppliers of pipeline gas in the long-term - Russia, Iran and Qatar. So there is no other choice than to deal with these suppliers," he said. "Europe should decide how to handle this situation… and if...

“Voters want action on energy,� one congresswoman told The Washington Post. “They don’t really care how much it costs.� A Democratic president was on the verge of signing “the most important energy legislation in a decade,� with tens of billions of dollars dedicated to jump-starting a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels and helping the United States achieve “energy independence.� For too long, most analysts agreed, America had put off the hard choices necessary to prevent the next oil shock and wean the country from petrodictators in the Middle East. Now was the time for bold investment and leadership from Washington.The...

The new Honda Insight is supposed to be the "hybrid for everyone," but does that include Republicans? A new Wall Street Journal article runs down the well-known tale of how, mostly, the people who drive hybrids are on the left side of American politics (remember this?). From there, Democratic political consultant Mark Penn asks his big question: "Where Are the Republican Hybrid Buyers?" From the article: But if we really want to expand the number of [hybrid] buyers, we should develop new arguments that appeal to the Republicans who have been holding back. To look at it another way,...

1. Drill, baby, drill: Open ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico and the outer continental shelf to oil and natural gas production. 2. Nuclear power: Environmentalists who are alarmists about alleged man-made global warming and yet oppose building new nuclear power plants are hypocrites. If France can build nuke plants, why not the U.S? 3. Oil shale: We have more shale oil in U.S. mountains than the Saudis have oil in their reserves. 4. Kill Cap-and-trade: This bill is nothing more than a huge, job-destroying energy tax. 5. Yucca Mountain: A perfect place for a repository for our nuclear waste materials...

A key member of the Saudi royal family who headed the country's intelligence service for 25 years accused both the Obama and Bush administrations Monday of "deceiving" the American people that the U.S. can ever end its dependence on foreign oil. "You can't get rid of oil. You can't get rid of fossil fuels — gas and coal — unless you want to price yourself out of existence," Prince Turki al-Faisal, former ambassador to Washington, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "I'd hope that the general public in the United States would be wiser than to be deceived...

April 17, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Clean, Safe, and SecureA Gulf of Mexico gas rig shows the way to greater energy independence. By Deroy Murdock Aboard Anadarko’s Independence Hub — When you last showered, 2 percent of the natural gas that heated your water likely came from this bright-yellow platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Painted like a lemon to ward off errant ships and aircraft, this leading-edge installation proves that America can produce far more of its own energy — innovatively, safely, and cleanly — if we just stop scaring ourselves into paralysis. The Independence Hub, or I-Hub, is a joint...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-83 Governor Palin Testifies on Outer Continental Shelf April 14, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today testified before Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a federal hearing in Anchorage, urging the Obama administration to stand by Salazar’s confirmation hearing statement favoring “wise, responsible use of conventional fuels,” such as the oil and gas resources found in abundance in the Outer Continental Shelf. “Alaska has consistently supported oil and gas development in our OCS,” Governor Palin testified. “We have done so recognizing that certain areas should be exempted from leasing, or have seasonal drilling...

An under-the-radar provision in a House climate bill would give plaintiffs who claim to be victims of global warming a way to sue the federal government or businesses, according to a report Friday in The Washington Times. The Times reported that Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts added it into a bill they authored.

T. Boone Pickens looks tired. Standing in the sunken pit of a packed lecture hall at Houston's Rice University, he's hawking his Pickens Plan for energy independence, saying we need to use more wind power and natural gas. The 80-year-old, with flesh-colored hearing aids set deep inside his ears and tanned bags drooping under his eyes, looks confused and momentarily loses track of what he's saying. He pauses, takes off his gold Rolex, slumps down on a stool and announces in his trademark drawl, "I'm runnin' out of money." (Which, for Pickens, means he's still got untold millions, possibly billions,...

President Obama’s biofuel and oil policy is on a collision course to a national catastrophe. Yet, the alarms are not sounding and the red lights are not flashing. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is not warning Obama that his oil policy will increase our dependence on foreign oil. Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Administration, is not alerting the President that his oil policy will increase carbon dioxide emissions. National Security Advisor James L. Jones is not cautioning the President that his biofuel and oil policy increases the US vulnerability to a Second Arab Oil Embargo. Christina Roner of...

Obama pulls the plug on the nuclear industry's last best hope. We've seen a lot of hyperbole lately about the significance of a presidency that's all of six weeks old. I hesitate to add to it. But the following statement happens to be the literal truth. The ramifications of the 2008 presidential election will be felt for 1 million years. One million years is a long time. A million years ago, Homo erectus (who looked like this, not this) was getting ready to invent the hand axe and discover fire. Yet 1 million years is the length of time that...

US Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alas.) introduced her previously announced bill to authorize Arctic National Wildlife Refuge development using directional drilling from state lands on Feb. 27. The measure, cosponsored by Alaska's other US senator Democrat Mark Begich, would allow access to the ANWR coastal plain's oil and gas resources from state-owned land to the west and state waters to the north, Murkowski said. She originally outlined her proposal on Feb. 19 (OGJ Online, Feb. 20, 2009). The bill aims to reach a compromise with groups concerned with preserving the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain while improving the US economy and its...

Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is once again taking steps towards increasing our energy dependence. Just a few weeks after the Obama Administration unnecessarily slowed the process of leasing offshore areas to energy companies for drilling; Secretary Salazar is now rescinding leasing plans for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.The amount of oil available through oil shale is staggering. Some estimates have 1.2 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil available in the Green River Formation, an area which expands through most of Colorado and parts of Utah and Wyoming. According to the U.S. Department...

In a second reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he is scrapping leases for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Salazar rescinded a lease offer made last month for research, development and demonstration projects that could have led to oil-shale works on 1.9 million acres in the three states, greatly expanding the program. "I am withdrawing that Jan. 14 solicitation because in my view it was a midnight decision, and it was flawed," Salazar told reporters on a teleconference call from Washington, D.C

FedEx CEO: use of foreign oil threatens US economy The Associated Press - Feb 23, 2009 Chief Executive Fred Smith said Monday that US reliance on foreign oil is the biggest threat to the nation's economy after terrorism.

When the housing bubble burst, it exposed an unseemly alliance between special interests and the financial sector. Activists wanted homes for all at any cost, and lenders were happy to oblige despite the inherent risk. Although the economic devastation this bubble wrought is still not under control, a similar toxic alliance is working on the next one: The green bubble. Failing companies such as AIG, General Electric and General Motors, already propped up with tax dollars, have partnered with radical environmentalists in a scheme their CEOs believe will allow them to profit on fears about global warming. Corporate members of...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-25 Governor Congratulates TransCanada on FERC Order February 9, 2009, Juneau, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today congratulated TransCanada Corporation for receiving an order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that represents another successful step on the path toward construction of a natural gas pipeline under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA). On December 15, 2008, TransCanada's subsidiary, the Alaskan Northwest Natural Gas Transportation Company (ANNGTC), informed FERC it was surrendering the conditional certificate issued to it in 1977. On February 6, 2009, FERC issued an order recognizing the surrender of the certificate and terminating...

SALT LAKE CITY – In a high-profile reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the government is scrapping the lease of 77 parcels of federal land for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country. "In the last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases near some of our nation's most precious landscapes in Utah," Salazar said from Washington in a teleconference call with reporters. He ordered the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior Department, to not cash checks from winning bidders for parcels at...

A Political Action Committee named in honor of Sarah Palin has been started up: SarahPAC.com. From their web site, it appears to me that they're using Energy Independence as a cornerstone of their platform (although they do cover other issues as well). If you're so inclined, I suggest that you take a look at the site and see for yourself. Regarding Energy Independence, personally, I think that it is a good concept as long as it doesn't get bogged down in over-reliance on unproven and/or expensive technologies like Solar, Wind or Biomass. Yes, these should be developed as possible with...

A proposal issued in the final days of the Bush administration to expand offshore drilling in previously banned areas will move forward under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, an Interior Department spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. Shortly after being sworn in on Tuesday, Obama ordered all federal agencies and departments to halt pending regulations until they can be reviewed by incoming staff. Hugh Vickery, a department spokesman, said the department has been notified by the White House that it will be able to proceed with a proposed draft of a five-year plan to lease areas in the Atlantic...

The National Ocean Industries Association and seven other industry trade groups issued a statement supporting the US Mineral Management Service's formal solicitation of comments about leasing off Virginia. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other state officials indicated an interest in limited development off Virginia's coast. For decades, federal law limited Outer Continental Shelf leasing to parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. The public comment period for initial information gathering for a proposed OCS Shelf Lease Sale 220 ended Jan. 13. The comment period had been extended 15 days from an initial deadline of Dec. 29, 2008. The...

It's really awesome when one of the liberal elites gets a taste of their own medicine. I wonder how Robert Redford felt the other day in Utah when he was faced with a mob of African-Americans protesting him...

Libya announced on Monday it will cut its daily oil output by 270,000 barrels as of Jan. 1, 2009 in response to an output-cutting decision adopted by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The size of Libya's cut is larger than the OPEC demand, Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, was quoted as saying by news reports reaching here from Tripoli. The OPEC decided at a meeting on Dec. 17 it will cut production by 2.2 million barrels per day starting next month, in order to shore up prices. It was reported that the Abu Dhabi National...

DENVER -- Colorado's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is asserting control over the state's booming energy industry with its approval of the most far-reaching drilling restrictions in the nation. Regulations laid out this month in a 177-page document immediately drew fire from the industry and from some lawmakers, who say the restrictions will drive energy companies out of the state at a time when Colorado needs more high-paying oil and gas jobs. The rules, which take effect in the spring, aim to strike a balance between two resources critical to Colorado's future: the bounty of natural gas buried underground and...

The only way to get there is job-killing taxes This week in Chicago, President-elect Barack Obama introduced key members of his new energy and environmental team and gave a statement expressing his administration's ambitious goal to make America energy independent. While his desire to do so is sincere, such a strategy would be disastrous for our economy. The platitude of "energy independence" makes zero economic sense. Yes, it's true that many nations that supply us with oil are run by anti-American governments. But unfortunately embargoes don't overturn despotic regimes. More often than not they harden them, as in Zimbabwe, North...

A video of fish swimming around underneath an oil rig. You can clearly see the piping and frameworks that comprises the underpinnings. You can see the rig in the background when they stand in their boats to show off the fish they caught. This video is useful for when the oil drilling debate comes back.

A Florida tourism group has dropped its long-standing opposition to offshore oil and gas drilling, saying that a cheap national fuel supply would trigger a boom for the Sunshine State's No. 1 industry. When gasoline prices skyrocketed to more than $4 per gallon this summer tourist spots such as Florida suffered, as would-be vacationers stayed home. So in response, the Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (FACVB) has adopted a new policy that encourages a "comprehensive, long-term energy policy" that includes increased oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico along Florida's coast.

Text size: increase text sizedecrease text size Conquering The Cold Oil Prices Falling, But Interest In Alternative Fuels High By THERESA SULLIVAN BARGER | Special To The Courant November 23, 2008 Glen Rokicki Glen Rokicki peeks into the belly of a Vermont Casting wood-burning stove in the showroom of Fireside Supply in Hebron to check out the clean-burning aspects of BioBricks. (JOHN WOIKE / HARTFORD COURANT / November 20, 2008) Even before heating oil spiked toward $5 a gallon last summer, businesses that sell wood and pellet stoves were busy. By early fall, some pellet and wood retailers were so...

It seems we have dodged another bullet in our cost of energy as oil prices have plummeted and gas is preparing to drop below $2.00 a gallon, down from inching just over $4.00 a gallon earlier this summer during the campaign. Such high costs put a crimp in our living standards and hurt everybody as we stopped driving as much, stopped buying new cars and had to pay increased prices for nearly everything that had to be shipped over the road by truck. We cried out about it and the candidates responded with promises of increased energy efficiency requirements to...

Energy independence won't happen if falling gas prices lead to a resumption of bad habits. THE PRICE OF crude oil closed at $57.04 a barrel on Friday. That's about $90 cheaper than it was in July. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline Friday was $2.15, nearly $2 less than it was in July. This is definitely good news for the battered American consumer. But we fear that the temptation to return to gas-guzzling vehicles, to drive more and to forget the painful lessons learned last summer will be too great to resist.