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Obama bans all Arctic drilling

General discussions of the systemic, societal and civilisational effects of depletion.

Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby Cog » Tue 20 Dec 2016, 18:57:04

I wonder exactly how he did this and if he expects it to stay in effect after Jan 20th.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... tic-oceans

President Obama on Tuesday formally blocked offshore oil and gas drilling in most of the Arctic Ocean, answering a call from environmentalists who say the government needs to do more to prevent drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of U.S.-controlled oceans.

Obama is invoking a 1953 law governing the Outer Continental Shelf to block drilling in federal waters in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea and most of its Beaufort Sea. He also protected 21 underwater canyons in the Atlantic Ocean from drilling, White House officials said Tuesday.

Canada will block drilling in all of its Arctic Ocean acreage, a moratorium officials will review every five years, the White House said.
“These actions, and Canada’s parallel actions, protect a sensitive and unique ecosystem that is unlike any other region on Earth,” Obama said in a statement.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby Plantagenet » Tue 20 Dec 2016, 19:18:15

Its more classic Obama BS. Its a farce.

Obama just banned drilling in places where there is no drilling. Whoopee.

And in the same announcement it said Obama has just opened up more land for more leases for more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Beaufort Sea of Alaska. So where there is no drilling Obama says no drilling and where there is drilling Obama says drill even more.

No wonder global warming is getting worse and worse. People like Obama who say they oppose global warming are too cowardly to take any action that would do anything real about reducing CO2 emissions.

Image
Just like the Paris Accords, this is another dishonest farce from Obama that does nothing to reduce the CO2 emissions that cause global warming.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby rockdoc123 » Thu 22 Dec 2016, 19:05:19

Obama also forbade oil drilling off Nantucket, in the Atlantic. I was thinking those offshore wind turbines would do double duty as drilling platforms. That would have been pretty cool, huh? Solar-powered oil wells. Oh well :cry:


A number of the platforms in the North Sea already have their power supplied at least in part by wind turbines.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby DesuMaiden » Thu 22 Dec 2016, 19:40:20

Trump might reinitate drilling in the Arctic for oil. But like someone already mentioned, what Obama did had little impact on reducing CO2 emissions or curb climate change. He is still drilling where the big oil companies want to, and Trump will just continue business as usual once he gets into office.
History repeats itself. Just everytime with different characters and players.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby hvacman » Fri 23 Dec 2016, 14:07:23

pstarr wrote:The problem getting at our god-given oil is not liberal government, but willy-nilly weak-kneed oil companies that don't have what it takes to take on that chilly hell up there. I say 'bring home the (whale-meat) bacon.'


Yes, they don't have what it takes, i.e. $Billions and $Billions of excess cash to throw into bottomless off-shore holes in the water. Arctic off-shore oil has the same lucrative economic prospects as the typical recreational boat.

Obama might as well have banned throwing suitcases of cash off the Golden Gate Bridge "to protect the water quality of pristine San Francisco Bay". It's pretty much the same thing.

Another thread title on this forum is "America Now Has More Untapped Oil Than Any Other Country".

To which I respond: " Yes, and always will."
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Tue 27 Dec 2016, 01:15:19

Just caught the now obviously misleading title of this thread. President Obama cannot ban either drilling or production in the Arctic. He has authority only over the area claimed by the US. And just eye balling the map the US can't call the shots on about 95% of the region. Maybe a tad more counting some of the area disputed by Canada and the US.

In the question of oil development in the Arctic the US position on the subject is of little consequence.
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Obama bans drilling in northern waters

Unread postby onlooker » Fri 30 Dec 2016, 09:23:54

Just political grandstanding. Obama knows that once Trump gets into office this ban will be repealed in short order.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38387525
Outgoing US President Barack Obama has permanently banned offshore oil and gas drilling in the "vast majority" of US-owned northern waters.

We will continue sucking at the fossil fuel teat until we cannot.
"We are mortal beings doomed to die
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Re: Obama bans drilling in northern waters

Unread postby Cog » Fri 30 Dec 2016, 10:17:41

I already did a thread on this a week ago. But I forgive you since you mentioned the name of God Emperor Trump.

viewtopic.php?p=1342188
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Re: Obama bans drilling in northern waters

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Fri 30 Dec 2016, 10:41:37

And as the Rockman pointed out in Cog's thread President Obama did not "ban drilling in the Arctic". He banned drilling in US waters in the Arctic. The other 95% of the Arctic is open for development by the countries that control those areas. Like Russia and Norway
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Re: Obama bans drilling in northern waters

Unread postby Cog » Fri 30 Dec 2016, 10:45:43

onlooker should beg forgiveness for this dupe thread. I sentence him to say "Hail Trump" ten times for his penitence.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 31 Dec 2016, 17:33:02

Regarding comments that it would be difficult if not impossible for President-elect Trump to reverse the decision: bullshit. If fact the bill to overturn that presidential authority was introduced in the House of Representative almost 8 years ago: American Energy Independence through Offshore Drilling Act: H.R. 6302 (110th): Revocation of existing Presidential withdrawals

"All withdrawals of Federal submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf from leasing, including withdrawals by the President under the authority of section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341(a)), are hereby revoked and are no longer in effect with respect to the leasing of areas for exploration for, and development and production of, oil and natural gas.

Revocation of existing presidential authority - All authorities given to the President with respect to the leasing of Federal submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf, given under section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1341(a)), are hereby revoked; except in the interest of national security"

Not sure but from what I can tell no vote was ever allowed. But either way the bill never had a chance since it was offered to directly limit President Obama's authority at a time when the R's controlled neither houses of Congress.

So, if the R's choose to change the rules the indentical bill could be introduced and voted on at a time when they have the majority of both houses. But from a practical standpoint they might not want to take such an approach for a number of reasons. First, it isn't a "ban on drilling". It is a 5 year delay in offering new leases in those areas. But within President Obama's order itself it specifically points out that it doesn't not affect existing lease...they are still binding. Second, President Obama can refuse to approve any new drilling permit requested as well suspend those already approved...for the next few weeks. OTOH the day President-elect Trump takes the oath of office he can approve any and all drill permit requests he chooses.

But consider other practical matters. Given the combination of the dismal Shell Oil results of its recent well in the area, the technical problems it experienced and the current low oil price it might be sometime before any company wants to poke another hole up there. And even when one decides to give it another shot it can easily take 1 to 2 years (or longer) to schedule the drill rig and other support services. Given the other battles anticipated a President Trump might wish to table such actions. Another consideration: even if a commercial discovery were made in the next couple of years it would be very unlikely to see the first bbl of oil produced before he left office even if he won a second term. IOW his predecessor would get the glory.

As been said before: picking the right battles to fight is the key to winning the war. Advice Custer ignored. LOL.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby Cog » Sat 31 Dec 2016, 20:14:16

I have a question about the Macondo blowout area? Since they know all too well there is oil in that area, is there some problem with drilling in that area again? Some geologic oddity that makes it extra hazardous?
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Sat 31 Dec 2016, 23:05:50

Cog - There was nothing particularly difficult about drilling the initia well. Thousand of much more difficult/higher pressure have been drilled in the Gulf Coast Basin. In fact nothing went wrong during the drilling phase. The casing had been run and cemented. They were in the process of temporarily abandoning the well.

I've explained in great detail in the past. The very short version: the blowout happened as a combination of two factors: BP used a very risky abandoning procedure IMHO and human error that did not detect the failure of that procedure.

Here's the most recent update I could find. From

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/05/12/dril ... t-in-gulf/

Drilling set to resume near site of BP’s blowout in Gulf
Posted by Associated Press Date: May 12, 2015


NEW ORLEANS — Deep-water drilling is set to resume near the site of the catastrophic BP well blowout that killed 11 workers and caused the nation’s largest offshore oil spill five years ago off the coast of Louisiana. A Louisiana-based oil company, LLOG Exploration Offshore, plans to drill into the Macondo reservoir, according to federal records.

LLOG’s permit to drill a new well near BP’s site was approved April 13 by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an agency overseeing offshore oil and gas drilling operations. The company’s exploration plan was approved last October following an environmental review by a sister agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The company, a privately owned firm based in Covington, will be looking to extract oil and gas deep under the Gulf of Mexico’s seafloor, an undertaking that proved catastrophic for BP.

“Our commitment is to not allow such an event to occur again,” said Rick Fowler, the vice president for deep-water projects at LLOG. “LLOG staff keeps the memory of what happened … fresh in our minds throughout our operations, both planning and execution.”

Can't confirm the well has been drilled yet.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby Cog » Sun 01 Jan 2017, 01:32:29

Thanks. I followed your explanation at the time and understood the failure of the cement job. And this was explained pretty well over at TOD. I became a ROV junkie watching them do the various procedures to close in the well.
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Re: Obama bans all Arctic drilling

Unread postby ROCKMAN » Fri 17 Mar 2017, 15:01:59

And speaking of banning Arctic drilling with respect to meaningless words vs meaningful actions. BTW notice they couldn't pass a NON-BINDING rule that no one was going to be forced to honor in the first place:

March 15 (Reuters) - The European Parliament rejected a call to ban Arctic oil and gas exploration on Thursday, in a symbolic vote seen as a barometer for future moves by Brussels to regulate to protect the region. Lawmakers who back the ban, which had drawn the ire of Norway, say the European Union needs a strategy for future developments in a region being transformed by climate change. Lawmakers voted 414-180 to reject the non-binding motion calling for the European Commission and member states to work with international forums towards "a future total ban on the extraction of Arctic oil and gas". Norway, which on Monday announced plans to nominate a record number of blocks for oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea, says it only allows drilling in the Arctic away from the area that is vulnerable to sea ice in winter. The motion to ban exploration in the Arctic was brought by an Estonian liberal lawmaker and a Finnish centre-right lawmaker. But even they said that, while there was a need for cautious management of the environment, oil and gas extraction in the Arctic was "a decision of sovereign states".

Easy to be in favor of doing anything if you don't actually have to do it yourself. LOL
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