BOOK REVIEW: WHY AMERICA FAILED-MORRIS BERMAN (Peak Oil perspective)

(note to mods: this is original writing – no copywrite violations)

Note to readers: This is a review I had to produce for a project. I saw some Peak Oil connections and modified it slightly. I hope you find it interesting.

Thesis
Why America Failed: the Roots of Imperial Decline, is Morris Berman’s third book about the fall of the US empire. The central thesis of the book is that the nations’ fundamental flaws are not due to control by corrupt elites or the 1 percent. The real problem lies in the 99 percent; it is American culture, in general, which sows the seeds of the nation’s demise. The problem is in the average US citizen. Americans are a money-centered “hustling” people who have trashed friendship, honesty, community, nature, intellectual curiosity and even spirituality in a relentless pursuit of the dollar and “more stuff”. It is our own culture which is killing us- everything else is reflective.

Beginnings
To back up his claim, Berman starts at the nation’s founding (as a business enterprise) and uses early writings from Colonial times to show that, from a very early age, Americans came to value wealth above all other things. Many foreign visitors to the Colonies note a total obsession, by Americans, to become richer. Even the Pilgrims quickly transformed their sense of “community” to align with the “hustling” ethos (thus destroying community). Religion bowed to commerce.

The Birth of a Dangerous Myth
During the Revolutionary War, America found its identity not in what it was, but what it wasn’t: Europe. A myth was necessary to bless the endless pursuit of property so Americans convinced themselves that they were a shining city on a hill, a better people who have a divine obligation to spread the American way of life (and get rich while doing so). America’s holy war for profits began with the taking of Native American and Mexican land- and has never stopped since.

The Destruction of the last remnants of the Feudal Order
The Civil War represented the last stand of an alternative culture to the Yankee hustling: the gentlemanly, old world, ways of the South. Berman acknowledges the horrors of slavery (and how free labor supported “Southern Hospitality”) but maintains that this doesn’t change the fact that the slower paced life of Dixieland represented a real threat to northern businessmen who felt the need to wipe out any alternative to unrestrained capitalism and “modernize” the South. Total war against the South (ex: the burning of Atlanta) by the North reflected a violent industrialized mindset that couldn’t conceive of any other way of life than its own.

A Strange Interlude: Jimmy Carter
Much of the later years of America represent the now familiar theme: plundering other nations while claiming to be bringing the progress of the American way of life to the world. US imperialism spreads from the Spanish American War to the Cold War. The only major challenge to this consensus occurs in the 60’s when many begin to question the life of acquisition. Due to this brief counterculture trend, and a freakishly bad set of events for the Republicans, Jimmy Carter is elected. Berman seems to view him as an accidental president. Carter’s concern about the lack of happiness money can buy, and his interest in energy conservation, turn out to be dangerously out of step with the dominant “hustling” culture embraced by average Americans. He is soon rejected by the nation as a foreign body.

The Return of the King: Reagan
With the election of Ronald Reagan, Americans returned to “one of their own”. Reagan ripped out solar panels and sold Americans on a fantasy of borrowing without pain. America loved this. In fact when, 4 years later, when presidential candidate Walter Mondale suggested paying the bills the nation flatly rejected him. In Reagan’s election, Berman sees the nation making a final and tragic decision to commit completely to the unsustainable and maintain the American value system at all costs. Realism and limits are rejected for fantasy- and greed is once again embraced as “good”. At this point, the financial crisis was all but guaranteed and so is America’s eventual future collapse.

The Final Act
In the final section of the book Berman gets personal and talks about his increasing alienation in his own nation. He checks out other places and decides to become an expat in Mexico. Despite publicity about drug violence in major cities, he finds the countryside to be quite safe and extremely gracious. He is relieved to be away from what he sees as the competitive interactions which characterize the shallow, manipulative, “relationships” of US citizens.

Berman does not have a happy ending or a “call to action” section of his book. He does not see any hope for the US because the problems are too hardwired into the average American, who tends to be hyper-individualistic, egotistical, mistrusting, greedy and violent. Although he doesn’t spend much time on Peak Oil or Global Warming, Berman does not think Americans will be up to face the challenges they will confront. Climate change and resource depletion require community action, cooperation, a desire to stop making a “buck,” and many more traits that mistrusting, isolated Americans do not possess.

Discussion
From the viewpoint of this book, it is hard to see Americans creating transition towns, high speed rail systems or even new urbanist designs. Our focus on money causes us to mistrust each other and our individualism makes it an upward climb to get massive government projects completed. Anything that seems community oriented or cooperative is labeled “socialistic” or “un-American”. Any suggestion of a steady state “no growth” economy seems to interfere with the prime directive to hustle for more money. Our national belief in our exceptionalism inclines us to reject the solutions of other nations to PO.

If this book is correct, as Peak Oil hits harder the typical US response will probably not be to become sustainable but to attack others for their resources (justified by a higher motive, of course). However, our inability to work together or create a trustworthy government might undo much of what we gain. Later, as resources deplete everywhere, attacking others may not bring in very much anyway. At that point, the game will be up and we will be forced to either choose a new sustainable culture or perish as a people- like a crew fighting each other on a ship heading toward a waterfall.

I’m not sure if I agree with this Berman’s view, but the book was very stimulating to read and I recommend it. I throw this book out there to the TOD community because I am interested in how Peak Oil will interact with US culture. Often, a nation will accept or reject a PO solution not based on its technical merits but because of cultural norms, values, etc. This is sometimes overlooked.

Questions
1. Is Berman correct in his assessment of the American people and their future?

2. Is the problem not mainly with the top 1% but with the bottom 99%- as Berman maintains?

3. How will American CULTURE respond to Peak Oil?

I would love to hear from you- in any case, thanks for reading- C8

Space Policy Expert: Companies should buy land on moon, planets

"For those wondering if mining bodies in space would be profitable, the moon has vast amounts of water ice, helium-3 and graphite. This would generate billions of dollars in profits and settle some of the resource shortages (in the short-term), such as the shortage of helium-3, which has forced the price to soar from $150 per litre to $5,000 per litre."

There is, of course, another angle on this other than reources. I listened to a radio interview Mr Simberg gave, where he said that, if billionaires could buy land on other planets, they could "continue social experiments" (such as Libertarianism) up there outside of existing regulation.

Here's a thought for the day : are billionaires planning on leaving Earth for other planets ?

Moonbase 3 : The next private club ?

NYT OpEd by Joseph P. Kennedy II:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/opinion/ban-pure-speculators-of-oil-fu...
The High Cost of Gambling on Oil

THE drastic rise in the price of oil and gasoline is in part the result of forces beyond our control: as high-growth countries like China and India increase the demand for petroleum, the price will go up.

But there are factors contributing to the high price of oil that we can do something about. Chief among them is the effect of “pure” speculators — investors who buy and sell oil futures but never take physical possession of actual barrels of oil. These middlemen add little value and lots of cost as they bid up the price of oil in pursuit of financial gain. They should be banned from the world’s commodity exchanges, which could drive down the price of oil by as much as 40 percent and the price of gasoline by as much as $1 a gallon . . .

Eliminating pure speculation on oil futures is a question of fairness. The choice is between a world of hedge-fund traders who make enormous amounts of money at the expense of people who need to drive their cars and heat their homes, and a world where the fundamentals of life — food, housing, health care, education and energy — remain affordable for all.

"Affordable for all." No discussion of any constraints on global oil supplies. The implication is that, if we banish the evil oil speculators, we can have reasonably priced oil forever--presumably for the many billions of people who may "need to drive their cars and heat their homes."

FOR ALL

Since the thread appears dead I'll post here if that's OK.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-total-idUSBRE83A0FH20120411

"... the French oil major planned to carry out a successful "dynamic kill" on the leaking G4 well...by the end of this month. Total had said it would take weeks of preparatory work, including several helicopter flights to transport equipment onto the rig, before a procedure to kill the well could begin. Total plans to pump mud into the well to stop the gas leak after a reconnaissance team found that conditions were safe enough to allow the operation."

"Gas prices, now averaging $3.92 a gallon, may have peaked"

Um, have we even switched to summer blend yet? I seem to recall that being good for a 5-10% price bump.

Bill Reinert: Conference on World Affairs Q&A

1. When do you think we will reach peak oil?

I was thinking probably in 2021 or 2022 -- maybe a little bit earlier. We've probably shifted that back five years because of all the shales (that are being fracked or that may be used in the future for oil shale production). You shouldn't let that lull you to sleep. It's only a respite, not a reprieve.

I think even a lot of peak oilers are in denial. We are definitely on the peak oil plateau right now whether you agree with JODI or the EIA data. And all the data from the EIA, IEA and BP agrees that oil available to all importing nations peaked in 2005. That is the one very important point no one is paying any attention to.

Ron P.

I had to do a double take when I saw this

Dong Energy to Spend $794 Million Turning Fossil Plants to Wood

At first blush I was wondering if a Petrified Forest had been sold....

Decision-making can and must be learned -- new test measures risk intelligence

... It emerged from these tests that highly-educated individuals often have difficulty interpreting information on risk probabilities. “However, if we want to have educated citizens who make decisions based on information, we need people who understand information about risks,” explains the scientist. Seen in this way, risk intelligence is just as important a skill as reading and writing. “Fortunately,” he adds, “it can also be learned.”

In fact, as the researchers discovered over the five years of testing various tasks, risk intelligence is closely linked with mathematical skills. They designed their test accordingly: all three tasks are based on the field of percentage calculation.

"Berlin Numeracy Test" Are you risk literate? Take this three-minute test and find out!

Rage against the machine

April 2012 marks the bicentenary of the high-water mark of the Luddite rebellion – but new research suggests that the movement may be celebrated for the wrong reasons.

For historians, the revolt has traditionally been seen as a watershed moment in which the industrial working classes made their presence felt as a political force for the first time. This supposedly laid the ground for later reform movements, such as Chartism, as well as the Trade Unions.

Now a study by Richard Jones, a research student at the University of Cambridge, suggests that Luddism may be celebrated for the wrong reasons. He argues that it was not a movement which represented the concerns of the working classes at all – rather those of privileged professionals with disparate, local concerns. In a British textile industry that employed a million people, the movement’s numbers never rose above a couple of thousand.

Jones believes that this smallness of scale reflects the fact that Luddism was far from a genuinely pan-working class movement. Instead, Luddites were skilled workers – a relatively “elite” group, whose role had traditionally been protected by legislation regulating the supply and conduct of labor.

Interest in Gourmet Fungi is Mushrooming

... With shiitake mushrooms selling for $12-16 per pound, a relatively small investment of work can yield a tidy supplemental income. With 100 inoculated logs per year, and each log producing for three years, an annual gross income after four years would be around $6,000, Mudge said.

"There have been very few attempts to grow lion's mane [mushroom] as a forest farming crop, and we think it has a lot of potential. It's considered a real gourmet item," he added. "We see it as a great way that a mushroom farmer can diversify."

He will introduce farmers to the cultivation of shiitake and lion's mane mushrooms at Camp Mushroom, a two-day workshop at the Arnot Teaching and Research Forest, April 13-14.

From Fed. Reg. US Boosts Middle East Oil Deals in Israel

... The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), International Trade Administration (ITA), U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (CS), is organizing an Executive-led Oil and Gas Trade Mission to Israel, October 27-October 31, 2012. This mission is designed to be led by a Senior Commerce Department official. The purpose of the mission is to introduce U.S. firms to Israel's rapidly expanding oil and gas market and to assist U.S. companies pursuing export opportunities in this sector.

In 2009 and 2010, the greatest natural gas discoveries of the decade were made off the coast of Israel: The Tamar and Leviathan fields. These fields may have the capacity to support Israel's domestic gas consumption with reserves left for exports, and related platform chemicals. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there are 122 TCF of recoverable gas in the region, most of it in Israeli waters.\1\ In March 2012, another offshore discovery was made by Modiin and Adira Energy northwest of Tel Aviv, with an estimated 1.8 TCF of natural gas as well as oil.\2\

... The Committee on Energy Policy, recommends setting aside 50 percent of the Tamar and Leviathan gas resources for export. Final decisions on exports will be made in the coming months. All natural gas export facilities will be located in areas under Israeli control. Opportunities exist for prospectors, operators, pipeline construction, logistical services and ship manufacturers. Technical training services are required to build a workforce and there are opportunities for academic cooperation with local universities and colleges.

... In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that there is an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Israel\3\. The World Energy Council estimates Israel's shale deposits could ultimately yield as many as 250 billion barrels of oil\4\. In May 2011, the Russian energy company Inter RAO announced that it had received a license to develop oil shale resources in the Negev desert.

... or we could just invade them

Satellite proposed to send solar power to Earth

Artemis Innovation Management Solutions has been given some seed money by NASA to look deeper into a project the company first proposed last summer; namely, building a satellite that could collect energy from the sun and beam it back down to Earth to add to the electrical grid. Building such a satellite has been bantered about for several decades by various groups and scientists, but until now, no one had come up with a design that would work given all the constraints of the time. But now, an idea proposed by longtime NASA engineer John Mankins, now with Artemis, has clearly created enough interest within NASA that some money to investigate the idea is being offered.

EROEI = -0.001?

Interesting to me is how many of the comments proved Berman's perspective. Certain amount of "America will surmount this problem as we're smarter, quicker and just plain better". And of course, the typical American self centeredness of "if it works for me, it'll work for everyone". We've, certainly, slaughtered enough of the planets inhabitants trying to prove that one. Very slow learners, Americans. As a child I remember looking through a small telescope and marveling how from one perspective the world became larger and closer while from the other end it became small and far away. I'm afraid Americans, most definitely, view the world from the small and far away perspective.

I've been watching this oncoming debacle for decades. So far I don't see a single bit of evidence disputing that we will ride this to the bitter end blaming someone else for the problem. Unfortunately for the rest of the planet, our love of killing is going to be devastating.

To me, he's absolutely right, it is the 99%. The 1% BS is so typical of a country with a strong hatred of government until, of course, they want a handout. Unfortunately, the bottom 1% get least of all but we don't like to talk about those folks. They deserve to be where they're at. As far as I can tell, everyone stands at the government trough. The big pigs get the most but we all are hustling our butts off to get bigger so we can get more.

As with Berman, my research of American history shows a people hell bent on conquest, getting rich and using slave/semislave labor to do so. We haven't ever cared about the lowest classes other than as a cheap source of labor. America has always been about grab all I can and walk right over anyone who gets in my way.

I don't agree with Berman totally but I think he expresses many points that Americans simply don't have the humility to face.

What Will It Take To Get Sustained Benefits From Natural Gas?

An enhanced method for assessing climate impacts from natural gas development and use is offered in Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure, a scientific paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored, with others, by EDF scientists Ramon Alvarez and Steve Hamburg.

The paper illustrates the importance of accounting for methane leakage across the value chain of natural gas (i.e. production, processing and delivery) when considering fuel-switching scenarios from gasoline, diesel fuel and coal to natural gas.

Key Findings: ...

• At current leakage rate estimates, converting a fleet of heavy duty diesel vehicles to natural gas would result in nearly 300 years of climate damage before any benefits were achieved.

Is Media-Driven "Pseudo-Reality" the Future of U.S. Politics?

... "Politically, we may be moving more and more toward a world where our beliefs are shaped not by what is really true, but instead by the pseudo-realities created by talk shows and political pundits," says Dietram A. Scheufele, the John E. Ross Professor of Life Sciences Communication at UW-Madison and an expert in public opinion research.

... "Most citizens observe the political theater in Washington indirectly through the lens of mass media. And our findings show that misinformation about what politicians say or do can become fact in voters' minds if it is just repeated often enough in news media."

Slashdot has a piece up today with answers from MIT fusion power researchers to questions posed by Slashdot readers. For the fusion optimists, MIT's current take on the ITER-based schedule is

• ITER construction done 2022
• 10:1 energy gain in ITER around 2028 (DEMO design can begin)
• DEMO online with watts to the grid (at an economic loss) ~2040
• First commercial plant ~2050

My suspicion is that this is too late, in the sense that most of the developed world -- the part that's footing the ITER bill -- will have to commit to different paths before that point. I'm assuming, as always, that at least parts of the world continue with a modified low-energy (and mostly electric) high-tech course. In the US, essentially the entire commercial nuclear power fleet will be retired over the next 25 years. If anything is to be done about CO2 in a timely fashion (you don't have to jump on me, I admit that we may have reached a tipping point already), lots of coal burners will be retired over the next 25 years. Whatever choices have been made to keep the grid(s) up and going -- NG/renewables/fission -- will have been made before 2050, and it will be much easier to continue down those paths than to jump to fusion.

Iran Crude Carriers Liable Under Japan Shipping-Insurance Rules

Tankers using Japan’s shipping- insurance association to purchase coverage for Iranian crude cargoes will be liable for any costs not recovered through reinsurance due to sanctions against Iran.

The Japan Ship Owners’ Mutual P&I Association said in a letter on its website that shippers buying liability insurance for Iranian crude after European Union sanctions take effect in July must agree in writing to pay for damages or other charges that the association’s Europe-based reinsurers are unable cover.

Hate Group Formation Associated With Big-Box Stores

The presence of big-box retailers, such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target, may alter a community's social and economic fabric enough to promote the creation of hate groups, according to economists.

Oil Supplies increase, gasoline supplies fall as demand claws its way back

Summary of Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending April 6, 2012

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged just under 14.4 million barrels per day during the week ending April 6, 395 thousand barrels per day below the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 83.8 percent of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 8.9 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging about 4.3 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 8.5 million barrels per day last week, down by 1.3 million barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports have averaged 8.9 million barrels per day, 38 thousand barrels per day above the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 705 thousand barrels per day. Distillate fuel imports averaged 64 thousand barrels per day last week.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 2.8 million barrels from the previous week. At 365.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.3 million barrels last week and are in the upper limit of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.0 million barrels last week and are in the middle of the average range for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 0.7 million barrels last week and are above the upper limit of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 3.9 million barrels last week.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period have averaged about 18.3 million barrels per day, down by 4.3 percent compared to the similar period last year. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied has averaged 8.6 million barrels per day, down by 4.0 percent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied has averaged just under 3.6 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, down by 3.6 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied is 0.1 percent lower over the last four weeks compared to the same four-week period last year.

http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf

Despite the biggest three week increase in oil inventories since 2009, gasoline inventories continued their fall. Gasoline supplies in the Northeast region were still suffering from refinery shutdowns and slowdowns, maintenance in preparation for producing summer blends of gasoline, and generally falling imports from Europe. In addition, all indications are that gasoline exports available from Europe will fall even further in the coming weeks.

On the bright side, there is enough winter blend gasoline left to get the Northeast supplied up until the start of the summer driving season and enforcement of various EPA summer fuel standards around June 1. It remains to be seen after that if NE gasoline has sufficient supplies to keep up with gasoline demand - that has clawed its way back some even in the face of average retail gasoline prices nearing record levels. Both the EIA and MasterCard’s Spending Plus weekly reports indicate that gasoline demand is down about 4% from last year – but that is an improvement from a drop of 6 to 7% about two months ago.

Most of the buildup in oil inventories the last three weeks has been in the Gulf Coast region. It is possible that a good part of this build up has been intentionally engineered to accommodate the re-launch of the Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. Jointly owned by Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, oil supplies for the refinery may well be coming from the Saudi owned shipper ‘Vela’ – which has greatly increased oil shipments from Saudi Arabia to the Gulf Coast since about March 15. Saudi oil imports into the US have averaged 1.5 million bpd in recent weeks, up from about 1 million bpd level that prevailed around the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.

On a side note, while the Keystone XL pipeline development has gotten a lot of attention, there are many other pipeline projects planned or already in progress. Check the link below for more specific information:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-09/news/sns-rt-pipelineseagle...

Re: Freeing Kilowatt-Hours From a Jail

We're currently retrofitting the lighting at a major correctional centre. Last month, we replaced one hundred and twenty 400-watt high pressure sodium pole lights (460-watts with ballast) with a combination of Philips 330 and 205-watt AllStarts driven by new pulse start retrofit kits (the shorter poles received the lower wattage version). We also replaced seventy-two 150-watt HPS wall packs with 100-watt metal halide equivalents. A huge improvement in light quality which was the primary driver behind this work, but we still bagged more than 80,000 kWh a year in the process.

A "before" picture of some of the original HPS lighting: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-A.jpg and this same area, post retrofit: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-B.jpg

A couple more areas that were likewise retrofitted: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-C.jpg, http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-D.jpg and http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-E.jpg

Last week, we started on the inside work -- one hundred and forty-one 250-watt metal halides in the gym and day rooms are being replaced by 4-lamp T8 high bay fluorescents, which cuts this portion of their lighting load by 20.4 kW.

We're also replacing 1,500 32-watt T8s with 28-watt high performance T8s and, along with this, 600 electronic ballasts with lower-output NEMA Premiums. Replacing the high bays and re-lamping/re-ballasting the hallway fixtures that operate 24/7 will net us another 200,000+ kWh a year in energy savings.

There are another thousand or so T8 fixtures that will be re-lamped with 28-watt T8s in due course, but this work will be undertaken by their own in-house staff as it doesn't involve a ballast change.

Without a doubt, if you want to scoop-up as many kWh as you can (and at the lowest possible cost), you need to target hospitals, prisons, all night convenience stores and any other facility that operates 24/7.

Addendum:

A quick update on our interior work...

The gymnasium both before: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-F.jpg and after: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-G.jpg In this area, the lighting load was cut in half and light levels effectively doubled.

One of the dozens of hallways: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-H.jpg Each 2-lamp fixture drops from 59-watts to 43, and 3-lamp fixture from 88 to 64, which isn't a huge savings in and of itself, but it still works out to be 140/210 kWh per fixture, per annum, and there are literally several thousands of fixtures in this complex.

Here we're working on one of the day rooms: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-I.jpg and this is how it will appear when completed: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/CC-J.jpg As with the gym above, the lighting load has been cut in half and the space is considerably brighter. The entire complex is air conditioned near year round, and so as you reduce your lighting load you also lessen your cooling requirements.

Other benefits: the metal halide fixtures buzzed loudly and in an acoustically hard space such as this it wasn't very pleasant; the T8 high bays are completely silent which makes it more pleasant for the inmates and staff alike. They also re-strike instantly, so in the event of a momentary power bump you're good, whereas the original metal halides would take ten to fifteen minutes to cool down, re-strike and then come back to full brightness; in this type of environment, that's a pretty big plus.

Main takeaway: even in relatively new and energy-efficient buildings, you can often wring-out extra energy savings at a very reasonable cost and, at the same time, improve upon what you have in other ways.

Cheers,
Paul

http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/11/massive-extremely-dangerous-eart...

"2 Massive earthquakes out of the Sumatra coast, Indonesia – Tsunami alerts cancelled for Indonesia and the Indian Ocean countries"

Apparently the main movement was horizontal, so even though these were in the 8.5 range, now tsunami resulted, thank goodness.

Natural Gas Signals a ‘Manufacturing Renaissance’

AS horizontal drilling and the controversial extraction technique known as fracking have made domestically produced natural gas more available and sharply cheaper, that gas has been widely embraced by industry, electric utilities and trucking fleets.

The rapid development of shale gas technology has helped reduce energy imports and, in some cases, encouraged companies producing petrochemicals, steel, fertilizers and other products to return to the United States after relocating overseas. Natural gas exports are growing and terminals built to hold imported supplies are being repurposed for international sales.

Aside from truck fleets, another obvious use in the U.S. for plentiful, cheap natural gas is to add electric power plants and convert much of the main-line railroad network to electric operation. Some passenger systems have long been electrified -- Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and SEPTA in the Philadelphia area -- come to mind, and two California commuter rail operators -- Caltrain on the SF peninsula and Metrolink in the LA area -- are planning to do so if they find the money. The major freight railroads in the U.S. have historically resisted electrification, but they may change their tune if natural gas becomes significantly less expensive than petroleum.

Why Buying A Refinery Could Be A Disaster For Delta Air Lines (Even With JPMorgan's Help)

Why would an airline whose debt is already at junk bond levels buy a Northeast oil refinery which an old, established oil company thinks is uneconomic?

Edward Hirs, a professor of energy economics at the University of Houston, says he can think of one reason why Delta would try to get into the refining business: “because they’re stupid.”

It's not my words, although I would tend to generally agree with him. Really, the only solution for the Northeast US is wind powered electric rail, which I have ridden often (although in Western Canada) and found to be inexpensive and highly usable compared to the alternatives, which are bicycling and walking. If you don't like it, feel free to buy Delta stock and follow them down the oil decline curve.

Was it realy THAT deep?

http://xkcd.com/1040/

I would be interested to hear what our geologists have to say about the pulse-enhanced oil production noted above:

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/04/11/extending-the-life-of-oil-...

This is potentially BIG:

Gran Tierra Energy Confirms New Oil Discovery with 2,525 BOPD Production Test at Ramiriqui-1, Colombia

The Mirador formation has 130 feet gross thickness and was perforated and tested from 17,610 feet to 17,630 feet MD in the uppermost primary reservoir interval. The interval had natural flow rates, without pumps, of up to 2,525 barrels of oil per day ("BOPD") gross over 32.5 hours with a 28/64 inch choke and a 0.12% watercut with 26°API gravity oil. The Ramiriqui-1 well flowed at a restricted rate due to gas flaring limitations.

The prospect offsets Cusiana and Cupiagua.

Low Rideau Valley water levels spark conservation advisory
Flow just 15.4% of April norm

It's without doubt the weirdest time of year for a low water warning, but that's what April in the Rideau Valley looks like.

The water level "is low, even for July," says Patrick Larson of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.

The agency measures water flow at various points in the system, and at this time of year it expects about 181 cubic metres of water every second to flow past its gauge in Ottawa.

The actual flow is 27.9 cubic metres per second, or 15.4 per cent of the norm for early April. (One cubic metre is 1,000 litres.)

The Rideau always varies a great deal between spring and summer, but today's flow is low even by midsummer standards. A typical July flow would be about 40 cubic metres per second in Ottawa.

That's why the conservation authority has already taken the unusual step of asking residents of the Rideau system to be careful using water, and to use rain barrels for watering lawns and gardens.

This year's low flow also raises the possibility of increased algae growth this summer.

The current problem began with a shortage of snow, Larson says. (Ottawa had 104.2 centimetres of snow this winter; the average is about 203 cm) Then we had the heat wave of March.

"The spring melt came early: mid-March is two weeks earlier than normal." Even then, the peak water level was one of the lowest on record.

Could be a long dry summer in much of eastern North America?

More unmasking of the great savior:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/growth-of-income-inequality-is-wo...

It just keeps on coming.

Sometimes it seems the world has gone mad and I see little hope.

I just heard they are trying to pass a bill here in California to cap/reduce taxes on gasoline, and only charge sales tax on the first four gallons.

Sounds great, right?! Except the state is beyond broke, so I don't know where people think the money is going to come from.

And what really gets me down, is I have a good idea how it will play out. Revenue goes down. Infrastructure (mainly roads) begin to need repair. Voters pass a bond measure (through the initiative process) to fund highway projects (so, with interest, it costs about twice as much).

That sound about right? 'Cause I'm scaring myself here.

North Dakota produced 558,254 bopd in February

I've been reading about oil production lately, but there are things I don't quite understand. I would like to ask several questions:

1) Does reservoir rock porosity decrease when the reservoir pressure decreases due to oil extraction? At a first glance, it would seem that it should, because the rock would bear more load itself and the pores would be crushed due to extreme pressure. Maybe the porosity begins to decrease only after some threshold is reached? If the decrease of porosity and permeability is significant, does this mean that it's economical to begin water injection just after the production from a field has been started.

2) Does the drill pipe always rotate while drilling? At a first glance it would seem that the bottom hole assembly could include a fluid-driven motor which would be driven by the difference of mud pressures between the annulus and the drill pipe.

3) How the drill pipe or casing is bent in horizontal wells (or any wells where the borehole is not straight)? Is it just pushed to / pulled from the well with a large force? Does this affect the mechanical properties of the pipes in any significant way?

Thank you in advance.