One Step Forward, Two Steps Back On Drilling

Senator Dorgan Says Drill, Fracking is targeted to be banned

Hey folks,

Happy Monday to you. Yeah I know. But Happy Monday anyway. Today, From the Energy Front, we learn that Congress and the House have taken us one step closer to reduced Energy prices and two steps backwards.

The Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, Senator Dorgan, who is a strong advocate of energy policy that will move our country aggressively toward the use of renewable energy and domestic energy sources, added a provision that provides access to the Destin Dome area.

The Destin Dome area is a proven natural gas field, which, because it is located near existing pipelines and plants, could allow supplies to be brought to market in relatively short order.

Now this is not a Republican Oil Hound, or someone that is in the pocket of "Big Oil."

As Chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, he has worked to fund development of renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biofuels, as well as clean coal research that will help us find better ways to use the resource that fulfill 50 percent of our nation's energy needs. However, he has a rare thing in Washington these days, commonsense.

According to the API President in a Press Release about the Dorgan provision, "By allowing greater access to oil and natural gas leasing in promising areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Senator Dorgan’s amendment stands to help the American people by creating new jobs, adding new energy resources and providing new revenues to federal, state and local governments."

"Destin Dome by itself contains at least 2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas - enough to heat 2 million homes for 15 years - while the potential resources in the entire Eastern Gulf of Mexico are estimated at 3.7 billion barrels of oil and 21.5 Tcf of natural gas.

This amendment represents an important common-sense approach to energy policy, especially with demand for natural gas expected to grow as the nation seeks to meet our growing energy needs while addressing the global climate challenge." The Statement said.

But not so fast. The House and Senate ALSO want to Ban what is known as "Fracking." This is the two steps back. According to Reuters - US lawmakers move to crackdown on drilling practice By Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation to crack down on a controversial drilling practice used to enhance extraction of oil and gas from the ground.

Democratic Representatives Diana DeGette, Maurice Hinchey and Jared Polis offered a bill that would reverse a Bush era measure in 2005 that excluded hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Safe Drinking Water Act is just another excuse for oppressive Government regulation, power, and control. It is NOT to help the American people. By the way, "Hydro-fracking" is a way to drill new Water Wells and regenerate old nearly dry ones. Should we ban that also?

In the Senate, Democrat Bob Casey introduced similar legislation.

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into rock formations at high pressure to make oil and natural gas flow more freely. The method has been used for decades to stimulate production in old wells, but is now also used to tap oil and gas trapped in shale beds.

Fracking has come under fire in recent years as residents in gas drilling areas have complained their well water was discolored or foul-smelling and that children became sick.

"Families, communities, and local governments are upset that the safety of their water has been compromised by a special interest exemption, and we join them in that frustration," said Polis of Colorado.

Get this.

Hydraulic fracturing is essential shale natural production, which has significantly boosted U.S. gas output. Industry groups worry the measure would burden drillers with cumbersome federal standard and higher costs.

"More than one million wells have been completed using this technology. Unnecessary regulation of this practice would only hurt the nation's energy security and threaten our economy," said American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard in a statement.

API highlighted a study by IHS Global Insight that found that additional federal regulations would lower the number of U.S. wells drilled by 20.5 percent over a five-year period, while cutting natural gas production by about 10 percent from 2008 levels by 2014.

Just when our country needs MORE not Less Natural Gas and Domestic Oil. According to the Study itself, which you can find here,

 Elimination of Hydraulic Fracturing (No Frac) Scenario: In five years, if fracturing were eliminated, there would be a decrease of nearly 79% in wells completed. As a result, the country would experience by 2014, a 17% reduction in oil production and a 45% reduction in natural gas production, relative to the reference case, with declines continuing during the forecast period resulting in a 23% reduction in oil production and a 57% decrease in gas production from the reference case by 2018. Due to the country’s increasing reliance on unconventional resources, where over 95% of wells are routinely treated using fracturing, the impact on production would be permanent and severe.

 Fluid Restrictions Scenario: By 2014, a change in fluid options for hydraulic fracturing operations would reduce natural gas production by 4.4 tcf or 22%, falling from 20.4 tcf in the reference case to 16 tcf. Similarly, crude oil production would decrease by 0.4 million barrels per day or 8% while wellhead revenue would decrease by 48 billion dollars or 15%.

 UIC Compliance Scenario. Implementation of these regulations on oil and gas drilling would result in a 20.5% reduction of new wells drilled over a five year period and a 10% loss of natural gas production within five years. Given the tenuous balance between supply and demand, a loss of 2.1 tcf (6 bcf/day) would result in more imports of pipeline natural gas and LNG.

The No Drilling or PDP Scenario. In addition to comparing the three sets of policy-scenario results with the reference case, an additional point of comparison is provided, on the low side, by the volumes that would be produced only from remaining proved reserves from currently producing wells over their lifetime. This is referred to as the "No Drilling or PDP"scenario.

So you see, BDS {Bush Derangement Syndrome} and Cheneytitise is still alive and well. Want proof? According to this Reuters piece

In addition to opening the door to Environmental Protection Agency supervision of the practice, the bills would also require companies such as Halliburton Co (HAL.N) and Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N) to reveal what chemicals they use to produce hydraulic fracturing fluid.

Which in essence is nothing more than the Government controlling yet ANOTHER private industry.

Critics of fracking have accused then Vice President Dick Cheney, a former Halliburton executive, of playing a role in pushing the 2005 exemption.

"It's time to fix an unfortunate chapter in the Bush administration's energy policy and close the 'Halliburton loophole' that has enabled energy companies to pump enormous amounts of toxins, such as benzene and toluene, into the ground that then jeopardize the quality of our drinking water," Hinchey of New York said.

Which is just not true. They have been operating like this for a LONG time and there are NO cases whatsoever of people getting sick. I have tasted "City Water" is various Cities all over the US. Some taste funny. SO? Should we list what the Cities are putting into the waters? What about the Hotels, Restaurants, Bottling Companies, ETC. You know, the actual SOURCES of the water you drink?

The bottom line here is Senator Dorgan did the right thing, yet with this Bush / Cheney / Halliburton Witch Hunt, we will destroy anything that the Dorgan provision might hope to achieve.

All this is, is a back door to ban new drilling without imposing an outright ban. All this is, is a way for us to remain dependent on Foreign Oil and keep the Gas prices going up. After all, Obama Motors need to sell some "Green Cars" you know.
Peter

Sources:
Reuters - US lawmakers move to crackdown on drilling practice
API President Jack Gerard- statement on passage of Dorgan amendment