What They Aren’t Telling Us
Jul 31, 2009 Political
Boone Pickens has said, (among other things), that there is plenty of natural gas to power our power plants and our vehicles for at least a hundred years. Sarah Palin has touted the oil and gas reserves of Alaska as long as she has been governor. One person is listened to, and the other is ridiculed for saying the same thing, but one thing is becoming perfectly clear- the government does not want you to know the true state of our oil and gas reserves.
Oh, not the ones off of the East and West coasts- that is politically difficult- but the reserves in America’s heartland. These reserves they especially do not want you to know of.
North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.
A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.
Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.
New geologic models applied to the Bakken Formation, advances in drilling and production technologies, and recent oil discoveries have resulted in these substantially larger technically recoverable oil volumes. About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the Bakken Formation by the end of 2007.
The USGS Bakken study was undertaken as part of a nationwide project assessing domestic petroleum basins using standardized methodology and protocol as required by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 2000.
The Bakken Formation estimate is larger than all other current USGS oil assessments of the lower 48 states and is the largest “continuous” oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS. A “continuous” oil accumulation means that the oil resource is dispersed throughout a geologic formation rather than existing as discrete, localized occurrences. The next largest “continuous” oil accumulation in the U.S. is in the Austin Chalk of Texas and Louisiana, with an undiscovered estimate of 1.0 billions of barrels of technically recoverable oil.
usgs.gov
3 to 4.3 billion barrels of oil- that is quite a bit of oil, and that doesn’t take into account the natural gas amounts that there might be. We are not running out of oil, so much as running out of political will. We would rather impoverish our people while trying, and failing, with untested pie in the sky so- called solutions to a crisis that we would not have if we as a people would wake up and smell the fossil fuel.
“It is clear that the Bakken formation contains a significant amount of oil – the question is how much of that oil is recoverable using today’s technology?” said Senator Byron Dorgan, of North Dakota. “To get an answer to this important question, I requested that the U.S. Geological Survey complete this study, which will provide an up-to-date estimate on the amount of technically recoverable oil resources in the Bakken Shale formation.”
The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. Scientists conducted detailed studies in stratigraphy and structural geology and the modeling of petroleum geochemistry. They also combined their findings with historical exploration and production analyses to determine the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil estimates.
USGS worked with the North Dakota Geological Survey, a number of petroleum industry companies and independents, universities and other experts to develop a geological understanding of the Bakken Formation. These groups provided critical information and feedback on geological and engineering concepts important to building the geologic and production models used in the assessment.
usgs.gov
Now, I am not turning my back on wind, or solar, and especially not nuclear power, but we need to get our heads out of the clouds and back on firm ground. Right now, at this point in time, what we need is a national effort to find energy. The type of energy shouldn’t matter as much as obtaining the energy itself.
We, as a nation, need to position ourselves for the coming century- there are other countries hard on our heels, and if you don’t think our position in this world matters, you really need to go sit on the sidelines, because you will not be any help to your nation, or your family.
Diversification means that a multitude of options will be used- it does not mean to close off any options for consideration, and yet that is exactly what this administration would have us do when we have the resources, and we have the techniques, and we have the infrastructure in place.
This Bakken Formation could, along with Alaska’s gas reserves, give us the breathing room to diversify effectively, rather than impoverish ourselves in an attempt to have alternatives without the assistance of the existing power sources.
To read more about this, go here: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
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Tags: cap and tax, energy needs, fossil fuels, reserves
Eight Republicans Screwed You On Cap And Tax
Jun 26, 2009 Political
The House voted on the cap and trade bill today bringing it closer to reality. It will have a tougher time in the Senate but it will probably eventually pass. This was a big Democratic bill and the agenda for this is strictly on the Democrats even though a number of them voted no today. They are people who are worried about the next election. It was a given that Democrats would largely support this bill but it would not have passed if eight Republicans had not defected. The bill passed 219-212 and would have failed 220-211 has the eight Republicans not voted for it. This bill will raise the cost of energy. People will not be able to afford their energy and all increases on companies will be passed on to the consumer. If it passes you have eight Republicans to thank.
Obama himself clearly said that his cap and trade program would necessarily cause energy prices to skyrocket. Everyone will pay for that. This is not a tax on the “rich” or some offset that the middle class and poor will not have to pay. This will be a massive increase in energy prices so folks better start paying attention and forcing their elected officials to listen. The Senate needs to halt this or it will be a catastrophe.
You know it has to be bad because they are ramming it through before anyone can read it. Does anyone see a pattern here? The stimulus was rammed through and no one read it. Now there are things popping up that no one was aware of. This is not even counting the fact that the stimulus is not working.
The Democrats have a bill that is over 1000 pages. No one had time to read it. At the last minute a 300 page amendment was added and no one could read that. This is irresponsible government and those Republicans who voted for this need to be removed from office. I expect irresponsibility from the Democrats and their messiah but I expect better from Republicans and if they do not do what is right I expect them to be removed from office. Here are the people YOU need to vote out of office in the next election:
- Reichert-Washington–8th District
- Bono-California–45th District
- Castle-Delaware–
- Kirk-Illinois–10th District
- Lance-New Jersey–7th District
- LoBiondo-New Jersey–2nd District
- McHugh-New York–23rd District
- Smith-New Jersey–4th District
Target these people and make sure they lose the next election. They do not deserve your vote and they do not deserve to be in office. They are a disgrace and they sold you out. They sold you a bill of goods.
It is now up to the Senate to kill this bill before it causes the skyrocketing prices Barack Obama wants.
Are you elderly folks paying attention? Are you poor and middle class folks paying attention? Obama’s cap and tax plan will seriously hurt you. If you have to choose between using energy and eating cat food there will be no one to bail you out. You will be further enslaved to the Democratic Party.
We need to start cleaning house and we need to do it in 2010. They all need to go. Get rid of them and replace them with people who will do a good job and do what is right for the country. The people there now stand to make millions off the cap and tax scheme. They will get wealthy while you pay more.
Throw them out and you can start with the eight Republicans listed above.
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Tags: cap and tax, Congress, house, tax increase