The headline above this USA Today op-ed read like a slightly wordier version of a Sarah Palin bumper sticker slogan: “Cut the Red Tape: Free Up Oil Drilling in Alaska.”
The author is former George H.W. Bush Secretary of State James Baker, and he writes:
Even more domestic offshore drilling will be required if our country is to increase its stable and secure energy. One reasonable place to accomplish that goal lies beneath the waters off of Alaska’s northern shores.
He tells the tale of an underdog corporation fighting the good fight–only to be stymied by government bureaucrats:
An effort by Shell Oil Co. is a case in point. During the past five years, Shell has been acquiring 10-year federal leases in the Beaufort Sea to the northeast of Alaska and the Chukchi Sea to the northwest. The company has spent more than $2 billion on the leases and $1.5 billion preparing a drilling program with state-of-the-art mitigation and safety measures. These plans have been transparent to stakeholders, regulators and the courts. However, federal officials continue to balk at delivering the permits necessary to begin drilling, most recently questioning the effects on air quality in the region. As the bureaucratic delays continue, this has become a test case for other energy producers wanting to drill there.
Why talk about Shell’s efforts? There are probably other energy companies doing the same. Why makes Shell so special?
That might have something to do with Baker’s other gig–namely, the Baker Center at Rice University. Particularly the Energy Forum at the Baker Center, which is funded by a variety of energy companies, including Shell. In fact, the energy giant underwrites the Shell Distinguished Lecture Series, which is apparently “the Baker Institute’s flagship speakers program.”
It is customary for newspapers to alert readers to such conflicts–something USA Today failed to do.
He’s a shill for Shell.
It’s beyond sickening that so many people are willing to trade the future of the human species and many other species for profit. It is a crime worse than genocide: species-cide. If it isn’t already to late to prevent a mass extinction, it will be soon. Then we will find out how much we depend on other forms of life for our own life.
Our leaders have utterly failed us. It’s obvious they refuse to deal seriously with the most serious threat we have ever faced. It is up to the rest of us, and what we must do is force our leaders to do their duty. This is our only chance now, and we have very little time left. Will we fail, as our leaders have failed, or will we rise to the threat and defeat it?
We have an ocean …a veritable ocean of energy that this government refuses to tap. Enough for all our needs many generations into the future.Obama is already in contempt for blocking permits. Refining is down near 50% in 2 years. Oil rigs are flying to other parts of the world. Nuclear on hold. This government is paralyzed by fear. They damage every and any current or emerging technology with a race to tax it out of business.Listen to Brian up above.There has not been any technological advancement since the turn of the century that has not carried the same burden of fear that Brian laments.Yes yes the future of the human species is in the balance……For christ sakes get out of the way you nervous Nellys.DRILL BABY DRILL!Check out Bradford county in Pennsylvania.Exploding.Not a hotel room within an hours drive. Supermarket shelves cant be kept stocked.Apts gone 2 years in advance.High paying jobs flooding in. Green jobs?No no they are not building the windmills that those Kennedys tried to thwart(ruined their view)It is Natural gas.But as always Obama and comp are coming up with ideas to tax it out of its summer of wine and roses.Fracking the new dirty word of the left is daily becoming safer and safer.Yet you never here any lib fight to advance the technology.Not as they would massively overpriced electric cars that no body wants for instance.OR any of the other so called green technologies that were promised would fire our economy to new heights.I swear if i could find one Dem that had even a rudimentary understanding of the market place….
USA today has been bird cage liner for years. Why does anyone still read that worthless rag?
Michael E — Drill baby drill is a slogan, not an argument. You have no arguments and no evidence (fracking is becoming safer — where did you get that “information”?) and then throw down the insults. You describe a bubble, a boom-town economy as something positive and sustainable; this shows that it is you, worshiper of the Marketplace, who doesn’t understand anything about economics. What is your plan for after the fire-sale of the environment (not the most accurate word for nature, God’s Creation, or reality). Are you being paid to troll, or are you really as stupid as you appear?
Leslie…It is you who should not read or believe the liberal education on Fracking that is now making the rounds.It is such a bewildering mass of ideological based science. You should study the history of fracking,and the current advancements and science.Include all forms of drilling if you would like.You will see fear mongering galore.Same with nuclear.Pretty much everything but green.And there was an article recently pointing out how many have died in windmill accidents.Should we cower in fear?All im saying to you is at present there is no replacement for oil /gas based energy forms.We are awash in them.There is no choice but to use our natural resources .We should advance the technology.Same with nuclear.As for the market place I would say it is usually a better steward of things than not. Forestry service being a prime example. Hunting/fishing another.As far as a boom town…We are not talking about small numbers here.We are talking more than all the middle east many times over.What is it about you libs that sees the very nature of profit as evil?Look if you or i find some new form of cold fusion…market it ,and cleanly fuel the world “WE” will be the evil doers in the eyes of the left.By the very nature of our contribution and success.Why save the world when you will be called a part of corporatism.Or the president asks you when is enough enough?Or people on the left scream for your rich hide.I would say you people on the left that ring your hands and say the sky is falling and the land is burning,and the oceans melting are the last people that should be entrusted with our countries resurgence.Not to be crude….but you simply don’t have the balls for it.
Ps what the hell is a troll?You Dems use it often as if it makes any sense
RE; FRACKING! If you, who say, and truly believe, that “fracking is safer,” may I suggest that you watch the “GASLAND” documentary, and then, come back and see if you still have the same oppion, that FRACKING IS SOMEHOW A BETTER ALTERNATIVE, “IT IS NOT!” Anyone who says that it is, is simply ignorant, or, they are a “SHILL” and have absolutely no idea how it really is! So go grab some (truthful) education!
We must change our ways today, and not in the end of the year “20 something,” when it will be far tooooooo late to turn back the damage. There is simply too much money in oil, and lining the pockets of slippery government officials who are continually corrupted by the players within the oil and other fossil fuels industries, AND, the greedy arse%$@#’s that are running the show within governments are only looking out for themselves, and what “the people want” is totally REDUNDANT!!!
CAN YOU SPELL “REVOLUTION?” IT’S TIME TO TAKE BACK THE CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENTS, WHO WORK FOR THE PEOPLE, AND TIT NEEDS TO BE SOON, AND NOT IN THE YEAR 20 SOMETHING!”
michael e: watch Gasland? That’s much more work than tuning the radio to Rush Limbaugh or reading Conservapedia, activities which allay your deep fears by giving you â┚¬Ã…“common senseâ┚¬Ã‚ easy answers and identifying the people you should hate â┚¬“ even though you’re probably smart enough to realize that what they say doesn’t make a lick of sense. Sure, put your trust in men who are â┚¬Ã…“toughâ┚¬Ã‚ enough to destroy fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and Prince William Sound (oil), to poison aquifers (fracking for natural gas), to lay waste to mountains and rivers through Appalachia (mountain-top-removal coal mining). In short, by all means, what America needs is to duplicate the performance of those fine economies the honest, democratic governments of Saudi Arabia and Nigeria have given their happy citizens. Very macho. Quite fearless of you. A troll is someone who gets commenters off topic. Look it up!
To the two Leslies: You’re wasting your time here dealing with FAIR’s Very Own Troll (he doesn’t know much, but he does know what a troll is). The best thing to do is ignore him, though every once in a while he deserves a good tongue-lashing, or some foul-mouthed baiting. Never deal with him directly–simply direct insults and invective in his general direction. He’s beneath contempt, and to engage his arguments and lies is to give him credit he absolutely does not deserve. Carry on, fellow travellers.
Tim you just sound like a Dumbacrat.Last election this was the methodology.Call every conservative stupid and shun them.It actually worked to a degree, but this time you just cant slip by ignoring everybody else at the table.That door has been kicked in.We on the conservative side will welcome your contributions.And actually i never knew what a troll was beyond its history in literature.Thanks Leslie for the concise heads up.
As far as gas land i have watched it inside out and backwards and commented and written about it extensively.I wont go into it fact by fact by fact discounting and recounting the plus and minuses of the movie. But i will say this…..Every industry goes through growing pains. The science and safety of fracking is moving ahead and will move ahead.The need for tapping all forms of our natural resources likewise.This is not going to stop as there is no alternative at present.We need to perfect the science.Falling into a fetal position moaning the sky is falling is just not going to be helpful.There is a movie out now made in the same style as gas land. Showing the dangers of windmills. Showing all those killed in the industry and the dangers of windmill produced energy.It is sobering.Hydro…. Nuclear…. Solor…I have seen reports an all of them. Cell phones are causing brain cancer.Lightbulbs….. Global warming. The litany is endless.Look at the car industry.How many are killed every year?Will we continue driving?Will you?There is a knee jerk reaction among the left to”stop and regulate”anything and everything that has risk involved. Risk aversion is the term.I would ask you is there any industry (especially in energy) ,free of risk?Every breath we take seems not to meet the lefts standards.But in the end Leslies -it all moves forward.We have no choice. Lets agree to work and perfect the science.
Of course as a conservative I feel all this is a red herring.A ruse by left power brokers to grab and hold control.I once heard a well known lib say even if fracking never has another accident.Even if it drives oil prices down to the floor and makes everybody a fortune….he still would never allow it.He felt it “un natural” to mother earth!So we hamper new ideas with a weird pseudo science.A belief that man is inherently bad for this world.So maybe as i am a troll…. you are all albatrosses. Debbie downers to anything not made of hemp.I respect your input and worries for our safety.But we do march on with or without you.
Just saw a stat……What states leadership meets only once a year?What state gets attacked and thrown under the bus more than any other?What state fights tooth and nail to stay independent of this presidents claws?Right to work etc….What state has created 40% of all jobs this past year? TEXAS!!!
Can someone please do an exorcism on this TROLL?
That Rick Perry has a stellar record on job creation is simply not true. As the Austin American-Statesman noted, â┚¬Ã…“while the national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent and the Texas unemployment rate is 8 percent, some 23 states, including New York, have lower unemployment rates.â┚¬Ã‚ In addition, â┚¬Ã…“jobs grew at about the same rate during Democrat Ann Richards’ four years as governorâ┚¬Ã‚ as they have under Perry.
Between 2008 and 2010, jobs actually grew at a faster pace in Massachusetts than they did in Texas, and â┚¬Ã…“Texas has done worse than the rest of the country since the peak of national unemployment in October 2009.â┚¬Ã‚Â
But as it turns out, Texas is leading the nation in one employment metric â┚¬” the number and percentage of minimum wage jobs. In 2010, about 550,000 Texans were working at or below minimum wage, or about 9.5 percent of all workers paid by the hour in the state. Texas tied with Mississippi for the greatest percentage of minimum wage workersâ┚¬Ã‚¦From 2007 to 2010, the number of minimum wage workers in Texas rose from 221,000 to 550,000, an increase of nearly 150 percent.
“What state fights tooth and nail to stay independent of this presidents claws? TEXAS!!!”
Wrong again: Texas was the state that depended the most on Obama stimulus funds to plug nearly 97% of its shortfall for fiscal 2010, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Texas, which crafts a budget every two years, was facing a $6.6 billion shortfall for its 2010-2011 fiscal years. It plugged nearly all of that deficit with $6.4 billion in Recovery Act money…..
Texas is staring at potentially a $25 billion deficit on a two-year budget of around $95 billion, a budget shortfall of over 25% ….