California electrical shortage audio

Chriskh, man are you SERIOUSLY misinformed. I am a physicist and geochemist by training. I worked for a major oil and gas research group over the past decade, mostly developing new ways (e.g., diagenetic modeling and well log analysis methods) to predict the locations of previously unknown oil and gas deposits, and also researching means such as CO2 injection to enhance production from tapped out fields (even after a field is tapped out, there is still a lot of oil left in the ground -- when it takes a barrel's worth of energy to get a barrel out of the ground, pumping is no longer worthwhile). It's largely because of this kind of research that a gallon of gas still costs less than a gallon of milk. I now work for and environmental organization dealing with ecological problems in the Rocky Mountain region, some of which are being caused by oil and gas field development. So that makes me one of the "environmentalists" you seem to want to blame for all your problems. Here is a little factual information in response to your baseless claim that "environmental wacko's" don't let oil companies "drill for oil anywhere" and are responsible for the high price of gas. First, nearly all the U.S. fields that had significant oil deposits have already been drilled and tapped out; the remaining fields are typically much smaller, deeper, and thus more costly to locate, drill and put into production. This is the main reason for low U.S. production. The second factor is price. When oil dips below $22 barrel or so (controlled entirely by global supply), it is no longer cost effective for oil companies to drill new wildcat or exploratory wells or to pay for seismic shots, core and well-log analysis (e.g, gamma ray, porosity, conductivity), and other research needed to help find new fields in the U.S. It is a lot cheaper for them to simply import oil from somewhere outside the U.S. where huge oil fields are already known to exist close to the surface. Check the U.S. rig count figures over the years and try to correlate them with oil price and environmental regulations -- you'll find the environmental regs have nothing to do with the level of U.S. drilling activity; it is entirely price-driven. Third, contrary to your claim, the vast majority of lands in the U.S. are actually open to oil & gas development right now, and they will remain so. A very small percentage of sensitive lands (e.g., lakes, wetlands, scenic areas, historic sites, etc.) presently have "no surface occupancy" stipulations which do not allow for drilling on-site but do allow directional drilling from outside the area. Another small percentage of land in the U.S. has been deemed so special it has been designated "wilderness" and is off limits to drilling. However, the vast majority of wilderness areas are "rock & ice" (i.e., high elevation alpine areas) and don't have any hydrocarbon recovery potential. (Essentially all oil & gas deposits are found in the sedimentary basins between mountain ranges, i.e., the same places where most highways are built.) For instance, the Bighorn Basin and Thunder Basin Grassland in Wyoming both have something like 98% of their lands classifed as fully or seasonally open to oil & gas drilling, and the remaining 2% or so of the lands are NSO and can be drilled directionally from off-site. The 60 million acres of land you refer to are "roadless areas" that have remained roadless over the past century of rampant development largely because they lack appreciable natural resources and are inaccessible. The few roadless areas that have oil and gas resources can still be drilled directionally. This policy won't "screw us in the future" as you claim. It is also worth pointing out that over a million people commented in support of Clinton's policy to protect these special areas -- more public comment than was submitted on any federal proposal in history. Maybe you think public comment shouldn't be used to decide how to manage the public's resources. Finally, I will add that there are, in fact, thousands and thousands of new oil and gas wells being drilled in the U.S. each year, with thousands of miles roads, powerlines, and pipelines to support this fast-paced development. For instance, in the Powder River Basin of NE Wyoming, some 5,000 new coalbed methane (CBM) wells have been built in the past few years, and another 5,000-10,000 wells are anticipated in the next 5 years. In the basins of SW Wyoming, 5,000-10,000 new oil and gas wells are also planned for construction, along with a host of new roads, etc. If you want to confirm these figures, I encourage you to call the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission or the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Rock Springs, Wyoming. In any case, you are just plain wrong to say that oil companies are not being allowed to drill anywhere; they are allowed to drill practically everywhere, and they are taking full advantage of it. If you're pissed off about the price of gas, blame OPEC for tightening its taps; blame U.S. oil companies for overcharging you and for tapping out our reserves when oil wasn't worth much; blame utility companies for poor management and for not being prepared for such a cold winter; blame Clinton, Bush Sr., and Reagan for not establishing sensible energy policies over the past 2 decades; blame the people of the U.S. for wasting $2 billion a year on needless nighttime lighting; or blame all those people who bought gas-guzzling SUVs, knowing full-well that oil is a finite, non-renewable resources. Just don't blame the handful of good people who are trying to keep a few places wild and beautiful for your children to enjoy. Since you are an audiophile, I would assume you also have a great appreciation for things of beauty, so I can't really understand why you seem to hate environmentalists. "Kill an Environmentalist"? I won't wish bad things on you -- it sounds like you've got a serious bout of ignorance to deal with already which is one of the worst curses of all. Fortunately, though, it's curable, but it will take some work on your part. You can start by actually researching the issues before you mouth off and try to incite others. In the mean time, please don't spew your baseless, inflamatory B.S. on this website -- especially under the guise of setting "some facts straight." Don

Ahhhhh. Catharsis.

Chriskh - Thanks for toning down the rhetoric and for agreeing to do some research on the issue of oil & gas production in the U.S. Since you seemed skeptical of my post concerning the high level of drilling activity that's going on in the United States, I thought I'd pass along some recently published figures on this subject.

A March 2001 report just released by the Wyoming Oil and Gas Commission states that there are now a total of 17,450 permits for coal-bed methane wells in the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming alone. The breakdown on well development is as follows:

4,900 wells currently producing gas in this Basin,
9,600 new wells that have been drilled recently but are not yet producing,
2,950 active permits for other new wells that have not yet been drilled.

The Wyoming Oil & Gas Commission reports that an average of 40 permits for new wells are issused each day. These figures were also reported by the Casper Star Tribune newspaper (Wyoming's only state-wide newspaper) on April 11, 2001. You can request a copy of this paper at www.trib.com.

The Casper Star Tribune also cites a U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) report estimating that the number of methane wells in Wyoming's Powder River Basin (an area encompassing roughly 13,500 square miles) could reach 51,000 wells by 2010 and 70,000 wells by 2060. This will result in an average of more than 5 gas wells on each square mile of land. No estimates were provided for the amount of roads, powerlines, pipelines, etc. that would be constructed to facilitate all these wells.

These figures reflect the drilling activity in only one basin in only one western state. Thus, my previous post was inaccurate -- there is significantly more drilling activity going on in Wyoming than I had suggested.

As for your doubts about how little public land is closed to oil & gas development, the Casper Star Tribune (April 15, 2001 issue) obtained the following figures from the BLM for public lands in Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado:

WY: 97.5% open, only 2.5% of public lands closed to mineral (i.e., oil & gas) leasing,
MT: 98% open, only 2% of public lands closed to mineral leasing,
CO: 96.5% open, only 3.5% of public lands closed to mineral leasing.

These figures are consistent with those I reported in my previous post. No estimate was given for how much of the "potential" oil and gas reserves under the small percentage of the lands with a "no-surface occupancy" (NSO) closure could be tapped from outside the areas using directional drilling technology. (In my estimation, virtually all the potential deposits under NSO areas can be accessed directionally without lifting surface restrictions needed to protect soils, streams, structures, camp grounds, cultural cites, wildlife habitat, etc.).

Moving on to the roadless policy you were concerned about, the Casper Star Tribune (4/15/01 issue) cites a U.S. Geological Survey report which calculated that the "roadless" lands in six states contain less than 0.6% of nation's natural gas deposits and an even smaller percentage of the nation's oil desposits. This is consistent with what was reported in my earlier post. No estimate was given by USGS or the Tribune for how much of this small amount of "potential" reserve could be extracted by directional drilling from along the boundaries of the roadless areas.

Here are a few other figures reported by the Casper Star Tribune (4/15/01 issue) you might find interesting:

The U.S. contains less than 3% of the world's known oil reserves (nearly all of which is currently accessible).

The Bush administration's budget cuts $200 million from federal renewable energy and efficiency programs, cuts 50% from geothermal technology programs, and cuts 54% from solar
energy programs.

The Bush administration's budget provides a $15 million increase in funding for BLM to expand oil and gas development on public lands in the western U.S.

Food for thought. Do with it what you will.