By Kelly O'Connell ——Bio and Archives--March 5, 2012
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Anybody who tells you that we can just drill our way out of this problem does not know what they're talking about, or they're not telling you the truth -- one or the other...There is no silver bullet. It's a a bumper sticker, not a strategy to solve our energy challenge. It's the easiest thing in the world to make phony election-year promises about lower gas prices. Gasoline prices are on the rise and Republicans are licking their chops. That's a quote.The performance was vintage Obama. He stated incorrect "facts," encompassing false claims, defying his brain-addled political base to attempt the heavy lifting of admitting 1 + 1 never equals 3. Unfortunately, Obama's doctrinaire, play-loose-with-the-facts, dismissive style is increasingly obvious to spot. As American oil discoveries increase, production sky-rockets, while Global Warming is shown a hoax. Meanwhile, Europe proves (as if we needed to see again!) that socialism is failure incarnate. So Barack is fomenting for a system that isn't simply highly deficient, but utterly clueless against the facts. So, Obama's been outed as a quintessential Marx acolyte; but Marxism has no better replacement for modern democracies. This premise, Obama's strange refusal to accept reality and let it help dictate policy, is the subject of this essay.
"No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy," Chu replied. "We think that if you consider all these energy policies, including energy efficiency, we think that we can go a long way to becoming less dependent on oil and [diversifying] our supply and we'll help the American economy and the American consumers."Instead of an aberration, Mr. Chu-Chu made the above comment directly after a scolding by a Republican congressman for his statement to the WSJ in 2008 that America needed higher higher gas prices. Chu-Chu had originally stated, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." So Obama can hardly claim his decision on the Keystone Pipeline is a mere technicality, or a fluke. But why does this administration want the higher fuel prices that will devastate the American economy? For several reasons.
Just as Darwin discovered the law of development or organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history...Such was this man of science. But this was not even half the man. Science was for Marx a historically dynamic, revolutionary force...For Marx was before all else a revolutionist. His real mission in life was to contribute, in one way or another, to the overthrow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had brought into being...Remember when Barack so ominously boasted he would wipe out coal use through regulations? He said,
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted. (video)The Obama administration has followed through with his planned obsolescence of the US coal industry, despite the fact it supplies 51% of American energy needs. Reports the AP:
An Associated Press analysis has found that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to close because of the new, more stringent regulations. Another 36 plants are at risk of closing. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 14.7 gigawatts -- enough power for more than 11 million households -- will be retired from the power grid in the 2014-15 period when the rules take effect.
The Permian Basin of West Texas is experiencing an oil boom. Production will double within 5-7 years, averaging last year a million barrels per day for the first time since 2001. "Right in the basin, we could get up to 2 million barrels a day," Jim Henry of Midland-based Henry Resources claims. "We have 30 billion barrels of new oil discoveries," said Tim Leach, chairman and CEO of Midland-based Concho Resources.In southern Texas, the Eagle Ford play is booming. Says another author on Feb. 27, 2012,
A similar boom is under way in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas. "I could paint a scenario for you where we are producing 3 million more barrels per day by 2016, which would almost get us to the point where we could eliminate 60 to 70 percent of our OPEC imports," said Texas Railroad Commissioner Barry Smitherman.Of course, there are other Texas oil producing areas. 2. Montana & Dakotas Bigger than Texas -- Montana and the Dakotas boast a giant petroleum field called the Bakken. One expert claimed this field holds more than 500 billon barrels. Writes one author recently on the Bakken,
Oil production in North Dakota exceeded an all-time high last month, a record of 535,036 barrels a day in December. The Bakken Shale, which extends south from Canada into North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, is the largest contiguous oil deposit in the continental U.S. (this production figure will double the next decade).3. California The US government recently announced the shale of So CA could have more oil than the Bakken formation. (For all of USA, please see EIA US Review of Emerging Resources: US Shale Gas and Shale Oil Plays, July 2011 {105 pages pdf}). Writes one author,
The California Monterey/Santos oil field has estimated 4 times the technically recoverable oil as Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota, an estimated 500 billion barrels. Bakken oil field estimates range from 271 billion to 503 billion barrels. Harold Hamm (billionaire owner of Continental oil) estimates Bakken will produce six times (24 billion barrels) the oil of the EIA estimate.4. Alaska And don't forget Alaska, which according to this article:
Alaska's North Slope may hold as much as 2 billion barrels of oil, the second-largest U.S. deposit of unconventional crude, and 80 trillion cubic feet of gas, the fourth-largest gas-shale deposit, the U.S. Geological Survey said today.With only 4 states examined, much oil rich country is ignored -- like the recent 1.5 billion barrel find in Colorado. Overall, American oil reserves, which also include much undiscovered in areas which ban drilling, like most coastal regions, is absolutely massive. Says one headline: USA has 7-9 trillion barrels of oil -- possibly over 1 trillion barrels recoverable.
The biggest energy innovation of the decade is natural gas--more specifically what is called "unconventional" natural gas. Some call it a revolution. Yet the natural gas revolution has unfolded with no great fanfare, no grand opening ceremony, no ribbon cutting. It just crept up. In 1990, unconventional gas--from shales, coal-bed methane and so-called "tight" formations--was about 10% of total U.S. production. Today it is around 40%, and growing fast, with shale gas by far the biggest part.States another source,
America has become, in the eyes of energy professionals, the Saudia Arabia of natural gas thanks to shale gas. The DOE estimates that shale gas reserves alone are 750 trillion cubic feet. Combined with other domestic sources of natural gas, the United States has enough natural gas to last for over a century, and the numbers continue to climb.
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Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.