The global-warming skeptics at the launched a today targeting — who else? — former Vice President Al Gore.
The $30,000 buy is small as far as national-ad campaigns go, but itwill run on cable over the next two weeks in Boston, Phoenix, Orlando,Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C.
Fine. It's a waste of money. Clearly, this is a right-wing think-tank dedicated to protecting the oil industry. It proves that Al Gore represents a legitimate threat to polluters, therefore he has accomplished a lot already.
Energy independence, anyone? reached a record high on Friday, following the announcement yesterday of new economic sanctions on Iran:
Crude oil rose to a record above $91a barrel in New York on an unexpected drop in U.S. stockpilesand concern that supply from the Middle East may be disrupted.
Inventories last week fell 5.29 million barrels to thelowest since January, the U.S. Energy Department said. New U.S.sanctions against Iran, warnings of a Turkish assault on Kurdishmilitants in Iraq and a falling dollar helped push priceshigher. Brent futures in London reached a record.
The U.S. economy is on the verge of a train wreck. The , and our could indicate a .
Yesterday, John McCain tried to pull off the unthinkable. The Arizona Republican Senator cited a pessimistic study that referred to the Iraqi police force as dysfunctional, and spun it to further the notion that we need to stay in Iraq. More than anything, as all of us expected, John McCain is particularly concerned about the :
"The report states that 'the strategic consequences of failure, oreven perceived failure, for the United States and the coalition areenormous,'" McCain said in a statement Thursday.
McCain quotes the reporter further: "Iraq's regional geo-strategicposition, the balance of power in the Middle East, the economicstability made possible by the flow of energy to many parts of theworld, and the ability to defeat and contain terrorism where it is mostmanifest are issues that do not lend themselves to easy or quicksolution."
We all predicted this would happen. They had their "energy" reasons for going into Iraq, and it's no different when it comes to leaving the country. It's all about doing whatever possible to remain as dependent on foreign sources of energy. The $136,000 that energy companies have to Mr. McCain's 2008 presidential campaign is paying off.
The global warming effect in the Arctic is causing a major rift in US-Canadian relations. Canada has dispatched to the Northwest Passage in a show of force to fend off that those are international waters. Canada, obviously, insists that the water is part of Canadian territory. In the end, the dispute is -- you guessed it -- over :
As global warming melts the passage – which now is only navigableduring a slim window in the summer – the waters are exposing unexploredresources such as oil, fishing stocks and minerals, and becoming anattractive shipping route. Commercial ships can shave off some 2,480miles from Europe to Asia compared with current routes through thePanama Canal.
The disputed route runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago.
Canadians have long claimed the waters. But their government hasgenerally turned a blind eye to the United States, which has sent navalvessels and submarines through what it considers an internationalstrait.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the icecap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding,partly due to greenhouse gases.
See how oil changes the whole equation. Initially, Canada did not mind that US submarines used the water, and the US did not care if Canada secured the region. Now that global warming is resulting in new oil, a fight has erupted between close neighbors in a delicate part of the world.
It will be interesting to see how the US responds to Canada's show of force. People are already whispering about possible US military action to grab control of the territory -- although it is highly .
In my opinion here is another fine example of government officials BS'ing thepublic. Forty Two thousand gallons of crude oil is happily cruising down a rivertowards a lake that supplies drinking water. The officials say "they're notsure of the extent of contamination" and a spokeswoman for the Dept. of EnvironmentalQuality says "the spill isn't expected tohave an impact on the water-supply intakes located below the surface at thesouth end of the lake. She says oil tends to float on the surface of the water,so the quality of water taken from below the surface of the lake should not beaffected." Personally I don't think you can put forty two thousand gallonsOF water in a river and it not have an impact of some sort.
COFFEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) - Forty-two thousandsgallons of thick crude oil are nearing an Oklahoma lake that supplies water fordrinking and recreation.
The oil spilled from the Coffeyville Resourcesrefinery in Kansas on Sunday into the Verdigris River. It has been floatingdownstream toward Oologah (OO'-luh-gah) Lake, about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa
Officials say a lot of the oil slick remainson the surface and is visible. They're not sure of the extent of contamination.
A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department ofEnvironmental Quality says the spill isn't expected to have an impact on thewater-supply intakes located below the surface at the south end of the lake. Shesays oil tends to float on the surface of the water, so the quality of watertaken from below the surface of the lake should not be affected. ... (but this is all there is at this link.)
Then we can go down the list of all the things NOT to worry about:
None of the oil reached Oklahoma's Lake Oologah, a source of drinking water for Tulsa and other communities, Oklahoma environmental officials said Wednesday.
Some workers at the refinery and the fertilizer facility already are returning to work. Others have been told to remain at home until contacted by their supervisors to return.
Lipinski says the company is working closely with city, state and federal agencies engaged in mitigating the environmental impact of the loss and is actively reaching out to those people affected.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, was helping the Coffeyville Police Department to conduct air quality tests for potential hazards
At least 1,000 people have been displaced from their homes throughout southeast Kansas, says the Kansas adjutant general's department
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, KDHE, is distributing tetanus vaccine to prevent the illness in people who have come in contact with the floodwaters
Health officials are warning residents to stay out of the flood waters due to sewage, hazardous materials, and other contaminants. Individuals should contact their nearest health department for a tetanus vaccine if they have had a recent, significant injury or if they have entered the water and have not had a tetanus vaccination in the past 10 years.
The EPA advises people returning to property that may be contaminated with oil and other contaminants to wear work boots, open doors and windows for ventilation, and avoid taking oil-contaminated items to non-contaminated locations. ...
We all know accidents can happen, but when you look at the list of all the"agencies" working on this one, it is similar to Katrina's crack teamsof crack heads. And when fish, birds and other wildlife start popping up dead,or with more eyes and legs then they really need, then they will create afew more committees to investigate the new situation.
A few more emergencies like this and "we're in big troublemister"...ya see, all our federal funds are a little tied up right nowhelping democratize the world.
And besides, what's the worse that could happen? I ain't no tree hugger!
Just as governments throughout the world begin rushing to find ways to conserve energy, are planning to invest . Translation: there will soon be more supply, and less of an incentive for Washington establishment types to take action:
Opec member countries plan to invest about$130 billion by 2012 to raise oil output in order to meet risingdemand, said Mohammed bin Dha'en Al Hamili, Opec President and UAEMinister of Energy.
Addressingthe 10th annual executive East-Meets-West conference, which isorganised by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in Istanbul,he said another $500 billion is planned to be invested in productioncapacity expansion and the provision of other oil relatedinfrastructure between 2013 and 2020.
Hamili called for mutual understanding and cooperation among producing and consuming nations and for transparency on the issues involving supply and demand.
"AllOpec members are developing countries with huge competing developmentalneeds. Their total gross domestic product in 2005 was $1.4 trillion.The value of their total exports was $ 703 billion of which oilaccounted for $ 512 billion or over 70 per cent. Opec member countrieshave over 900 billion barrels or more than 78 per cent of the totalproven crude oil reserves of 1.2 trillion barrels," he said.
OPEC stands for the . It was formed in 1960 thanks to a partnership between Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are obviously more members today. Countries that rely on OPEC the most, such as the United States, prefer to have a say in the domestic politics within each of those countries. Fittingly, those five have been military trouble spots over the last generation -- at the same time as oil demand continues to rise.
As gasoline reached yet another , even when , here are some of the statistics to keep in mind:
This is the that gas prices have reached an all-time high.
Prices have gone up .
The highest gas prices in the country are in , where a gallon of regular costs $3.59. But that was according to the Lundberg Survey taken Sunday -- so things could have changed since then.
The GAO reports that gasoline price increases have drained out of the pockets of American taxpayers so far this year.
Unless prices fall suddenly, will mark the longest stretch of $3.00 gasoline since AAA began keeping track. Again, these stats are inflation-adjusted.
High gas prices are having an impact on the retail industry. According to the , 74% of consumers say the spike in gas prices has impacted their spending habits. Also, 40% say they are taking fewer shopping trips.
AAA, which also monitors travel trends, says they are expecting a decrease in travel on .
are asking Congress to investigate allegations of gouging on the part of the oil industry.
Overall, the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq turned out to be a net-plus for Iran. Not only did the Iranian government benefit from the new Shiite power vacuum in Iraqi politics, but Iranian firms will be making millions off the Iraqi oil industry.
Word surfaced early this morning from an Iraqi Oil Ministry :
"Today, the Iranian firms have been invited tobid in building refineries which the ministry has already announced itwas planning to build," Asim Jihad told Reuters.
More than anything, this was a move by Iran to flex its geopolitical muscle. Iraqi Shiite leaders probably had a hand in this because, as a from the Dubai-based said, these Iranian firms are not equipped to build top-notch refineries:
"It doesn't make sense," he said. "First of all Iran doesn't have theknow-how and the technology. Secondly, they are suffering from theirown problems. They are short of supplies themselves and are looking atrationing oil products."
So in summary, we have the Iraqi government -- a government we helped install -- awarding Iranian companies with oil contracts. So much for invading Iraq to send a message to Iran!
This comes on the heels of a GAO report that finds between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels of Iraqi oil each day are lost due to illegal .
On , then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said that Iraq's oil money would be enough to finance its own reconstruction. Not only was that vastly overstated, but now the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that over the last four years is unaccounted for:
Billions of dollars worth of Iraq's declared oil production overthe past four years is unaccounted for, possibly having beensiphoned off through corruption or smuggling, The New York Timessays.
Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels of Iraq's daily output ofroughly 2 million barrels is missing, it said, citing a draftreport prepared by the US Government Accountability Office andgovernment energy analysts which is expected to be released nextweek.
This is only the latest in a long line of abuses on the part of the Iraqi government. The documentary called dives head-first into this issue of corruption.
The average gallon of gasoline in the United States is now up to $3.07 -- a in just the last two weeks. Just last month, Exxon reported that were up 10% in the first quarter of 2007.
So what is going on? has his own opinion:
"It's outrageous ...Isn't it interesting every year about this time,a refinery goes down for repairs," said Senate Democratic Leader HarryReid of Nevada.
Actually, it is quite puzzling. Why would oil companies conduct refinery maintenance at this time of the year, just weeks before Memorial Day weekend, when millions of families across the country will take to the roads?
This kind of maintenance limits supply and helps drive up prices. Could that be why the last September, just two months before the election, to delay all refinery maintenance? It really makes you think.
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