Free Republic

BP officials desperate to stem a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are considering stuffing the well with golf balls and tyres, it was revealed. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said the so-called "junk shot" of debris was one option after previous attempts to stem the flow failed. A growing slick from the BP-leased rig is threatening an environmental disaster along US coasts.Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing into the sea. Mr Suttles said it may be possible to stem the flow by blocking the well's failed blowout preventer. "We have some...

MMS Approved 27 Gulf Drilling Operations After BP Disaster 26 Were Exempted From Environmental Review, Including Two to BP Salazar's "Moratorium" on New Drilling Permits Allows Continuation of the Same Flawed Environmental Exemption Process that Allowed the BP Catastrophe TUCSON, Ariz.— Even as the BP drilling explosion which killed eleven people continues to gush hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has continued to exempt dangerous new drilling operations from environmental review. Twenty-seven new offshore drilling projects have been approved since April 20, 2010;...

Dan Calabrese, writing in The North Star National, sees the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the resulting oil spill as a good test of spine stiffness for the GOP. One Republican, he says, has passed the test, and it’s Sarah Palin, as usual, but Calabrese is not encouraged by the signs he's seeing from others in the Shy Elephant Party: A day after pundit Charles Krauthammer declared “drill, baby, drill” to be history in light of the spill, and two days after the Obama Administration halted all domestic drilling (gee, what a surprise), Palin came out and invoked her moral...

Liberal unethical democrats are using a massive disaster like this to attack Palin over Drill Baby Drill which Palin is right and we still need to continue doing so. Calling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico 'Lake Palin' is a opportunity to smear not just her but tie the whole Petroleum Industry to her which is unfair and shows that they see her as a greatest threat to Obama in 2012. This is going to far and Palin had absolutely nothing to do with this. On all political websites and liberal blogs, liberals are taking the opportunity to attack Palin's...

And this is the mentality of our lawmakers representing us? No wonder this country is in shambles. These are the brilliant people regulating our industry folks. This is a must see video of what our politicians are lacking in Washington, and that's common sense and education. I am at a loss for words for this fine displacement of intellect. Watch the video, especially at the 1:20 mark:

Cap & Tax for North Little Rock Some more video of the North Little Rock Council Meeting and the decision of Ward 3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPPfNzmangk _________________________________ On January 11th, the North Little Rock City Council approved R10-01, the Integrated Resource Plan to be implemented immediately. A presentation was made by Mike Russ of the North Little Rock Electric Department. The presentation was made quickly and had no handouts for the public, but there were slides of their plan shown at the meeting. The plan involves creating a "smart grid" adding "smart meters" "programs to control powerload", and ways NLR can "reduce it's...

PEOPLE on Kenya's northern coast have one thing to thank Somali pirates for – better fishing. In the past illegal commercial trawlers operated off Somalia's coast and scooped up the fish. Now fishermen from neighbouring Kenya say the trawlers are not coming because of pirates. "There are a lot of fish now. There is more fish than people can actually use because the international fishermen have been scared away by the pirates," said Athman Seif, the director of the Malindi Marine Association in the coastal city of Malindi. On one early morning four fishermen jumped out of their boat and...

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner was playing out of one of the vessels and it was a cool, clear day on the Bay near Hathaway Bridge but Saturday’s gathering of charter boat captains was not a party. It was their last stand, local captains and their supporters said. See photos from the protest >> New regulations from the National Marine Fisheries Service of amberjack and red snapper are destroying the local fishing industry, the captains said. About 50 boats, including small two-man skiffs, large pleasure boats and mid-size trawlers took part in...

U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot (5.9-meter) giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said on Monday, showing how little is known about life in the deep waters of the Gulf. Not since 1954, when a giant squid was found floating dead off the Mississippi Delta, has the rare species been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico. The squid, weighing in at 103 pounds (46.7 kg), was caught July 30 in a trawl net more than 1,500 feet underwater as it was pulled by a research vessel. The giant squid, which did...

So, the full-frontal-nudity-enviro proganda assault begins. Are we really surprised by such a one-sided propaganda flick? If an alternative docu-drama was made, care to guess what lame excuse(s) ABC would give not to show it?

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...

WASHINGTON -- A popular but star-crossed public lands bill that would have extended additional protections to 200,000 acres in Oregon and millions more nationwide was defeated in the House Wednesday by a mere two votes. The measure earned a lopsided 282-144 vote but failed nonetheless because it did meet the required two-thirds majority. Under House rules, the bill needed 284 affirmative votes to pass based on the total number of lawmakers voting. The defeat was a bitter setback to supporters who labored for years and felt confident of victory after the Senate passed the bill in January. In the past,...

....a case against Washington State (WCI) Cap & Trade In an effort to take a leadership role in the WCI the state legislature is holding committee hearings on House Bill 1819 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 5735. This is in general a Statewide Cap & Trade “market” system for greenhouse emission on manufacturing & industry designed to meet the standards of a regional cap and trade program. Washington State is in partnership with six other states and four Canadian provinces, under a coalition called the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). The basic idea of a Cap & Trade system is...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-19 Governor Palin Releases Statement on Defenders of Wildlife Campaign February 3, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin released the following statement today in response to attacks by the Defenders of Wildlife: “It is reprehensible and hypocritical that the Defenders of Wildlife would use Alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive Americans into parting with their hard-earned money. “The ad campaign by this extreme fringe group, as Alaskans have witnessed over the last several years, distorts the facts about Alaska’s wildlife management programs. Alaskans depend on wildlife for food and cultural practices...

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...

A report about why global warming due to carbon dioxide is flawed hypothesis based off of crappy math models. Some of these guys are from the UN's IPCC who left because they so strongly disagreed. Oh, also to give you an idea of how many scientists that is compared to those who think global warming is occurring thanks to carbon dioxide: "The over 650 dissenting scientists are more than 12 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers. " Here's the senate.gov link to where these quotes come from: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2158072e-802a-23ad-45f0-274616db87e6 Here...

NCPA: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Not Worth Cost and Trouble Report Says Government Should Not Force CFLs on Consumers DALLAS (Dec. 10, 2008) - Although touted by many as the smart energy choice, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are not suitable for many common uses and should not be required by the government, according to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The Environmental Protection Agency states that CFLs will reduce energy use and will last longer than standard bulbs. However, NCPA Senior Fellow and report co-author Sterling Burnett argues: "For many uses, compact fluorescent bulbs...

<p>NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Snow is falling in the New Orleans area.</p> <p>The National Weather Service says a mixture of sleet and snow is falling Thursday morning from Baton Rouge east across much of southeastern Louisiana.</p> <p>The winter weather closed some schools and created hazardous driving conditions.</p>

Enviro Group Lawsuits, Cost Concerns, Climate Regulation Uncertainty Cited As Major Obstacles To Grid Improvements Denver, CO (Oct. 1, 2008) -- A new study released this week highlights what experts have been saying for years: the U.S. faces significant risk of power brownouts and blackouts as early as next summer that may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives. The study, "Lights Out In 2009?" warns that the U.S. "faces potentially crippling electricity brownouts and blackouts beginning in the summer of 2009, which may cost tens of billions of dollars and threaten lives." "If particularly vulnerable regions, like...