Just In Time, Our Salvation Bakkens

Shale Oil Drilling in the Bakkens

How many will be dismayed to distraction over the latest developments in U.S. energy independence? Certainly there are those who giddily believed  - through our dependence on Arab oil - that finally the haughty United States would be brought to her knees.

And then there are the purveyors of the poppycock that crude oil is a finite resource, who will cringe at the vast amounts not only recently discovered right here in the good old USA, but which is recoverable in a relatively brief amount of time.

And there is also the group that represents the "green industry", the Al Gore's whose cottage industry may just well take a hit if we Americans are suddenly awash in "Black Tea", a prospect that will most likely make our fuel more easily affordable. Not to mention the relief on the collective consciences of consumers here who feel that their habit aids terrorism.

The latest development is that there is a new drilling technique that is opening previously out of reach oil fields in the mid and south west, including such states as North Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and California. Analysts and oil executives are saying that by as early as 2015, the yields from these areas could approach as much 2 million barrels of oil per day. That can't be good news to environmentalists or their enablers.

It was reported in 2007 that the Bakken formation under Montana and North Dakota held an enormous amount of oil shale, perhaps more than the Saudi reserves. In the Spring of 2008, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted on a bill that would have ended a one-year moratorium on enacting rules for oil shale development on federal lands, but the moratorium earned a stay on a 15-14 vote, primarily because Mary Landrieu (D-LA) voted nay, despite her open opposition to the moratorium. She stated at the time that she cast her vote at the behest of the Democrat Senator from Colorado, who asked that she vote to uphold the moratorium.

*Special side note: Shortly after the vote, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said in an interview with Jon Birger of CNNMoney.com:

It's pathetic. Environmentalists are very happy having us dependent on foreign oil. They're unhappy with us developing our own. What they forget to say is that shipping fuel all the way from the middle east has a big greenhouse gas footprint too.

That Senator was none other than Ken Salazar, who just happens to be the Obama administration's Secretary of the Interior. Salazar is no friend of the oil industry, heavily favoring "renewable energy" policies like wind, solar and geothermal instead. Combine that stance with the fact that - as Secretary of the Interior - Salazar controls most federal lands and natural resources, and there could be severe obstacles to the success of the new oil discoveries.

An Angry Opposition to Oil?

Al Gore and his lobby will certainly pressure the Interior to act to prohibit the development and refining of that oil, and one can wager confidently that the mainstream media will pile on to keep the facts from getting out. But the Associated Press may have made such future endeavors at obfuscation moot with this article released today.

While political opponents to the notion of America's long last energy independence will play on the fears of the eco-masses, you must remember this excerpt from the aforementioned article (emphasis mine):

Environmentalists fear that fluids or wastewater from the process, called hydraulic fracturing, could pollute drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency is now studying its safety in shale drilling. The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe.

Combine this with the economic figures, which include record low unemployment numbers in North Dakota at 3.8%, and the prominence of talk radio and the Tea Party movement, and it stands to reason that the American public will welcome this news and clamor for the continuation of the Bakken conquest.

Add in the newer finds of Eagle Ford in southern Texas, the Niobrara that lays beneath portions of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, the Leonard, in New Mexico and Texas; and the Monterey, in California, and hope seems assured of victory over fear in the battle that will surely be waged in the coming months and years.

Sphere: Related Content

An Empire in Peril

Destiny Once Unimaginable In America

The rumblings surround us, yet we glance not at the sound. The foundation trembles, and we continue in our myopic pursuits. The walls crumble around us while we continue, unperturbed, in our daily quests. It seems that our sense of casual observation of the obvious has betrayed us, dulled by our reliance on the television bobble heads who tell us of what to beware.

Perhaps worse is the fact that we do have sentries that sound the alarm daily, but are heeded by only a few; those who have not yet been seduced by the siren song of the complicit media personalities. Most of the rest, it seems, are oblivious to the creaking timbers warning that the house is about to collapse. And then there is the small percentage who hear the creaks but loudly and deliberately mask the sound, privately and jubilantly awaiting the resultant rubble.

For the past two centuries, the world has unquestionably benefited from a strong and benevolent United States of America, a nation that could have greedily consumed land and ruled in a most cruel fashion. It did not, instead expending fortunes and blood across the globe in order that people could remain free from tyranny. Yet still, there have been bad players across that span of time who viewed this nation as a serious impediment to their nefarious intentions, the roadblock to their own conquests.

They were never able, however, to match our military might and to mount any serious challenge to our supremacy. So they stewed in their hatred and fomented the loathing of their own subjects. In the late 1970's, they had an unsuspecting ally in Jimmy Carter, whose ineptitude and obsequiousness was nearly our undoing. Thankfully, Carter was replaced by a real leader after only one nearly tragic term.

The Beast on the Wing

Now, however, the enemies of freedom have a new ally in the White House, one who is not nearly the innocent pawn that Carter was. In 2009, I wrote The Beast on the Wing, in which I laid out the damage Barack Obama was inflicting on America. In the subsequent year and a half, it has not only gotten worse, it has gotten much more flagrant. It seems that everything the man does is designed to further weaken our position of strength, and to dim the hope on which he ran. The change is still coming at dizzying speeds, however.

Our unemployment remains absurdly high and our economy teeters on the brink of collapse, yet Obama continues to ramp up the spending on credit. The deficits are spiraling out of control and still he borrows ever faster. Our dependence on foreign oil has not diminished one iota due to his Environmental Protection Agency agenda which prohibits the drilling of our own oil resources while OPEC prices continue to rise. His health care reform, which he touts as better for the people, is apparently not so great for his friends, who keep getting waivers from participation in such a great system.

Travel within our country has gotten so restrictive through the TSA that many choose not to fly. Rather than use profiling and risk "offending" some groups, Obama and the DHS prefer to offend everyone. And while trying to get to Grandma's house a few states away has become a hindrance to many, getting here illegally from Mexico is a breeze. Our southern border is becoming a nightmare.

Obama has also blocked the construction of new power plants across the country, so now we have rolling blackouts amid record cold conditions. When the United States has to "borrow" energy from Mexico, something is seriously wrong.

Obama's foreign policy is one seemingly designed to dismantle everything his predecessors have built. He treats long time allies such as Israel and Great Britain like enemies and embraces Socialist and Muslim dictators. Hugo Chavez is considered a "friend" to this administration while Benjamin Netanyahu is not only snubbed but scolded. I assert that part of the unrest in Egypt is a result of Obama's past words and deeds.

The recent Wikileaks report should be enough evidence that this Administration is cozy with adversaries and dangerous to friends. The report claims that the Obama administration has agreed to tell Russia the nuclear secrets of the UK in order to secure an agreement on START. It seems that we spied on a staunch ally to curry favor with a former enemy.

Through all of this, our alleged watchdog media has remained silent on the transgressions of Obama and his administration, reporting on inane celebrity stories while ignoring the travesty happening to our country. When the DHS is trumpeting the shutdown of sports betting websites while citizens die at the Southern border at the hands of another country, we have a problem, Houston.

It is a testament to the strength of our Union that it has not already come crumbling down. It has never been asked to withstand such an assault before, and I am proud of its endurance, even as I fear the question of how much more it can take. I pray that we can hang on for another two years.

Sphere: Related Content

Get the Story Straight!

AGW Now Means More Snow?

As we all struggle to keep our heads above snow, we're being warned not to question global warming. Why? Because we're also being told that we've been told repeatedly how global warming  climate change causes more snow.

Every time an Al Gore AGW (anthropogenic global warming) gets snowed out, a little more of the issue's credibility wanes. What to do? Simple, just reverse course and blame the object of your endeavors for making you look foolish.

In other words, when people mockingly laugh at such events being cancelled due to snow, look them right in the eye and say, "Of course! This is exactly what the scientists have been warning us about!" It's tragically amusing that people like Gore still don't get the whole "audio and video record" thing...

Sphere: Related Content