Thank the Polar Bear for Higher Energy Costs
The Day That ANWR Died
By Bluey Posted in Endangered Species Act | Energy | Global Warming | Polar bears — Comments (23) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne gave a new meaning to the Endangered Species Act today. Only in Washington is it possible to call an animal "threatened" that has doubled its population over the past 40 years.
In the case of the polar bear, Kempthorne sided with left-wing activists and global warming alarmists, choosing to list the bear under the ESA -- a cause célèbre for the left.
The implications could be devastating. The decision opens the door for environmentalists and like-minded activist judges to wreak havoc on domestic energy production. Any new coal-burning power plant will be the subject of a lawsuit. And the long-running goal of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration is now officially dead.
There are few issues where I agree with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), but this is one of them. "This abuse of Endangered Species law will have a devastating impact on the entire nation through endless litigation and regulation," he said.
Global warming alarmists are already salivating at the thought of what harm they can impose. The Sierra Club noted that a "listing will help us use the technology and tools we have to combat global warming."
Of all the animals the Interior Department could have listed because of global warming, the polar bear hardly warrants protection. It's population stands at 20,000 to 25,000, more than double the number from the 1960s. Unfortunately, as a result of the Bush administration's unwise action, Americans will be left to suffer with higher energy costs by relying even more heavily on foreign oil.
Global Warming Alarmists Using Polar Bear as a Pawn — Comments (8) »
Thank the Polar Bear for Higher Energy Costs 23 Comments (0 topical, 23 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
If I remember this correctly from environmental law, only the decision not to list a species can be appealed. I think the Sec can review the status on his own and make the decision to de-list (which can of course be challenged) otherwise the law itself has to be changed. Ted Stevens is so right, they will stop the construction of every coal plant, every new attempt to drill, everything. I am still waiting to see a mainstream media report on the potential devastating outcome of this decision, but that ain't going to happen. I would be okay with even a mention that all of this feel good climate legislation, and the polar bear decision might have a wee bit of an impact on those pump prices.
of getting this awful thing overturned
So explain to me how drilling in ANWAR will a.) lower gasoline prices or b.) improve our energy independence. As a fungible commodity, increasing domestic production will increase world supply by only a very small fraction and do nothing to reduce the price of a barrel of oil.
And even if we were to significantly increase domestic oil production, it wouldn't improve our economic security. Another OPEC oil embargo would send world prices through the roof and cripple the US economy, no matter HOW MUCH we produce at home considering our reserves.
Econ 101, folks.
First, it is ANWR as in Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, a completely arbitrary designation produced by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, brought to you by that paragon of leadership, Jimmah Carter.
OPEC cannot either afford or enforce an embargo. Putting increased marginal supplies on the market WILL drive down the price on the spot market almost immediately; not to the "good" old days of $20 -30/bbl., but down from today's stratospheric prices. Once that happens, the OPEC and allied producers, e.g., Russia, will start worrying about protecting their market share and maintaining their revenue base and begin to crack the production quotas further driving prices down. This isn't crystal ball gazing, this is what happened when the North Slope and North Sea came on line. Without the monopolistic practices of OPEC and its allies, oil behaves like any other commodity; it has peaks and valleys in price but generally averages just enough price to insure continued production. Thrownng additional supply on quickly causes the monopoly players to start fighting over the bones of their market share.
That's some Oil 101 for Dummies.
In Vino Veritas
Just a typical, small town, white girl...
It's magic!
Golly, if I had only had the acronym correct, I would have surely won THAT argument.
So you are telling me that the estimated oil reserves of ANWR (oh, and thank you for that correction, my friend!), about 16 billion barrels, will initiate such changes in the global oil market in 10 years that prices will miraculously drop? What does Saudi Arabia have, about 16 times that (261 billion barrels)? We consume about 25 percent of the current production. No matter what we do, don't they essentially have our nuts in a vice?
Oh, and what does dumba** mean? Is it akin to dumbsh**? doucheb**? Pompous f**kmonkey?
Your friend, Dumba**
2. You are talking to someone with immense internal knowledge of the oil industry. AChance is the resident oil expert. He knows what he is talking about.
Now also found at The Minority Report
but Vladimir and others know a lot more about the actual business than I do. I know a lot about how a governmental actor and major oil owner makes its policies and anticipates the behavior of markets and, thus, revenue, but all I know first hand about the "awl bidness" is the time I spent when I was young and dumb hauling pipe on the TransAlaska Pipeline. That taught you a lot about how to p**s away money in Valdez bars and cathouses but not much about anything else.
In Vino Veritas
Compared to this guy, you are an expert.
Besides, I'm considered an expert in insurance. I just make it up as I go! ;)
Now also found at The Minority Report
but our resident Dumba** here wouldn't have any experience with that, I'd suspect.
Just give me one more oil boom, I promise not to p**s this one away! Valdez, known at the time as ValDisease, was like Dodge City. If you could get your butt on a bar stool faster than some hooker could get her hand under it; you had one fast butt. The Pipeline was built by, mostly, twenty-somethings who'd never done anything like that before in their lives. It was probably the best educated workforce the World has ever seen. Why go to college or take the sh*t for brains jobs you could get right out of college when you could go build that line? $1000, $1500 or more take home pay every week in the mid-seventies was some very serious money. Like most, I don't have much to show for it but a very well off ex-wife, but what the Hell.
But the real reward is in doing something like that. A pipe hauler was about 110 feet long. The TAPS pipe was 48" in diameter and a load was three 80' lengths. Two laid on bunks on the tractor and the bogies and one laid on the other two. The tractors were KW, Peterbilt, or GMCs with Detroit V-12s and 13 speed Road Rangers. They had triple axles and the bogie was a steerable triple axles tied to the tractor's power steering. The damned things were incapable of going straight and pretty much incapable of stopping unless you wanted to be a doughnut with a 48" hole. But dragging up Thompson Pass out of Valdez in snow so thick you can't see the hood ornament on the Pete, steering by looking down out of the driver's side window, and living to tell the story is its own reward. And coming down off Atigun Pass in the middle of winter, thirty, forty below, the whole North Slope spread out before you, and the Northern Lights dancing right down to the ground all around you. Hey, ain't many people done that!
In Vino Veritas
you are an ignorant ass full of lefty talking points who is irritating his betters. Now shut up and go away. I'd advise you to read a bit, but on the assumption that you actually could read, you wouldn't learn anything that might interfere with your smug little self-referent world.
In Vino Veritas
(answer to question: don't they essential have our nuts in a vise?)
You're looking at the wrong comparison when you compare ANWR reserves and Saudi Arabian reserves. In the oil market, because of demand inelasticity it's the marginal supply that has huge effects on price: a relatively small excess of demand over supply will trigger a rather large upwards price movement, whereas a relatively small excess of supply of demand will drive prices down. Thus injecting even a relatively small increment of ANWR oil into the world market could substantial drop prices.
from pushing the magic button this week:
And this one was well-deserved.
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
I need one of those at work.
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
that says "I'm surrounded by idiots" when you whack him on the head. If I still worked in a cubicle, it would be perfect...my wife doesn't appreciate it when I hit it when she's in my home office... ;-)
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated. -- IMAO
whether Kempthorne's kids were released after he issued tbis decision? I mean, they /were/ being held for ransom or something, right?
That's the ONLY thing that could explain this insanity.