Saturday, June 03, 2017

With everybody focused on Trump pulling out of the Paris accords, we almost missed that his administration wants to start drilling more giant holes in Alaska.

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

With all eyes on President Donald Trump’s announcement to withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has signed an order to “jump-start Alaskan energy”—meaning, in this case, to drill for more oil. 

The order pertains to two places: the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A), the largest block of federally managed land in the United States, and the coastal region of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the so-called “1002 area.” It calls for a “lawful review and development of a revised Integrated Activity Plan” aimed toward increased petroleum production from these lands, Zinke said in a statement. The move will reassess the current management plan, and it calls for an update to estimates about quantities of oil beneath the ground within three weeks. 

Attempts to drill in ANWR have been repeatedly defeated in Congress and face stiff opposition from Native Alaskan groups. The announcement was decried by environmental groups. Kristen Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League told the Associated Press that Zinke's order upsets a management plan that the Interior Department spent years creating with tribes, local governments, the state and others. "We and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively supported the current management plan will not sit idly by while this administration tries to give these public lands wholesale to the oil industry," Miller said. “ANWR is a national treasure and an amazing piece of land,” echoed Nicole Whittington-Evans, the Wilderness Society’s Alaska regional director, speaking to Fox News. “It is not a place where oil and gas development should be allowed.”

My assumption is that this is nothing more than throwing a bone to Trump's fossil fuel company benefactors so that they can brag to their investors that they are pursuing new drilling opportunities.

We are still in the throes of a crude oil glut, and even without this new exploration in Alaska 2018 is poised to be produce record oil output.

Simply put it is incredibly expensive to drill in the arctic, and that is even before the numerous court battles that are certain to slow down exploration.

It is time for the Republicans to face the fact that renewable energy is the future, and their insistence on pushing for more fossil fuel production is akin to old time investors pouring money into the building of new horse stables and buggy manufacturing plants while the whole world fell in love with the automobile.

16 comments:

  1. SallyinMI4:31 AM

    The GOP 'face facts?' In what millennia will that ever happen?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:55 AM

    Maybe Todd Palin can get his old job back.
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:18 AM

    "Drill, baby, drill" has never sounded so stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:40 AM

    On Sarah's Twitter feed she takes a shot at the Obama's for buying an $8.1 million house in one of DC's most expensive neighborhoods.

    Twitter was not kind to Sarah.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBSdHQaUQAg-QRT.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:16 AM

      Last time I checked, $arah dahlink, people are allowed to spend their money the way they want without "your" approval.

      Jealous little beeyotch....all because your "god" told you that the right person would win in '08 and it wasn't you...tsk tsk.

      Your newfound "Christianity" is nothing but a crock, which we all knew from the moment you decided to peddle it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:57 AM

      Poor old dried up Sara is just jealous.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous5:44 AM

    Maybe Track can get his lazy ass out of Sarah's garage and get a J.O B.!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:03 AM

    Mother Fucker$
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/03/editorial-cartoon-earth-tweet.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous7:05 AM

    So the oil companies must not be interested in putting up the money to drill.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:19 AM

      Backasswards hu? First, Dumpster pulls out of Paris agreement, then drill baby drill. Poor Donny Dumpster.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous7:12 AM

    ot:
    "American Foundation for Suicide Prevention reported that white males accounted for 7 out of 10 suicides in 2015 and the rate of suicide is highest among the middle aged white men."In 2010, 77 percent of suicides among middle-aged men was from firearms or hanging, compared with 49 percent of suicides among women.""We formed a partnership with the National Shooting Sports Foundation," said Marshall, "to get the message out to retailers and gun ranges, hunting clubs, those kinds of groups." Her organization targets gun shops and distributes pamphlet about suicide risk and prevention."

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/why-american-men-make-up-the-bulk-of-suicides-in-us/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7:49 AM

    Murky was bragging on twitter that she and zincke had opened the doors or some such nonsense. How do i know? Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:20 AM

      Do you know by Twitter only? Yeah great sources.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous8:20 AM

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-great-betrayal-of-middle-america

    "There is NO chance he will succeed in convincing voters he’s making America great again, let alone in actually doing so,"

    https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-deep-state-is-winning-against-trump/article35091153/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

    ""Of course, the deep state exists," former Republican House Speaker Newt GingRICH says. "There's a permanent state of massive bureaucracies that do whatever they want and set up deliberate leaks to attack the president."The Trump Republicans are not caving to establishment forces on all fronts. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency stands for environmental destruction. The Attorney-General is a lock-em-up lawmaker with a bigoted background."

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous9:40 AM

    "Some of most exciting and innovative companies, such as Apple and Google, are on the cutting edge of the low carbon transition—recognizing the need to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Trump’s support for dirty industry is a last gasp of an outdated mode of thinking, and one that the rest of the world will not take lightly."

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/donald-trumps-exit-from-the-paris-deal-will-be-his-downfall/

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous9:50 AM

    Gee what a brilliant idea, drill for more oil when there is a glut on the money and prices are dropping.

    Is this why donnie wants to sell off all our reserves, an excuse to drill more?

    We don’t need to drill for oil in the Arctic, especially in a wilderness area, I am sure this will get tied up in the courts for years, meanwhile the ignorant trump supporters will believe he is actually doing some work. Although the Carrier workers are beginning to realize he is a serial liar.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.