Senate rejects opening ANWR = 97-1 vote favors suspending reserve deposits.

[L. Coyote]

Senate rejects opening ANWR to drilling
ALTERNATIVE: 97-1 vote favors suspending reserve deposits.
By ERIKA BOLSTAD = May 14th, 2008 - http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/405342.html


WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate rejected a Republican energy plan that promised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, an option that was part of an overall package to increase domestic energy development.

Instead, the Senate voted 97-1 to temporarily halt oil deposits in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while prices at the pump continue to climb.

Congress hopes that diverting fuel from the reserves to the open market will increase supply and ease prices at the pump.

But that's not enough, warned Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has taken the place of her fellow Alaska Republican, Sen. Ted Stevens, as the leading advocate in the Senate for drilling in ANWR.

=====================
Congress votes to halt deliveries to the strategic oil reserve
Sen. Byron Dorgan ... is the chief sponsor of a measure halting oil deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The legislation passes with overwhelming support in defiance of President Bush, underscoring the potency of fuel costs as a campaign issue. Motorists could save as much as 5 cents a gallon.
Richard Simon - May 14, 2008 - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-oil14-2008may14,0,3670148.story

WASHINGTON -- Jittery about a political backlash over gasoline costs as prices set yet another record Tuesday, Congress voted to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in defiance of President Bush. ..........

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Those two Alaskan senators can go suck a tailpipe.

I hope the Alaskans will finally have the wisdom to kick out "Senator for Life" Stevens this fall - who's running against him? Knowles?

[Elspeth]

3. Maybe they can put him on his bridge to nowhere with a can of beer and a ham sandwich

and tell him to keep going...

[L. Coyote]

4. Anchorage mayor Begich is already leading in the polls!! Say ADIOS Ted!!

[Initech]

8. No they can suck on the series of tubes!!

[iamthebandfanman]

16. its all about the money.

and alaska thinks theyd get a big share. ive often heard alot of alaskans are okay with it. never understood choosing money over ...oh i dont know... living? lol

[Bandit]

31. Alaskans have been ..uh..living.. for four decades while pumping oil

Alaskans receive a check every year from investments made that were originally derived from oil money. A couple of thousand dollars for every member of their family a month or so before Christmas. Huge boost to Alaska's economy at a pretty slow time of year, mid winter, and Alaska's fish and game has done very well. Alaska's salmon resources are in the words of ADF&G agents "extremely healthy" There is zero pollution in Alaska's air and water. Maybe some on the left like to really exaggerate things beyond belief..Alaskans are not at all unhappy with their oil pipeline and wells. They are...uh...living....just fine.

[chknltl]

2. Good News Thanks

KnR

[L. Coyote]

5. Sen Dorgan's comments:

"Why on earth should we be putting oil underground at a time of record high prices?" Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), the measure's chief sponsor, argued. "When the American consumer is being burned at the stake of higher gas prices, the government should not be carrying the wood."

[chknltl]

6. I like Sen. Dorgan's analogy!

...all of 2 repukes voted against you say? Odd...those guys generally vote in lockstep with bush. Is it possible that they fear for their party lately? They should be afraid, VERY AFRAID imo.

[L. Coyote]

7. VIDEO: Rep. Markey - Suspending the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x132349

[L. Coyote]

13. VIDEO: Rep. Welch - Suspending the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x132387

[L. Coyote]

14. VIDEO: Rep. Markey to Bush: Stop Filling SPR at Record Prices!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x132404

[Initech]

9. Thank god they're at least doing something.

Quote from the Simpsons:

Assisstant: Election in November! Election in November!
Mayor Quimby: Again? This stupid country!

[XOKCowboy]

10. Alaska is wasted on some Alaskans. Hey let's live in paradise then destroy it!

This is beyond bringing revenues and jobs into the state which I'm sure is their talking point for pushing ANWR drilling. You know that the oil companies have Murkowski and Stevens in their pockets.

[Strelnikov_]

11. Agree on ANWR, disagree on the SPR

We import 2/3rds of our oil, which represents 30% of the worlds entire petroleum export market.

The areas of the world with the largest remaining reserves are rapidly destabilizing as the last man standing resource war takes shape.

The oil being placed in the reserve is lower quality, lower cost, crude, not the sweet/light that is in demand.

We are going to need every drop we have in the SPR in the very near future.

Congress should investigate construction of a few more reservoirs that can be filled with low cost Saudi heavy sour that they currently cannot sell. This would allow us to stockpile some low priced, low quality oil for a time in the future when even it will be gold.

[L. Coyote]

15. We are already paying interest on 9 trillion debt, all the money Bush gave to the rich!

WTF, why not just double that, eh?
Pay interest for generations on the highest priced crude ever?? NOT!!

How about some wind and solar investment instead?

[Strelnikov_]

19. The crude is sold off from the SPR, or replaced in kind

The SPR, over the long run, is revenue neutral.

Also, oil will never be much cheaper than it is now.

Wind investment (w/parallel investment in electric powered transport), sure. Search my posts.

Thing is, the wolf is at the door, now.

I am more concerned with having fuel to produce and transport food five years from now versus saving a cent or two a gallon now.

Again, we import 67%, we consume 30% of the worlds petroleum export market. It will take 20 years, even with a crash program, to make a significant enough dent that this is substantially mitigated.

[L. Coyote]

12. VIDEO: Speaker Pelosi: Bush Administration's Energy Policy is 'Drill and Veto'

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x132385

[ismnotwasm]

17. Good

They already drilled the fuck out of the North Slope. When is Stevens going to go away?

[matt007]

18. good news

and the polar bear is now protected as well. National parks and wildlife refuges should be left alone. period. that should be written in stone somewhere.

[meow2u3]

20. Just watch Big Oil jack up the prices at the pump even further

out of sheer spite!

We'll show you the American people who's boss...either open ANWR to drilling--or else!

[Canuckistanian]

21. Big Oil isn't particulalrly interested in drilling ANWR

Some oil executive said that if ANWR WERE drilled, the'd probably just sell it to Asia or put it on the global spot market.

Besides, there's NOTHING in place that would compel the oil companies to keep ANWR oil in America.

Not to mention that it's a relatively small reserve that would take over 10 years to develop and only provide a few years of production if it were used as a major source of petroleum.

They're just using ANWR as a precedent to rape and pillage ALL natural resources in national parks and wildlife refuges.

[Strelnikov_]

22. “Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic”

Older article consistent with what I have read about the issue over the years. From what I remember, big oil's concerns about the quantity of oil in ANWR are driven by the following:

- Melting permafrost. Only one thing more costly than working on permafrost, and that is working on melting permafrost.
- The amount of time the Alaska pipeline can continue operating without major reconstruction. Seems the suspected volume of oil in ANWR may not justify rehabilitation of the pipeline.


Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic

New York Times
February 21, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21refuge.html

. . .

Once allied, the administration and the oil industry are now far apart on the issue. The major oil companies are largely uninterested in drilling in the refuge, skeptical about the potential there. Even the plan's most optimistic backers agree that any oil from the refuge would meet only a tiny fraction of America's needs.

. . .

A Bush adviser says the major oil companies have a dimmer view of the refuge's prospects than the administration does. "If the government gave them the leases for free they wouldn't take them," said the adviser, who would speak only anonymously because of his position. "No oil company really cares about ANWR," the adviser said, using an acronym for the refuge, pronounced "an-war." Wayne Kelley, who worked in Alaska as a petroleum engineer for Halliburton, the oil services corporation, and is now managing director of RSK, an oil consulting company, said the refuge's potential could "only be determined by drilling." "The enthusiasm of government officials about ANWR exceeds that of industry because oil companies are driven by market forces, investing resources in direct proportion to the economic potential, and the evidence so far about ANWR is not promising," Mr. Kelley said.

[Canuckistanian]

23. Thanks

I couldn't remember enough details to find it.

[L. Coyote]

24. Very interesting. So, why the non-stop R Noise Machine?

[bhikkhu]

25. Years of propoganda have convinced the RW that there's 20 years of supply there

I've heard it many times myself. "The dems won't let us drill ANWAR, but there's enough oil there to keep us going for 20 years!" Of course its baloney...

One high estimate is that it would take 20 years to pump out ANWAR, at an estimated peak flow of 1 mbpd. That's actually pretty respectable, but we burn 25 mbpd, so its also a drop in the bucket, and probably a high-side estimate.

[GOPBasher]

26. 12mbpd? The highest I've heard, even from Repubs who want to drill it, are

for 1 mbpd.

[bhikkhu]

27. Sorry - fat finger error. 1 mbpd was intended, and it is corrected.

[L. Coyote]

28. NoDak: Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x

Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x
http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve

================
May 17th, 2008 - http://www.energyandcapital.com/subscribe/4821?gclid=CNCFo-X9rJMCFQEnGgodJ3YSow
The U.S. Geological Survey just published its official results of a groundbreaking study.

Its report confirmed a massive oil reserve in an area the locals have nicknamed the "Bakken," which stretches across North Dakota, Montana and southeastern Saskatchewan.

The new USGS study estimates a whopping 3.65 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken... but here's what they didn't mention:

The reported 3.65 billion barrels of oil mean estimate is for 'undiscovered' oil only, and doesn't include known oil, such as reserves.

In fact, the study reports a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered... compared to the agency's estimate back in 1995.

===================
Study: One Percent of Bakken Oil Extractable
4/28/2008 - http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=18003

Texas may brag about being a big oil state. But it has nothing on North Dakota.

The Bakken Shale in the western part of the state is the largest oil formation is the lower 48 states, with more than 167-billion barrels of oil.

........

The Department of Mineral Resources says current technology could lead to the recovery of only about two billion barrels.

"There is enormous opportunity and potential to increase that," says Lynn Helms, of ND Department of Mineral Resources. "If you look at normal recovery it is at 20 to 50 percent so there is a great opportunity for brilliant people, intelligent people, to find ways to get more then one point 4 percent of this oil out of the rock."

[bhikkhu]

29. Good lord...shale oil is a crock

Its massive but you can't extract it. It hasn't been done because it doesn't work - the energy inputs are so high, and the environmental costs so high, that it just doesn't work.

Take a look at a similar project Chevron is working on:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3969#more

Can you imagine the EROI? Perhaps it is a matter of the balance sheet now, like the CEO and the accountants massaging the numbers for a fine quarterly, before they take their stock options and cash out.

[L. Coyote]

30. This seems to be a changing dynamic as new practices are developed.

It is quite noteworthy that such a tremendous amount of energy
is available, even if not yet recoverable with current technology.

I'm hanging on to my mineral rights in this region for now.

[bhikkhu]

35. I'd be happy to be wrong, but nothing sounds good about it.

I love that part of the country, and have seen pictures of what the oilsands are doing to Alberta...

a part of the "changing dynamic" is some of the most beautiful places left in the world are being turned to toxic wastelands, so we can keep consuming at this rate and growing at this rate just a little longer.

[L. Coyote]

36. INDEED. Meanwhile, the wind will blow forever!!!

[Sanctified]

32. Why dig it up now, wait till the middle east is out of oil then it will be worth a lot of money. n/t

[DU GrovelBot]

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[OnTheRadio]

34. ted stevens needs something else to live for