howardgw’s Recent Comments

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  off shore oil

  27 percent of the U.S.' piddling annual oil production already comes from the OCS. Adding the estimated 7 percent of that amount by expanding off shore exploration will not be noticed by the gaping mouth of consumption. Our effort should go to reduction of demand, not expanding supply.

  Howard Wilshire

  On Salazar sends mixed signals on offshore drilling posted 9 months, 1 week ago 1 Response

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  climate change reports

  The change in administration happily has resulted in the release of important information, as attested by the four climate change reports cited by Grist. In late December 2008 another very important report=Abrupt Climate Change=by the USGS, NOAA, and NSF was released. Land managers and informed citizens need to wade into this information soon. Either we plan changes in the way we live, or nature will do it for us.

  Howard Wilshire

  On The four global warming impact studies Bush tried to bury in his final days posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago 16 Responses

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  Lisa Jackson and EPA

  If you want to know why Lisa Jackson should not run the EPA go to: http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1136

  Howard Wilshire

  On Politico claims N.J. DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson in line to head EPA posted 11 months ago 8 Responses

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  oil shale

  As they say in the industry, oil shale is the energy source of the future, and always will be. Having an energy content of an equal weight of baked potatoes, production of oil from shale (a misnomer)probably yields less energy than required to get it, especially using Shell's scheme, is especially dirty if mined and retorted at the surface, and uses water that we don't have. The economics of this endeavor completely ignore the value, in dollars, of the services the natural landscapes provide us. If you want more information on this matter, and how oil shale fits into our overall energy problems, try The American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recover, published by Oxford University Press, 2008.On BLM finalizes plan for leasing oil shale in U.S. West posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago 10 Responses

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  where the wild places were

  Opening Utah's magnificent wildlands for oil and gas exploration has nothing to do with energy security or independence. Despite the extremely poor prospects of finding enough oil and gas to make a net gain in energy at all, and a profit only at high prices, the Bureau of Land Management is approving invasive exploration activities in many lands of high natural and scenic values: for example, the Lockhart Basin, Hatch Point, Dome Plateau, Goldbar Rim and others. Even Wildlife Refuges, protected for  some wildlife values, are not protected from oil and gas exploration and production: 27% of the nation's 575 refuges have been either explored, drilled, and exploited, or laced with pipelines. 105 refuges contain a total of 4,406 oil and gas wells, 1,806 currently active. Production from these wells is a tiny proportion of total U.S. production, itself only 30% or so of consumption.

  At the request of Congress, the USGS performed a qualitative assessment of oil and gas potential in National Monuments approved and expanded under the Clinton Administration, which did protect them from exploration/production. Of 19 monuments, only 4 had any prospects, and those for only modest amounts of oil and gas with no relevance to energy independence.

  In contrast, the oil industry claims undiscovered reserves of as much as 4 billion barrels of oil in and adjacent to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The whole region contains only 24 geologically favorable oil and gas sites, all of which have been explored for many years. One site has trickled out 25 million barrels of oil since its 1964 discovery, barely more than one day of current consumption over 35 years.

  Reckless opening of valuable natural lands to energy exploration can only worsen the nation's energy position. Hopefully, Obama will reverse this trend.

  Information from: The American West at Risk: Science, Myths, and Politics of Land Abuse and Recovery
  On BLM proposes opening wilderness-y areas in Utah to oil and gas drilling posted 11 months, 4 weeks ago 5 Responses