With Republicans in control of White House, the Senate, and Congress, all eyes turn to ANWR.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Trump administration is quietly moving to allow energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in more than 30 years, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, with a draft rule that would lay the groundwork for drilling. 

Congress has sole authority to determine whether oil and gas drilling can take place within the refuge’s 19.6 million acres. But seismic studies represent a necessary first step, and Interior Department officials are modifying a 1980s regulation to permit them. 

The effort represents a twist in a political fight that has raged for decades. The remote and vast habitat, which serves as the main calving ground for one of North America’s last large caribou herds and a stop for migrating birds from six continents, has served as a rallying cry for environmentalists and some of Alaska’s native tribes. But state politicians and many Republicans in Washington have pressed to extract the billions of barrels of oil lying beneath the refuge’s coastal plain. 

Democrats have managed to block them through votes in the Senate and, in one instance in 1995, by a presidential veto.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this would raise its ugly head once again.

The Bush Administration pushed hard for the opening of ANWR but were unsuccessful, however  I think for the first time ever the Republicans have all the power they need to finally attain this goal.

This is essentially the GOP white whale and despite the fact that we are now awash in oil, and much of the world is moving quickly toward renewable energy solutions, they will simply not allow this chance to pass by.

And despite some push back from the environmental groups and native Alaskans, there is not a politician up here who can get elected without voicing support for the opening of the Wildlife Refuge so there is nothing local that can slow this process down.

The only real hope is that since the process moves at a snail's pace, there will likely be a new administration in office before this thing gains much momentum,. That plus the enormous cost of exploration, may not make this especially viable in the next dozen years or so.

Fingers crossed.

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.

Donald Trump signs executive order to expand drilling in the Arctic. Because saving the planet is for pussies.

MOMENTS AGO: @POTUS signs executive order to review offshore oil and gas exploration locations. pic.twitter.com/VNPDEyL01K

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 28, 2017

Courtesy of ADN: 

Surrounded by members of Alaska's congressional delegation, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that directs the Interior Department to rethink some of President Barack Obama's regulations and decrees that put large swaths of the Arctic Ocean off limits to oil drilling. 

The order requires Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review previously issued five-year development plans for offshore oil and natural gas leases and regulations governing oil, gas and renewable energy leasing in waters of the Arctic and Atlantic. 

The new move holds potentially big changes for Alaska: reopening the option of future Arctic Ocean drilling, a reversal of the Obama-era approach that sought to limit and eventually ban offshore drilling there. 

The executive order only outright rescinds one of Obama's orders, pertaining to the Bering Sea, issued on December 9, 2016. Actions related to the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas from 2015 and 2016 are modified, rather than rescinded, confirming status as a marine sanctuary, but not barring leasing and drilling. In all cases, the Interior Department will have to rework its five-year plan for oil and gas leasing — an effort that will take up to two years. The Interior Department will also review oil and gas regulations for offshore drilling, though the outcome is undetermined.

Oh I think the outcome is clearly determined and that we know the review is just a formality and that the Republicans will start raping the Alaska coastline just as soon as their drill bit Viagra kicks in.

Along with pen recipient Lisa Murkowski you can also see Rep. Don Young skulking in the background. 

I am not sure why Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan was not included, because if Alaska Republicans can agree on anything it is that drilling giant holes all over the state is job one.

I swear the more executive orders this tangerine colored shitgibbon signs that more desperately I miss President Obama.

Obama tried so very hard to protect us, this planet, and our future. And it seems with every stroke of the pen this POS brings us that much closer to disaster.

The Trump Administration will not, repeat will not, repeal those sanctions stopping Exxon from completing that huge deal with Russian oil company.

Courtesy of CNBC:

The Trump administration will not grant special permission to U.S. companies, including Exxon Mobil, to carry out oil and gas drilling in Russia while sanctions remain intact, according to a statement from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Friday.

Exxon tried to secure a waiver that would let it drill in parts of Russia currently blocked by U.S. sanctions, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. That ban was related to Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. 

The push came about a month after former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson became secretary of State. 

The Treasury's decision on Friday came as the Trump administration changed its tone on Russia.

Okay to me this seems as if the investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians has really got the administration worried.

Because I will goddamn guarantee you that if there were not so much controversy about it, and so many eyes paying attention, that these sanctions would have been lifted so fast they would have left skid marks.

In fact I think it was this deal that convinced Trump to choose Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon, for the job of Secretary of State.

Now one has to wonder how Putin feels about throwing his support behind Trump knowing that he cannot do any of the things that he wanted him to do once he was elected president?

I would not be at all surprised to see Tillerson tender his resignation in the next few months.

Especially because it appears there is a whole lot of shit, about to hit a whole lot of fans, in the very near future.

With Trump Administration coming into power Alaska delegation sees new opportunity to open ANWR.

Courtesy of the Fairbanks Newsminer:

Another chapter has begun in the decades-long battle over drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan introduced legislation Friday that would open a section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to limited oil and gas exploration, according to a news release from the U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 

 The proposed Alaska Oil and Gas Production Act would allow development of 2,000 surface acres in the refuge’s coastal plain. When the refuge was expanded and renamed under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.

1.5 million acres — often referred to as section 1002 — was designated as a deferred oil and gas development sigh that requires congressional approval to be developed. Oil and gas exploration would occur within the 1002 area. 

“For nearly 40 years, Alaskans have proven that we can responsibly develop our natural resources while protecting the environment,” Murkowski said in the news release. “Alaskans overwhelmingly support responsible development in the non-wilderness portion of ANWR and there is no valid reason why we should not be allowed to proceed. Allowing development would create new jobs, reduce our deficits, and protect our national security and competitiveness for a generation.”

Of course as every Alaskan knows this is the holy grail of Alaskan politics, and no politician, on other side of the ideological fence, can be elected without voicing support for the opening of ANWR. 

However the article also mentions that by the time oil was discovered, drilled out of the ground, and ready to send through the pipeline ten years would have passed.

That is ten more years of progress with renewable energy research around the world, ten more years of moving away from fossil fuels, and ten more years of oil prices dropping until it is no longer financially viable to explore and tap new sources of crude oil.

I think that this is a pipe dream. (Pardon the pun.)

I am not saying that it cannot pass with a GOP majority in the House and Senate and Trump in the White House, I am simply saying even if it does pass it is unlikely that Alaska will see any revenue from new oilfields in ANWR.

I also think that many of our politicians already know that and are only playing this game because they feel they have no choice.

The best President ever blocks oil drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. The planet thanks you President Obama.

President Obama having his heart stolen by Alaska.

Courtesy of Reuters: 

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday banned new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, in a push to leave his stamp on the environment before Republican Donald Trump takes office next month. 

Obama used a 1950s-era law called the Outer Continental Shelf Act that allows presidents to limit areas from mineral leasing and drilling. Environmental groups said that meant Trump's incoming administration would have to go court if it sought to reverse the move. 

The ban affects 115 million acres (46.5 million hectares) of federal waters off Alaska in the Chukchi Sea and most of the Beaufort Sea and 3.8 million acres (1.5 million hectares) in the Atlantic from New England to Chesapeake Bay. 

Trump, who succeeds Obama on Jan. 20, has said he would expand offshore oil and gas drilling. A recent memo from his energy transition team said his policy could increase production in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, as well as the mid- and south Atlantic. 

A Trump representative did not immediately comment on the announcement. 

That is what you call "checkmate" Cheeto Hitler.

 And you know it's a good deal because Sarah Palin absolutely hates it.

Damn first Obama signs a bill protecting my people from harassment, and then he bans oil exploration to protect my state from being brutally raped by the Trump administration.

That's it, President Obama just moved to the top of my Christmas list.

What size Alaska t-shirt do you think he wears?

Before leaving office President Obama protects the Arctic by declaring portions of it off limits for oil exploration.

President Obama in Kotzebue, Alaska.

Courtesy of Phys.org:  

US President Barack Obama on Friday declared portions of the Arctic off-limits for oil exploration for the next five years, dealing a blow to Republican efforts to expand fossil fuel extraction. 

The decision means new oil and gas exploration leasing in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea will not be considered until after 2022. 

"Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry's declining interest in the area, forgoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement. 

The US government made a similar announcement in March, when it removed the Atlantic Ocean from the five-year road map. 

Environmental groups hailed Friday's decision as historic and coming at a key moment, as President-elect Donald Trump has promised to expand drilling for oil and to revive the American coal industry. 

Apparently the decision pissed off Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski which proves that it is a good one.

However it is also a fact that if Donald Trump decides to do away with his ban it is within his power to do so, though he will receive significant resistance from environmental groups and Democrats.

Even with only weeks remaining of his term President Obama is still doing what he can to protect us, and our planet.

Sarah Palin gets herself all excited and has herself a gusher over the possibility of a Trump administration raping the planet a little harder.

Courtesy of the fracking moron's Facebook page: 

Drill, Baby Drill! American Made Energy Makes America Great Again (Not to be all science-y or anything but you cannot MAKE energy. You can only release energy or harness energy.)

Permian, ANWR, Prudhoe, Bakkan.... and so much more. NOW is the time to shut off the Saudi oil cartel flow valve and develop our own God-given natural resources. The only excuse not to become energy independent is a political excuse. (Exactly which is why President Obama spent so much of his time and political capital toward developing renewable energy sources. But of course that's not what she means is it?)

The inherent link between energy and security, and energy and prosperity, is real and recognized by every American except sketchy politicians and deceived faux environmentalists. We have the resources, we have the technology, we have the manpower. America has the highest environmental and worker safety standards in the world... it's time to say, "Screw Arab oil. We're making America great again!" We've always led in oil, gas and mineral development innovation. Let's tap it. (There is a reason those are called "fossil fuels," because they are rapidly becoming old and outdated. Kind of like your moldy old catch phrases.)

Politics have kept us beholden to countries that do not like us and use energy as a weapon. It's a farce when Pres. Obama and other progressives claim we're not reliant on those resources anymore. And a sicker farce is the claim we must go to war over oil. (Okay well that "sicker farce" was a product of the George W. Bush administration, NOT the Obama administration. Let's put the blame where it belongs.)

Shut off foreign rulers' flow that has kept their peasants poor and terrorizingly (Not a word.) desperate, and watch the world become a safer place.  (Do you know what else might help to accomplish that? Abolishing religion. Just a thought.)

And here at home, shovel out the BS "Peak Oil" claim that demands we abandon conventional energy sources in favor of unrealistic, uneconomic, unreliable, lobbyist- driven green energy boondoggles. ("Peak oil" is the point in time when the maximum rate of extraction of petroleum is reached, after which it is expected to enter terminal decline. Some would suggest that we have already reached it or are about to reach it soon.)  Drill now while we shore up realistic renewables for a legitimate "all of the above" future energy plan. (Why waste more money drilling up dirty oil, and mining pollution causing coal, which damages our environment when we are making such progress with renewable energy sources that leave the atmosphere virtually untouched, the blogger asked himself knowing that using logic and facts like that would only confuse and anger the co-author of this Facebook post.)

Be ready for faux environmentalists - with their disdain for American jobs dressed in Carhartts and steel toed boots - to target this massive Texas find, despite all commonsense and responsible reason to explore and produce. (Confused "commonsense" and "responsible" with "illogical" and "unnecessary" again.)


It's time to unleash the private sector on new refineries, rigs, pipelines, infrastructure, service provisions, etc... all basic needs for more responsible domestic extraction, and all leading to the USA boom our working class deserves.

Man you can almost feel how excited she is at the prospect of having an administration in place with as little respect for the planet as she has can't you?

You know I thought about simply ignoring this, because you know Sarah Palin who?

However the fact is that she, and others of her ilk, really do now have a sympathetic ear in the White House, and we stand the very real possibility of seeing years of research and development concerning renewable energy tossed aside like one of Donald Trump's former wives.

Trump himself has said that he believes that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by "Jina," so even if he does not choose Palin as the Secretary of the Interior, the person he does pick will very likely be almost as dangerous to our environment.

I just had a terrible thought.

Do we think it conceivable that Trump will believe in Palin's mythological energy bona fides and actually ask her for advice on energy and oil exploration?

Well since he apparently appointed a racist, antisemitic,  misogynistic pig as his adviser I think that seems more than feasible.

Okay how soon will those commercial trips to Mars be available again?

I'm asking for a friend.

Last oil company relinquishes oil drilling leases in the Chukchi Sea.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Repsol, a Spanish oil company which owned a significant portion of the drilling leases for Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, abandoned 55 of them last week and plans to drop the remaining 38 next year. 

“Repsol is in the process of relinquishing its Chukchi Sea acreage position offshore Alaska,” Repsol spokeswoman Jan Sieving said in a statement. 

The Spanish company joins the rush of oil drillers — Shell, ConocoPhillips, Eni, and Iona Energy — departing the Arctic region after concluding that offshore drilling is not worth the expense or the risk. After Shell spent over $4 billion attempting to develop offshore Arctic oil and completing just one exploratory well, it said it was done in the Chukchi “for the foreseeable future.” This was two years after Shell’s Kulluk rig ran aground and had to get rescued by the Coast Guard heading south attempting to avoid paying more taxes in 2013. 

Apart from one token Shell lease block that the company is retaining to keep the information it gained from its failed 2015 exploratory well, Repsol’s leases were the last blocks remaining in the Chukchi. 

“Last month we figured out that Shell and a bunch of other companies had given up their leases,” said Mike Levine, Oceana’s Pacific senior counsel, told ThinkProgress. “After eight years, billions of dollars, and significant controversy, we’re back to a clean slate in the Chukchi sea.”

Finally.

I always thought that drilling in the Chukchi Sea was incredibly risky to our environment and was very upset then President Obama gave Shell Oil a permit to start exploring for oil there in 2015.  

However I seemed to have underestimated our President, which is something I swore I would not do again, and late in 2015 he refused to issue any more licenses and then sat back waiting for these companies to fail and give up, which they have now done.

So now the pristine environment of the northern Alaska sea appears to be safe.

At least for now. Assuming of course we can keep Republicans out of the White House.

Another one bites the dust. Yet one more oil company decides that exploring the Alaskan arctic is not worth the trouble.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

Norway’s state-owned oil and gas company, Statoil, announced Tuesday it is pulling operations out of the Alaskan Arctic. 

“Since 2008 we have worked to progress our options in Alaska. Solid work has been carried out, but given the current outlook we could not support continued efforts to mature these opportunities,” Tim Dodson, executive vice president for exploration, said in a statement. 

The company — one of six that recently called for a price on carbon — will be closing its Anchorage office. It is giving up on 16 leases in the Chukchi Sea, as well as partial stake in 50 others held by ConocoPhillips. All the leases expire in 2020. 

“The leases in the Chukchi Sea are no longer considered competitive,” Statoil said Tuesday.

And that is how it goes.

One by one they fall, until the day we are finished with them all.

However this should also serve as a wake up call to Alaskans that our days of suckling at the teat of big oil are rapidly coming to an end.

If we don't come up with viable replacements for the millions, or perhaps billions, of dollars that flowed into our state from oil production, we are going to be in a world of hurt.

Just when I thought Alaska Governor Bill Walker might be one of the good ones.

Courtesy of the BBC: 

Expanding the search for oil is necessary to pay for the damage caused by climate change, the Governor of Alaska has told the BBC. 

The state is suffering significant climate impacts from rising seas forcing the relocation of remote villages. 

Governor Bill Walker says that coping with these changes is hugely expensive. 

He wants to "urgently" drill in the protected lands of the Arctic National Wilderness Refuge to fund them. 

Alaska has been severely hit by the dramatic drop in the price of oil over the past two years. 

The state is the only one in the US that doesn't have an income or sales tax, getting 90% of its day-to-day expenditure from levies on the production of oil and gas. 

But the halving in the price of crude over the past year has seen Alaska's financial health deteriorate.

Yes which is why we need to aggressively diversify into other income source, including renewable energy, and step away from big oil's teat.

You know there are a lot of reasons to admire Governor Walker, not the least of which was the Medicaid expansion.

But this is a big step in a really bad direction.

And what's more it is a waste of time because, as EVERYBODY already knows, there is no way we will ever open ANWR to drilling.

Shell oil ends its controversial drilling operation in Alaska.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Shell has abandoned its controversial drilling operations in the Alaskan Arctic in the face of mounting opposition. 

Its decision, which has been welcomed by environmental campaigners, follows disappointing results from an exploratory well drilled 80 miles off Alaska’s north-west coast. Shell said it had found oil and gas but not in sufficient quantities. 

The move is a major climbdown for the Anglo-Dutch group which had talked up the prospects of oil and gas in the region. Shell has spent about $7bn (£4.6bn) on Arctic offshore development in the hope there would be deposits worth pursuing, but now says operations are being ended for the “foreseeable future.” 

Shell is expected to take a hit of around $4.1bn as a result of the decision.

Part of those losses include the 2.1 billion that Shell paid in 2008 for leases to drill in the Chuckchi Sea. 

Which may help to explain why President Obama was unable to block this exploration even though he has been very vocal about his commitment to renewable resources and addressing climate change in a serious manner.

This really should not come as a surprise since Shell really only had until today to complete this initial operation which was focused on finding deposits large enough to demonstrate that this was a financially viable enterprise.

Well this is good news for Alaska, good news for environmentalists, and good news for the planet.

Oklahoma is having 600 times more earthquakes than they did in 2008. If you guessed the reason was oil drilling, give yourself a pat on the back.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The onslaught of seismic activity in Oklahoma in recent years has captured the attention of the nation. 

State scientists say they have uncovered the root cause of the majority of the state’s earthquakes: the oil and gas industry’s disposal of billions of barrels of water underground. 

Now, as the public absorbs this information, Oklahoma’s regulatory bodies are keeping a watchful eye on these disposal wells and planning their next moves. 

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) issued its most strongly worded statement yet linking the oil and gas industry to the state’s earthquakes. 

State geologist Richard D. Andrews and state seismologist Austin Holland say the spike in earthquakes — particularly in central and north-central areas of the state — is “very unlikely to represent a naturally occurring process.” 

“The primary suspected source of triggered seismicity is not from hydraulic fracturing but from the injection/disposal of water associated with oil and gas production,” the report from the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) reads. 

The seismicity rate in Oklahoma is about 600 times greater than it was before 2008, around the time dewatering started in the state.

Just last year, 585 magnitude 3+ earthquakes hit Oklahoma — compared with 109 in 2013.

Interestingly enough I wrote on this same exact problem in Oklahoma back in 2014, at which time I pointed out that the 30 year average before fracking came to the state was two earthquakes that were 3.0 or higher PER YEAR.

So here we are a year later and the problem has become exponentially worse. In fact it is getting so bad that if things continue at this rate the state of Oklahoma will never stop shaking. 

But you know I am sure it's all worth it because, you know, cheap oil.

I think this might be a good place to point out that harnessing wind energy does not result in earthquakes, and harnessing the energy of the sun is unlikely to shake you out of your bed at three o'clock in the morning.

Just saying.

President Obama to designate vast areas of ANWR as wilderness area. Oh that should go over well up here.

Courtesy of the AP:  

President Barack Obama is proposing to designate the vast majority of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drawing an angry response from top state elected officials who see it as a land grab by the federal government.

The designation would set aside an additional nearly 12.3 million acres as wilderness, including the coastal plain near Alaska's northeast corner, giving it the highest degree of federal protection available to public lands. More than 7 million acres of the refuge currently are managed as wilderness.

Do you think anybody will protest that decision?

Yep.

 "They've decided that today was the day that they were going to declare war on Alaska. Well, we are ready to engage," said U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and chair of the Senate energy committee.

Trust me Murkowski is not alone, EVERY SINGLE Alaskan politician is going to come out against this decision, and if Mark Begich were still in the Senate he would as well.

You simply cannot get elected up here unless you support drilling in ANWR. Period.

However as a citizen of this state, and of the world, I completely support this decision and recognize that it is really the only intelligent way to go.

Remember according to scientists we actually need to leave all of the untapped oil resources exactly where they are if we have any hope of saving ourselves and out planet.

Trust me as an Alaskan I know all too well that we are almost completely reliant on oil money for survival, but the future is all about change and in order to survive, and this is not hyperbole, we must change as well.

President Obama just used a Presidential Memorandum to protect Alaska's Bristol Bay.

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

In a YouTube video released Tuesday evening, President Barack Obama announced a ban on future oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska by way of a Presidential Memorandum. 

Bristol Bay is the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world, and is surrounded by sensitive tundra. Environmental groups and Native Alaskans have been working for years to secure protection for the area. “Bristol Bay has supported Native Americans in the Alaska region for centuries," Obama said in the video announcement. 

"It supports about $2 billion in the commercial fishing industry. It supplies America with 40 percent of its wild-caught seafood." "It is a beautiful natural wonder, and its something that is too precious for us to just be putting out to the highest bidder," Obama said.

Apparently this does not extend to mineral mining so it will not stop the Pebble Mine, though it may not make a difference since the EPA is already on that case.

Well I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that a certain half term governor/failed reality star is certainly going to have a rant about this in the next couple of hours or so.

However I will also say that Obama just made a lot of native Alaskans, commercial fishermen, and nature lovers very, very happy.