Thursday, May 5, 2011

Oil Drilling News


OIL/ENERGY POLICY


U.S. House votes to open Va. coast to offshore drilling
"The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that calls for offshore oil and gas drilling off Virginia's coast within a year."

Congress considers West Coast oil drilling

"Nearly a year after a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and created one of the largest environmental catastrophes of all time, federal lawmakers are considering encouraging drilling off the West Coast, including the rich oil beds off Southern California."


House GOP rejects effort by Democrats to vote on repealing oil industry tax subsidy


Ocean Champions Action Alert - Please act now and tell your Senators to oppose increased offshore oil drilling!
"Moments ago, the House passed H.R. 1230, a bill that would expand offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and open up the Virginia coast to drilling for the first time. Exposing beautiful and sensitive mid-Atlantic beaches from New Jersey to North Carolina to an oil spill would decimate tourism and fishing jobs and economies while killing critical estuaries up and down the coast. We expected this bill to pass the House.  A companion bill, H.R. 1229 is likely to pass the House as well.  It gives the Secretary of Interior a maximum of 60 days to review an offshore drilling permit request. If an understaffed Interior Department can't complete the review in that period, the request is considered approved!  Does that sound like a safe way to drill to you?"

Posted by at

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Oil Drilling News


OIL/ENERGY POLICY


House readies rules of engagement on oil drilling fight


Expanding offshore drilling will be voted on by House this week

"The House is due to vote this week on Republican measures to expand and expedite offshore drilling, even as the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders insist that what really needs to be tapped are oil industry profits in a time of soaring gas prices."


Congress to Vote on Drilling Off Jersey Shore

New Drilling Bills Won't Help With Gas Prices, Will Make Rules Weaker Than Pre-BP Spill


Bishop Bill Will Repeal Billions in Tax Breaks for Big Oil


Posted by at

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Oil Drilling News


GULF OIL DISASTER


Deepwater Horizon: One Year Later

This website is a compilation of NOAA information and resources related to oil spill response and restoration in general and the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Crude Oil Chemical Linked to Heart Disease


BP investigates more oil mats in Gulf


Gulf Coast Syndrome

"In the wake of the BP oil disaster, thousands of Gulf cleanup workers and residents have reported illnesses, with symptoms as tame as headaches or as violent as bloody stools and seizures. Nonprofit groups and teams of scientists are looking for answers using blood tests, surveys, maps, and soil and seafood samples. The National Institutes of Health began its "Gulf Long-Term Follow-Up Study for Oil Spill Clean Up Workers and Volunteers," often shortened to GuLF Study, to follow the health of 55,000 cleanup crew members over 10 years."

ENERGY/OIL POLICY


OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Dems push for oil subsidy votes as drilling bills move forward


What Oil Spill? - Four US State Governors Form Offshore Drilling Advocacy Coalition


US becomes net exporter of fuel

"The US has become a net exporter of fuel for the first time for nearly 20 years as drivers struggle with high petrol prices. 

Energy department data show the world's largest oil consumer in February shipped out 54,000 barrels more petroleum products each day than it purchased on the global market.

For years the US was not only a net importer of crude oil but also of refined fuels. But oil demand of 19m b/d, while on the rebound, remains 2m b/d below pre-recession levels.

Roads are also carrying less traffic than in 2007 and refiners have boosted fuel output. 

"Even though our consumption is up from where it was a year ago, we still have plenty available for export," said Rayola Dougher, API senior economic adviser."


FLORIDA


Florida Senator Flip-Flops (Again) on Offshore Drilling



Posted by at

Monday, May 2, 2011

Oil Drilling News


OIL AND ENERGY POLICY


Obama Says $4 Billion in Tax Breaks for Oil Companies Should Be Scrapped

"In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said the U.S. shouldn't be granting $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies at a time when they are reaping tens of billions of dollars in profit and gasoline prices have risen above $4 per gallon in much of the nation."

Let's cut off the subsidies to profitable oil companies


Can the GOP Break Its Oil Addiction? (Frum Forum)
"If Republicans can garner the courage to make a clean break from their habit of subsidizing oil companies, they will not only strike a blow for intellectual consistency, but they will be helping our nation to break its oil addiction and give cleaner, more domestically available, alternative fuels a fair chance to compete in the market place."


Casting Oil Upon the Waters: The House Drilling Bills (NRDC)

"These bills are more than a Big Oil wish list; they are a sort of oil utopia – and they could make sense only in a utopian world in which oil spills could never ever happen, in which there are never conflicts between the oil industry and other economic interests like fishing and tourism, and in which oil companies always take environmental and safety concerns fully into account.  It's as if Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), the bills' sponsor, set out to prove how apt it is to talk about the U.S. "addiction" to oil.  Under these bills, the U.S. would truly be acting like an addict, willing to sell out any principle, dispense with any caution, endanger any asset to get its next fix.  Again, these bills ought to be seen as irresponsible even by supporters of increased drilling."

WSJ Offshore Drilling Poll

NORTH CAROLINA


LTE: Ocean energy

"I feel deeply chagrined after reading your April 21 article regarding three GOP state senators who are filing a bill to open the North Carolina coast to offshore drilling. Instead of investing time and money in prolonging our dependence on oil and gas as primary energy sources, we should be aggressively exploring and developing alternative energy technologies that will reduce and ultimately eliminate our reliance on nonrenewable resources."


Posted by at

Friday, April 29, 2011

Oil Drilling News


FROM THE 'WILL GET FOOLED AGAIN' DEPARTMENT


Macondo will someday be produced, BP executive says

"When asked if BP will go back and try to produce Macondo, Wells said, "Clearly it was a discovery, clearly there is a good reservoir there, someday somebody is going to do that. I am not going to say it will be BP.""

Montara oil spill firm seeks permission for more drills

"The company behind Australia's worst oil spill in 25 years has told the federal government it should be allowed to drill two new wells just north of the ill-fated Montara field because it has a record of "responsible environmental management"."

THE RICH GET RICHER


The Oil Company Gusher

"Exxon-Mobil's first quarter earnings of $10.7 billion are up 69 percent from last year. That's the most profit the company has earned since the third quarter of 2008 - perhaps not coincidentally, around the time when gas prices last reached the lofty $4 a gallon. This gusher is an embarrassment for an industry seeking to keep its $4 billion annual tax subsidy from the U.S. government, at a time when we're cutting social programs to reduce the budget deficit. 
Especially embarrassing when Americans are paying $4 a gallon at the pump. 
Exxon-Mobil's Vice President asks that we look past the "inevitable headlines" and remember the company's investments in renewable energy. What investments, exactly? Last time I looked Exxon Mobil was devoting a smaller percentage of its earnings to renewables than most other oil companies, including the errant BP."

THE FUTURE - BAD NEWS/GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS DEPARTMENT


Oil prices to keep rising as peak production reached in 2006

"The age of cheap oil is now over – and that's official. 

For the first time, the International Energy Agency has conceded that global crude oil production has already peaked and that the commodity will become more and more expensive."


EIA updates energy outlook reference case

"Strong growth in shale gas production, increasing use of natural gas and renewable energy sources in electric power generation, and declining reliance on imported liquid fuels are some of the findings in the latest energy outlook from the US Energy Information Administration." Read the report. 


Wake Up! The Age Of Cheap Natural Resources Is Over

"Conclusion - 
The U.S. and every other country need a longer-term resource plan, especially for energy, and we need it now!"


How close is peak oil?

"The only obvious winners are electric and hybrid car makers and EV network operators. Their business is almost entirely an arbitrage play on rising oil prices. Given the current forecasts – the IEA predicted itself that sales of conventional gasoline cars will be negligible by 2050 – it's looking something like a sure bet."


Posted by at

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Oil Drilling News

GULF OIL DISASTER


Carnival sues BP and others over Gulf of Mexico oil spill-related expenses


Spoof Video - I Know What You Spilled Last Summer


Scientists surprised, cautious over environment's apparent post-oil spill recovery

The spill caused a dramatic reversal in the abundance of zooplankton — the tiny plants and animals that float in Gulf waters. In contrast, populations of oil-consuming bacteria soared. 

Based on environmental conditions before the spill, Graham said, 2010 should have been a very productive year for zooplankton. 

"I would say the concentration in the water was at least four times lower than it should have been," he said. [...] 

Overton noted that troubling issues remain, such as the hundreds of dead dolphins and turtles that have washed ashore this year."


Study: Gulf spill's social costs may linger for years

Mississippi barrier islands still recovering from spill


OIL DRILLING AND ENERGY POLICY


High gas prices and oily political rhetoric don't mix (CSM Editorial)

"Neither the president nor Congress have much influence over these trends. The best thing to do, then, is for the country's leaders to change America's fuel diet by encouraging less demand for oil through conservation and efficiency, and by supporting investment in nonoil fuels. 

President Obama got at this when he said "there's no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away." 

The harder truth is that high prices are likely to continue. They will actually help speed the coming and necessary transition from oil dependence, because high prices make the status quo so uncomfortable."


Letter from the President to Congressional Leadership Regarding Oil Subsidies

"One of those steps is to eliminate unwarranted tax breaks to the oil and gas industry and invest that revenue into clean energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Our outdated tax laws currently provide the oil and gas industry more than $4 billion per year in these subsidies, even though oil prices are high and the industry is projected to report outsized profits this quarter." 

Legislative Update from NRDC:
On 4/13 the House Natural Resources Committee gave a green light to the expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling at a markup on three bills introduced by the committee's chair, Rep. Hastings (R-WA). H.R. 1231 would mandate oil and gas leasing in all U.S. coastal areas, including those off the northeast, California and Alaska. The other bills (H.R. 1229,H.R. 1230) would force the Obama administration to offer leases off the coast of Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico, sales it had canceled after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and to expedite the review of oil drilling permit applications. The committee passed the bills by votes of 29-14 (H.R. 1231), 27-16 (H.R. 1229), and 29-14 (H.R. 1230). All the Republicans on the committee voted for the bills, as did two Democrats -- Rep. Costa (CA) and Rep.Boren (OK). The full House is expected to vote on the bills in May.

NEW JERSEY

Pallone: Offshore drilling isn't safe anywhere
"If we have learned only one thing from this disaster, it's that big oil sold the American people a bill of goods and all of us paid the price of severe environmental and economic damage. We can't afford to let this ever happen again."

Posted by at

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Oil Drilling News


OIl DRILLING/ENERGY POLICY


New report calls for end to all new offshore drilling

"Lingering Threats addresses key reforms needed to help protect the environment, people and wildlife from offshore drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic and elsewhere.
With the use of multipliers from leading scientists, the CBD estimates that around 26,000 dolphins and whales, 82,000 birds, and 6,000 sea turtles were likely harmed by the spill.
More than 88,000 square miles of closures to fishing occurred after the spill, and with the Gulf being home to more than 500 fish species, an accurate count of fish impacted by the spill is difficult to measure. The oil and dispersed oil are toxic to all stages of fish life, affecting fish reproduction for decades."

U.S. Must Safeguard Environment in Ocean Drills, Activists Urge Court

"Lawyers representing the Sierra Club, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Center for Biological Diversity and other activist groups asked the court to force the Interior Department to rescind several deep-water drilling permits regulators approved last April, just before and after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history."
 
US drilling regulator: 'You can't drill your way to lower oil prices'
"Even if we permitted the hell out of everything tomorrow -- every pending permit, some permits that haven't even been filed yet -- it would not have a material effect on gas prices," Bromwich said. "That's the simple, clear reality."
 
CALIFORNIA

Agenda - CA State Lands Commission
IV-02 "Consider a resolution in opposition to proposed federal legislation to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act that would offer new oil and gas leases off the California Coast, reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium. (HR 1231, Hastings, WA)."
 
NORTH CAROLINA

Editorial: Protecting coastline should be priority

ALTERNATIVES TO OIL


Breaking Our Oil Habit: Oceana Charts a Course to End Offshore Drilling by 2020, and Oil Imports by 2033.



Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)