Oil and Gas
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Hundreds of thousands of faults, most poorly mapped, just waiting for a bit of lubrication- We all know what causes earthquakes — preexisting long cracks in rock layers (faults) and enough pressure to make them slip. Most don’t slip very often though. Some will never slip because the pressure is just not, or ever will…
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Resources chair pushes through oil and gas legislation that may make his oil and gas leases valuable- Part of Idaho is like so many other places in America where a tsunami of fracking is about to hit. Five years ago this seemed very unlikely. Idaho has always been regarded as an unlikely place for oil…
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Democratic critics say pipeline will not increase U.S. oil supplies- Right now the U.S. Senate is considering a Republican effort to fast-track the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. Democrats will filibuster. Republicans are not likely to get the 60 votes to beat the filibuster. The pipeline is becoming a defining issue between the two parties,…
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“Energy independence” has been the Republican energy policy since 1974- Americans have a bad case of Alzheimer’s when it come to knowledge or remembrance of energy policy. Politicians usually give them a couple shots of rhetorical whiskey to make their memory even worse. This is my effort to help folks remember. Gasoline prices spiked in the United States for the first…
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What a turnaround in the space of 3 years! In 2008 I took a 2 week trip to the headwaters of the famed North Fork of the Flathead River in B.C. to say goodbye to one of North America’s premier fish and wildlife areas, not to mention its incredible beauty. Huge open pit coal mines,…
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The “99%” beats international oil lobby for the time being! The #Occupy movement — Americans figuring out they they are being pushed, stolen from, and disrespected by the top 1% is beginning to score victories, and today a big one came, although it is not yet permanent. It could evaporate after the 2012 election, but…
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People just won’t be quiet about this oil company slash at the planet and America- Developing the Alberta tar sands keeps getting more and more controversial. First it was the pits and the megaloads, but now the anger has shifted to the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring the said-to-be toxic syncrude from Alberta to…
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Highway 12 application is not abandoned, but might be dead for practical purposes- Imperial oil, which is the Canadian version of Exxon-Mobil, has underscored what may be their abandonment of their controversial efforts to truck gigantic loads (hence “megaload”) up the scenic, narrow Clearwater and Lochsa River canyons into Montana and from there a controversial…