Billy Beck: Real, Live Endarkenment
After investing nearly four billion dollars, the bureaucratic pencil-whip comes down, and Shell Oil says, "To hell with it."
"Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.
Try to understand, ladies and gentlemen: learn to live with high fuel prices and everything that means. That's what happens when we are not allowed to produce. And we have no other choice: we either produce, or we eventually starve and freeze in the dark.
Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. 'We think the issues were really not major,' Slaiby said, 'and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.'
The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska. It is one of the most remote places in the United States. According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives. The village, which is 1 square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site."
And don't be dreaming about "a simpler way of life". Once you're forced to that, you're going to pine your half-assed little heart out for Pringles, DVD's, synthetic fibers, and antibiotics.
Watch and see if you don't.
posted by Concerned American | 9:54 PM
10 Comments:
Yeah, I'm about sick of these f*cks screwing with my state's economy, our oil, and our livelihoods.
Really, really sick of it.
Really.
I mean, as in, you have no clue.
It is, as far as I am concerned, economic warfare on the citizens, perpetrated by the national government.
Alaska could stand up and tell the EPA where to stick it, but then we'd lose milk money. There you are again. You have to be independent to be, uh, independent.
Even if that happened, no national corporation is going to dare to defy the EPA.
You people in the lower 48 can keep your damned EPA down there, as far as I am concerned. DOI can leave as well, along with a few others.
In fact, you can keep your whole damned national government down there. We'll be fine without it.
Like I said, I'm sick of it. Really, really sick of it.
Do any of you know what it takes to heat a home up here, with limited to no natural gas, propane, etc? Do you know how expensive it is to buy what is basically diesel fuel to heat with? I burn wood as well, but really, can you imagine paying diesel prices to fill a 500 gallon oil tank 4-5 times a winter?
Now, pay that, knowing that the oil IS IN OUR STATE TO BEGIN WITH!!!
By the time all the .govs (state and national) get their taxes and fees, we get the highest fuel and energy costs in the nation.
Yeah, winter's gonna be fun this next time around.
AP
The impending federally mandated Endarkenment is why I'm checking into Gasification...I will not be fucked into subsidizing their favored solar companies so they can fuck me indefinitely on the recycled proceeds.
I'm going to burn their precious hippie trees for my freehold's power.
I LITERALLY find myself utterly STUNNED at times like this.
How can people not see what these sick f***s are doing?!
HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN IN AMERICA!??!
It gets even better...
In AZ, the Senate passed a "reign in the Banksters" bill 28-2. The "House Banking Committee" then passes a "full delete" amendment which changes it into a bill to do with the funding of fire-departments!??!
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2522474
Un-frigging-REAL!
Well, he's looking at the possibility of getting only a single term to ruin us so he's pushing the program as fast as he can. This program is tied to the next and the next and ... We have to be completely beaten down for any of it to work.
Don't be beaten down.
Oldfart-
Oh, it's working, alright. Right frickin now.
A guy can only make so much money in the face of government-induced inflation.
It's not a matter of being worn down, it's math.
I physically cannot sustain another winter with fuel prices much higher than now. My evil chainsaw and I are working full-time to beat this next winter. We'll see. But what about the next? The one after?
However, a man is truly free when he no longer has anything to lose.
There's always that to look forward too, I guess.
AP
You folks might want to look up the recent article by Dr. Walter Williams. Dr. Williams is a conservative economist who is a professor at George Mason University. And, he lays out in the article why Barry will win in 2012, despite everything that is happening. Get prepared.
My half-assed little heart is not pining away for anything at the moment. Will I miss some of that stuff? You bet. Will I be able to get along without it? Yep. I'm just a little more able to adjust than most. My heart is full of hate, and my mind is full of anger. That is good. Hate keeps a man alive.
AP, it's your own fault for not living like in an igloo like the charming innocent native peoples, you evil exploitery non-green person, you.
In the various official communiques sent to employees, the place I work for emphasizes its commitment to diversity and green policies far more than anything so mundane as profit. Or as practical as the impact of government funding problems potentially impacting our 90%-government-employee customer base. That's not to be worried about, but getting green disposable plasticware that melts as soon as you put it into a plate of hot food or nearly-boiling drink - this is a REAL accomplishment.
Robert writes: "I'm going to burn their precious hippie trees for my freehold's power."
What do you know, the Gasifier Experimenters Kit bunch is hiring a Director of Manufacturing Operations to expand production of turnkey wood gasifier electricity producers:
http://www.gekgasifier.com
This is an open source project. If the preassembled price is too high, they'll sell you subassembles, all the way down to the blueprints and controller source code for free. Maybe you should consider building a dozen a month for resale as a crash-resistant home-based business. Is there anything else you might use a CNC table with a plasma cutter for?
Rollory,
It is my own fault. I live here by choice, after all.
It's getting really, really old though..
Life in the village is hard and expensive for many.
For all my complaining though, I'll choose where I live over anywhere else, expensive or no...
AP
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home