Guest “No, not because climate change” by David Middleton
Because a fake whale species!
Energy Trades Condemn Biden Administration’s Baseless Restrictions on Offshore Energy Operations
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2023 — The American Petroleum Institute (API), EnerGeo Alliance and National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) today released the following statement in response to the announced Stipulated Stay Agreement in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service:
“The men and women of America’s energy industry take seriously their responsibilities to the communities and the environment where they live and work. This private settlement agreement between the federal government and environmental activists places unfounded restrictions on operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that severely hamper America’s ability to produce energy in a region that is responsible for the lowest carbon-intensive barrels in the world. Despite no evidence to warrant this far-reaching ban on operations after extensive data collections, today’s agreement undermines the integrity of legitimate conservation and habitat protection efforts, violates the explicit directives of Congress in enacting the Inflation Reduction Act, and harms America’s energy independence.”
[…]
American Petroleum Institute
Where’s Joe Manchin When You Need Him?
API provides additional details on objections to federal deal with environmentalists
Kurt Abraham, Editor-in-Chief, World Oil July 24, 2023
After sounding the alarm last Friday evening about a deal reached between the federal government and environmentalists that is considered hostile to the oil and gas industry, API has provided World Oil with additional details on why this agreement is so damaging.
[…]
Not justified by science and data. Earlier on Monday, API provided World Oil with additional comments on the situation. “The government has cut a deal with environmental interests that is simply not justified by science and data,” said API. “There is little to no evidence that the Rice’s whale species (Fig. 1) allegedly protected by this settlement is in the expanded protection areas created by today’s agreement. In the agreement, the government states that they have no ‘reason to believe’ that incidental take of the whale may occur in the newly expanded protection areas.”
Furthermore, said API, “The agreement’s proposed operating recommendations would impose significant burdens on operators and increase emissions from vessels forced to operate at suboptimal speeds. An initial assessment found that abiding by the terms of the agreement could cut transit windows to less than 40% of the time annually and 25% during the winter, putting industry in an untenable position. These restrictions would unfairly single out oil and gas traffic in an area that is one of the most used maritime areas in U.S. waters by a variety of industries. Thousands of vessels pass through this area every day.”
Casting a shadow on lease sales. API also noted that the Biden administration has also agreed to exclude approximately 11 million acres in the heart of the Central and Western GOM from future lease sales. This acreage was contemplated by Congress to be available for future lease sales mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act.
[…]
Where is Manchin in all of this? One has to wonder what Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) thinks about this turn of events. After all, it was Manchin, who voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, only because he thought he had made a good horse trade to include pro-oil-and-gas planks in the legislation. Now, the spirt of that agreement and vote is being gutted by the crafty Biden operatives.
World Oil
You Can’t Fix Stupid
The settlement would restrict the speed of vessels supporting oil & gas operations. It would not affect the operations of all other vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Apart from clearly violating the Equal Protection Clause, this is just plain stupid.
And the federal government will impose new restrictions on oil and gas vessels, but not the thousands of vessels operated in other industries in the area. As such, oil and gas vessels must operate at slower speeds, which could cut transit windows to less than 40% of the time annually and 25% during the winter, according to API.
Fox News
It would also remove 11 million acres in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico from future lease sales. I haven’t seen a map of the acreage that would be excluded, however, Rice’s Whales are generally located in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, which has largely been off limits to oil & gas exploration for decades.
Here’s a map of Gulf of Mexico oil & gas structures, with Rice’s whales’ primary habitat overlaid.
The next Gulf of Mexico lease sale is scheduled for September 27, 2023. The notice of sale has already been published…
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) proposes to open and publicly announce bids received for blocks offered in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261 (GOM Lease Sale 261), in accordance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), as amended, and its implementing regulations. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 requires BOEM to hold GOM Lease Sale 261 by September 30, 2023. The GOM Lease Sale 261 Proposed Notice of Sale (Proposed NOS) package contains information essential to potential bidders, including Information to Lessees and Lease Stipulations.
BOEM
While the Inflation Reduction Act may be a joke, it does require this lease sale to be held by September 30. So the sale can’t legally be delayed and it’s a little late in the game to be carving out even more exclusion areas. I’ll post follow-ups as this latest act of lawlessness evolves.
Fake whale species
Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei), also known as the Gulf of Mexico whale, is a species of baleen whale endemic to the northern Gulf of Mexico. Initially identified as a subpopulation of the Bryde’s whale, genetic and skeletal studies found it to be a distinct species by 2021. In outward appearance, it is virtually identical to the Bryde’s whale.
Wikipedia
Up until 2021, Rice’s whales were a small group of Bryde’s whales peacefully coexisting with the oil & gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico for decades. Bryde’s whales are listed as “Least-Concern Species” by the IUCN.
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. They do not qualify as threatened, near threatened, or (before 2001) conservation dependent.
Wikipedia
Two years ago, Rice’s whales were also part of a Least-Concern Species. Now they are considered “Critically Endangered,” one step above Extinct in the Wild. Here’s some food for thought: Before 2021, the population of Rice’s whales was zero-point-zero and they were part of a Least-Concern Species. The sudden discovery of 30-50 Rice’s whales turned them into a Critically Endangered Species.
As Ron White said…
Reference
Sinclair J. Oil and Gas Structures In Gulf of Mexico Data Atlas [Internet]. Stennis Space Center (MS): National Centers for Environmental Information; 2011. [1 screen]. Available from: https://gulfatlas.noaa.gov/.
Addendum
The area being proposed as Rice’s Whale Critical Habitat is the entire outer-shelf and upper-slope of the Gulf of Mexico.
AGENCY:
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION:
Proposed rule; request for comments and notice of public hearing.
SUMMARY:
We, NMFS, propose to designate critical habitat for the Rice’s whale ( Balaenoptera ricei) by designating waters from the 100 meter (m) isobath to the 400 m isobath in the Gulf of Mexico (GOMx), pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We have considered economic, national security, and other relevant impacts of the proposed designation. We are not excluding any particular area from the critical habitat designation. We seek comments on all aspects of the proposed critical habitat designation and will consider information received before issuing a final designation.
Federal Register
The proposed rule is open for public comment until September 22, 2023.
Biden Violates Inflation Reduction Act Less Than One Year After Signing It Because…
. . . he and his handlers simply forgot.
Why look for other reasons to impeach?
They had their fingers crossed while signing it.
Joey could not be a licensed commercial pilot because he would have been grounded years ago due to physical and mental disabilities…..so he can’t harm a plane load of people but can endanger the whole country.
And what do they have to say about the whales on the east coast impacted by the installing of offshore bird choppers?…….
Or the whales dying because of sonic effects on their hearing organs from exploratory blasting (I don’t think whales have ears, but they have something that functions that way)?
Whales, Orcas and Dolphins all have ears and they are particularly sensitive to low frequency sounds.
I think whales are tough creatures. They’re not gonna die from hearing loud noises any more than we would. We just won’t like it and it’ll disturb our sleep/naps, feeding and mating behaviors and everything else they/we do. Not a nice way to treat Mother Nature but we gotta live too and so we make noise, change parts of the surface of the Earth, dig mines, cut trees, grow crops, disturb the air with planes and missiles- yet the Earth will survive. It’s very tough. George Carling said it best: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251836-we-re-so-self-important-everybody-s-going-to-save-something-now-save
My view is the pile driveing is causing the problems with the east coast whales.
The installations are being put in an area where there is a high concentration of wildlife.
High frequency/loud noise is the issue. I served on an ASW Escort ship in the Navy
back in the early 70’s and the impact of sonar/noise on whales was well known. We did
some “Tom Clancy’ish” stuff with sonar/ASW. We had the typical sonar dome in the
focsle and also had a 1/2 mile long towable transducer device and a then new state of the art MAD unit on a LAMPS unit along with passive stuff that looked like mortar shells that we dropped thru tubes that had real fine wires that fed back up.
I ran with a couple of the “twidgets”
that were in 3rd division and they shared with me some of the stuff they worked on. Bottom
line in my view whales are sensitive to noise and certain types more than others. The
off shore oil & gas not so much as they have not had too many problems in the past but
the wind projects in the New England area is obviously a problem just based on the
recent mortality cases.
What constitutes a species is always contentious. Are Red Wolves a valid species? Or are Spotted Owls, instead of being a color pattern variation of Barred Owls?
A devout Splitter can name a variation as a species, and then declare it to be “endangered”.
Wrote about red wolves in essay No Bodies in ebook Blowing Smoke.
They are a coyote/eastern grey wolf hybrid. Almost hunted out, the last few breeding pairs were captured in Texas and Louisiana.They were culled to remove the most coyote like. Then the four remaining breeding pairs were released in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on Abermarle Sound in NC. Why only there? Because there are no coyotes to further despoil the artificially selected ‘red wolf’. And Defenders of Wildlife fear they are threatened by climate change sea level rise.
Spotted owl is a different species than the eastern Barred Owl. Bad news for spotted owls, the w eastern barred owl somehow made it to the west coast where it is outcompeting the spotted. Lives in a wider range of habitat, wider foraging, slightly bigger so drives out the spotted, on its way to probable extinction despite all the old growth hubbub.
I’m pretty sure they make hybrids as well.
So, Rice Whales were a least-concerned species, now they are Critically Endangered, whereas us humans are threatened and endangered by the Loonies turning off heaters or air conditioners? I gotta get outa this place.
Had doubts about Rice’s whales being a separate species, but they pretty conclusively are. Only 30-50 individuals total, and almost exclusively off the coast of western Florida in water depths from 150-450 feet, where drilling has been prohibited forever to protect the beaches and tourism industry. So the NMFS settlement is just virtue signaling BS.
If it suited their purposes, they would claim that the multifarious dog breeds we have created are all separate species.
By selection, we have created enormous morphological diversity in the blink of an evolutionary eye. Yet, as far as I am aware, they are able to interbreed. I’m sure other species can do the same even if it requires them to occasionally ‘lower their standards’ at an individual level.
Dogs do it.Humans do it. I bet hedgehogs do it. Rabbits probably go at it like, well, rabbits. The main thing is probably just to maintain a sufficiently high population to maintain the frequency.
Has that been their historic range?
The expected response on the whales. I don’t know the answer, but it seems like those that do don’t want to go there.
It took hours for this post to max out as a low comment count Open Thread. But when you’re b*** hurting over your failed “Hail The Permian Oil!” posts, your options get limited….
Just remember…
story tip
Goldman Sachs expects ‘all time high’ oil demand will boost prices (cnbc.com)
Let’s hope these burning EV carrier ships don’t sink in real or imagined whale areas.
story tip
Fire on Car-Carrier Ship Off Dutch Coast Kills One – WSJ
3000 cars from Germany to Egypt. 350 were Mercedes, and 25 of those were EV. Crew says fire started in one of the EVs. One crew dead, several severely injured. Fire not out.
Our Ft Lauderdale high rise has banned EV’s from the 3 story indoor parking garage. And there is no EV charging for any of the dozens of outdoor valet spaces. Hybrids and plug in hybrids are allowed. The rich folks here prefer Rolls, Bentley, and Lamborghini to Tesla, so not a big problem.
“Our Ft Lauderdale high rise has banned EV’s from the 3 story indoor parking garage.”
Did you have anything to do with that, Rud? 🙂
I think that banning is going to be standard procedure in the future for underground parking in large buildings. No EV’s Allowed!
And it looks like they are going to need to do something when transporting EV’s in ships, although I’m not sure what they could do other than transport them without the batteries installed.
Mount them on jettison racks like flammables. If one catches fire, dump the rack and keep moving. Call the shipper and send them the bill(s) for your lost equipment and any other costs.
Maybe Joe should rethink battery cars instead of critical fossil fuels
https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/07/26/ship-is-still-on-fire-ev-suspected-in-fatal-cargo-ship-fire/
or, take a closer look at the smart meter con
https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/07/26/smart-meters-switched-to-expensive-tariffs/
Biden is still probably cognisant that, even today, it is still better to make ill-gotten gains by dealing with corrupt foreign governments/agencies than by keeping it a strictly US affair.
Thus it is easier to make a dirty Dollar when the US is not producing enough oil domestically to satisfy demand. If you don’t need foreign oil then the grifting opportunities start to dry up.
I often ponder why all environments, flora & fauna, coral reefs, glaciers etc always seem to be in areas where Joe & Jan Average and their kids can’t readily access and see for themselves how dire these ‘critical endangerment” situations are.
As Prof Julius Sumner Miller used to say –
“why is it so?”
It’s all part of the plan. Inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods.
Constricting energy supplies while simultaneously spending far more money than Fedgov takes in as revenue, exacerbates both sides of the Inflation calculus.
Squeezing energy supplies results in fewer products available. Excess spending, much of which is financed by the central bank, creates more dollars in the market.
The Inflation is a hidden attack on the poor and middle class. Both of which increase the relative power of the central government and the political class.
“The Inflation is a hidden attack on the poor and middle class.”
I have always understood that inflation is a hidden tax on all of us because some economists blame deficit spending for its contribution to inflation. The deficit is more politically palatable than raising income and other taxes.
Prior to the Reagan presidency, Both the standard deduction and the income tax rates were not adjusted for inflation.
Because of this, inflation would push people into ever higher income brackets even though there spending power was not increasing.
The Democrats, those self declared defenders of the poor and middle class, fought against indexing tax rates to inflation, tooth and nail.
Inflation did not cause tax rates for the rich to go up, they were already in the highest brackets.
True. But since the poor spend a higher percentage of their income than others (as opposed to saving it, etc.) inflation is regressive. It takes more from them as a percentage of their income.
If anyone ever asks, questioning the effectiveness of propaganda. Simple point to climate change and how easily reasonable people became consumed. Not only with the proposition but, as a socioeconomic ideal.
Which given the above, I’m a strong advocate for removing every and all government funding, subsidization and policy commitments to this ideal, and would rather it was something for the private sector alone to play with, funded solely by existing market interest. Such interests which appear to be rooted in government largesse. Not pragmatic solution nor even offsetting the demon atmos. CO2.
Some whales are more equal than others.
Lawsuit bait for SCOTUS to resolve in favor of the national interest, the law, and common sense – all of which are missing from the Biden maladministration. No private agreement can nullify the rights of persons who are not parties to the agreement.
He’s a Democrat, the laws don’t apply to him.
On the other hand whales being killed by ocean based wind turbines don’t matter in the slightest.
Oh dear, what’s all this about then……
Headline:”Plea deal for president’s son collapses in dramatic court hearing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66314934
From: DOJ Plea Deal With Hunter Biden Falls Apart as Federal Judge Infers DOJ Motive to Structure Immunity for Future Charges as DOJ Admits Ongoing Investigation – The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)
Here’s the non-pretending version. The corrupt U.S. attorney’s office organized, coordinated and colluded with the Hunter Biden team to structure a deal that would provide cover for Hunter Biden for any further crimes. This is corrupt as hell. The judge sniffed this motive and asked the DOJ directly. The DOJ could not make that admission for obvious reasons and denied this intent. Thus, the Hunter defense team then had to say without the previously agreed future immunity, the deal was off.
DOJ entrapped itself. Swore to Congress a week ago that investigations were ongoing, so could not tell Congress about them. (Logically, Mann Act and FARA.) Told Hunter investigations were over. Implication, no further liability, so the plea was effectively good for ‘permanent’ future immunity. Judge just asked DOJ, further investigations? They could not admit had just lied to Congress, so said yes. The plea would not cover those, so Hunter had to back out. Good smart judge.
They’ll find another way. And as a last resort there is always presidential pardon.
The judge asked the lawyers if there was a precedent for the type of plea deal that was presented to her, and the lawyers had to admit that there was no precedent.
This is the first time this kind of sweetheart deal has been presented to a federal court.
I guess it’s not every day that the son of a President of the United States is under criminal investigation. And if you are a Democrat president, your son gets a special deal from the Biden “Justice Department”. The judge frowned on this special deal, much to my delight, I must say.
Trying to get Hunter immunity from future prosections by Republicans in the plea deal just shows the arrogance of Joe Biden and the radical Democrats. They think they can get away with murder.
More detail of the plea deal that exposes the collusion of the DOJ, USAO in Delaware. and the representatives of the Biden family.
Details of Now Collapsed Federal Plea Deal with Hunter Biden Leaked to Politico – The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)
I really wanted to put a video of Creedence – Fortunate Son here, it would fit perfectly. Unfortunately I’m on my phone and I can’t cut and paste the link.
The powers that be just finished a cluster of four EV charging spots near the grocery store. (Inflation reduction act money I’m sure) Up to 350KW each!
My last Xcel Energy home electric bill showed 412KWH for the month. One charger for 71 minutes equals a month of my home electrical use. Just thirty days five hours a day use on all four equals 210,000KWH! a crap ton of electricity!
To put it another way that month of EV charger use equals over 42 years of my home use!
A definite Cluster Frack
It does make you (common people) wonder what the real side deals were for Manchin given that the publicized deal terms were so easy to step around.
Manchin is history. He can’t get elected again in his home State.
Manchin might try to head a third-party effort to win the presidency. I hope he does as it will take votes away from Joe Biden and give the presidency to Trump.
Then, Manchin can fade away into history.
The Biden junta flouts the law? Must be a day ending in -day. FJB.
So when will we have a sue & settle suit about wind mills killing whales on the East coast
Let’s take comfort in the fact that the fake whales will appreciate the sacrifices of the real humans.
Is anyone surprised at what comes out of this current administration? I have just made up my mind to not be surprised at anything at all. No surprises. Good blood pressure.
From the article: “Where’s Joe Manchin When You Need Him?”
Joe Manchin votes with the radical Democrats 99.9 percent of the time.
Joe Manchin should have voted to kill the “Inflation Reduction” Act.
Joe Manchin is not a moderate, despite his protestations. His voting record tells the tale.
Don’t count on Joe Manchin.
From the article: ” Where is Manchin in all of this? One has to wonder what Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) thinks about this turn of events. After all, it was Manchin, who voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, only because he thought he had made a good horse trade to include pro-oil-and-gas planks in the legislation. Now, the spirt of that agreement and vote is being gutted by the crafty Biden operatives.
You Can’t Fix Stupid”
That’s right, you can’t fix stupid. Don’t count on Manchin helping anything.
Yeah, ole Biden is real concerned about the Rices Whale but doesn’t give a damn about the Right Whale, in the North Atlantic ocean.
Biden will seek to save the whales when it suits his political agenda, and will kill the whales when it suits his political agenda.
What’s important to Biden? Answer: His political agenda.
The area being proposed as Rice’s Whale Critical Habitat is the entire outer-shelf and upper-slope of the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposed rule is open for public comment until September 22, 2023.
Biden is doing what he is paid for by his employer (Communist China) to damage and weaken America in every way possible, and they (Communist China) are getting what they want.