Either We Want Clean, “Green” Renewable Energy or We Don’t December 30, 2009

Damaging to the Desert? If not the desert, then where?

Offshore Eyesore? Looks Pretty Cool to Me

There has been a lot of effort to change the way America gets it’s energy.  At first, there was a push for ethynol but the costs to produce the corn proved to be greater than the energy it produced.  So, greater attention was given to other renewable sources such as wind and solar.   A few years ago, a proposal came about to erect a windfarm off of the Massachusetts coast.  But there is opposition from prominent residents who, among other things, complain the offshore farm would spoil the view.  One of the strongest opponents is none other than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who says he’s an environmentalist but wrote in an op-ed that his opposition has many facets, including that the project is only feasible due to government subsidies.  I wonder if that means that he’s opposed to all projects that are feasible due to government subsidy? 

Is the entire Mojave Desert Too Pristine for A Solar Farm? It's probably all pristine because...it's a desert and no one lives there!

Now, a United States Senator is throwing up a blockade against a huge solar power farm in the desert.  Senator, Diane Feinstein of California has introduced legislation that would create a 1.7 million acre national park in the desert.  That would prohibit plans to construct several solar projects including the worlds largest solar farm.   The growth in the renewable sector in California was spurred by targets of the Golden State to derive one-third of its electricity from renewable sources.   So, we have a US Senator from California making it more difficult for her own state to meet its own objectives.  But, this is not the first time something like this has come up.  In mid 2008, the Federal Government stood in the way of a similar solar farm in Arizona to protect the desert.

President Obama has made quite a few public pronouncements that his energy policy is centered on developing alternative energy.   But, the San Francisco Chronicle says that there has been “more talk than progress” concerning the nation’s energy policy.  Here’s the deal…either we want alternative energy or not.  I do not believe that there is a way to create energy without some required sacrifice.  Everything has a consequence.  It seems like that this issue is like so many others.  Every election, people seem to say “thorw the bums out” then go and vote for their representative…their guy is okay but the rest..well throw’em out.  People in many states want to have use of their automobiles but when it comes to drilling for oil offshore…not of their beaches.  Solar power? Great idea..but not in my desert.   Winds blow consistently in many area and if we can harness it, it would be a good clean source of energy…as long as its not in my back yard or off my coast.  The duplicity is amazing and maddening.

The Old Man wouldn't have Blogged on Christmas Week Either

Weather Bottom Line:  I haven’t been reporting much on the weather…or anything else much.  See, Snow White and I took a little break for Christmas and I didn’t feel like blogging.  Last year, we went out of town for Christmas (first visit home for Christmas in a dozen years…an upside to unemployment) but I took along the computer and proceeded to post every day.  Not a good thing to do and so I thought that blogging over Christmas was not good no matter if you were at home or not.  Anyway, I’ve been seeing rain the forecast and also temperatures in the upper 30′s or low 40′s showing up in the various forecasts and I couldn’t figure out why. 

If you noticed on Tuesday night, we had a  huge ring around the moon.  There is a folk saying of “if the ring is near, the rain if far and if the ring is far, the rain is near.”  It is generally true.  See, the cloud deck following the passage of a cold front is such that the refraction from moonlight will create a small ring.  Since the passage of a cold front typically is an end of the rain, then it works. Conversely, the high cirrus clouds associated with the approach of a warm front prior to a storm system result in a large ring.  Almost every single time I’ve noticed a big ring, rain has followed within 24 hours.   This should hold true this time.  We had our warm front, we are in the mid 40′s on Wednesday.  Then we have a cold front.  While I had thought we had a reasonable chance for a little snow with wrap around cold and moisture, the GFS only advertises a dusting on New Year’s Day and the NAM has nothing.  So, there may be some insignificant snow on Thursday but the real story will be the cold.  We will not be above freezing at any hour of any day for the foreseeable future…I think that will hold for at least the first 7 days of 2010.

The Oil Flows, The Caribou Are Fine and Big Muddy Keeps Rising June 20, 2008

These guys don’t worry about the weather and neither should you.  In fact, these guys don’t worry about the Alaskan Pipeline either, nor any oil drilling going on.  They seem quite content.  Snow White and I were content rowing up the river.  I had no intention of rowing all the way to 12-Mile-Island but before i knew it, we were there.   It was sunny and warm with light wind and humidity was low.  We can expect more of the same for the next several days.  On Thursday afternoon, a few thunderstorms popped up in the afternoon and activity like this will probably continue through the weekend.  They should be generally few and far between but if you find yourself under one, it could have a little bite with a heavy downpour and lightning with a risk for hail and gusty winds.  The long wave pattern will generally remain the same with little upper disturbances wandering down.  It’s really really tough to pick them out much ahead of time beyond just looking to see if they are there.  The models will put one in and the next model run magically makes them disappear.  But, I think it’s safe to say there will be some moving through the flow periodically.  That will trigger scattered to isolated t’storms, mainly in the afternoon. That’s why Snow White and I are rowing in the morning….though not as early as she would like.  I like to snooze.  The pattern looks to persist into the middle of next week as the sharp change reported yesterday may get pushed back a few days.

St. Louis flood photos-Here is a photo gallery out of the St. Louis Dispatch

St. Louis Dispatch Flood Photo Gallery

On This date in History they let the oil flow!  In 1968, a big oil field was discovered off the North Coast of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay.  There were a couple of problems.  First off, the area had to be opened up to drilling and the frozen conditions of the sea for most of the year made it impossible to reliably transport the oil from the region by ship.  The US had been the largest producer of oil in the world until 1970.  As Mid-East Oil production surged, old fields in the US decreased and so in 1972, the US Interior Department opened up the area for  exploration.  In 1973, there was an oil crisis caused by the embargo of exported oil to the US by many Arab nations.  Today’s problems are caused by prices; back then it was actual shortages of the raw material causing a spike in prices.  Anyway, the US hurried construction of an 800 mile pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Barrow, Alaska where it could be loaded on to ships.

In 1974, the major oil companies partnered up to build the pipeline.  Their biggest fight was with environmentalists.  Some complaints were that the caribou in the region would suffer and the permafrost would be damaged by a buried pipeline with warm oil.  So, the company elevated about half of the pipeline so that the caribou could pass and the permafrost would be unaffected.  They said it would pollute the waters of Prince William Sound that teemed with salmon.  The pipeline began flowing on this date in 1977 and peaked in the amount of oil provided around 800,000 barrels a day in 1988. 

In general, the environmental fears have been largely relegated to the ash-heep of history.  Well, I suppose the fear is still there but reality has been much less doom and gloom.   The Caribou have actually increased in numbers and that is trumpeted often by proponents of drilling.  But, they usually leave out the fact that much of the increase happened in the first years of operation because many predators like Grizzly Bears got scared away by construction.   Nevertheless, the Caribou are doing just fine and, from the pictures above, they not only don’t seem to mind the pipeline, they seem to enjoy the scenery around actually oil drilling operations. 

There have been two spills.  One was when a someone who was presumably an environmentalist who blew a hole in the pipeline.  Some 500,000 gallons of oil spilled on the ground near Fairbanks.  But, before you start thinking that the oil man has been a better friend to the Caribou and their friends than the environmentalists who think blowing up pipelines is a good thing…the Exxon Valdez ran aground on March 24, 1989 into Prince William Sound.  It was a huge disaster.  It was caused by human error but that is part  of the risk of oil recovery, production and transportation.   So opponents of drilling do have a leg to stand on.

Nevertheless,  this story illustrates how many of the concerns by opponents of production of America’s energy needs are often nothing more than scare tactics.  And that’s too bad because it obscures the more legitimate concerns.  But, we are in a bit of a quandary.  We need oil.  It is the most utilitarian and efficient source of energy we have.  In fact, the automobile was seen as an environmental lifesaver when it came about at the beginning of the 20th Century because it eliminated the disease prone and cumbersome wastes from animals in the cities.  By the 1960′s, the unintended consequences came about. 

There are all sorts of reasons why we need to find alternative sources of energy.  It may or may not be possible.  There are people trying.  But in the meantime, we need energy to live.  I heard a presidential candidate say that drilling for oil offshore or in Anwar wouldn’t reduce gas prices today so he’s against it.  What he didn’t say that development of alternative sources of energy won’t reduce today’s gas prices either. In fact, the Congressional mandate of ethanol from Corn has created all sorts of problems…more unintended consequences.  The Alaska Pipeline has a pretty good record.  So has the Gulf of Mexico drilling operations.  Pretty good isnt’ good enough and we should and can do better.  But, in doing so, we need new oil and gas sources until alternatives can be developed.  Had Anwar been opened up 8 years ago, there would be more oil on the market today and perhaps lower prices.  The Prudhoe Bay field was discovered in 1968, developed beginning in ’72 and on line with production in ’77.  It can be done.  It must be done.  There is no alternative not today, nor tomorrow…we have to wait several tomorrows and the only answer for now is oil, for better or worse.

Here is a link to a site that is hard to figure out.  Sometimes when I read it I think that it is operated from the far radical left…at other times it looks like something from the political right.  So, it may be a good balance.  I think some of you may find it a good read as well….interesting at least…and pretty controversial I’m sure.

OIL EMPIRE WEBSITE