39 Replies to ““New Study Shows That Offshore Drilling Could Make Alaska the Eighth Largest Oil Producer in the World – Ahead of Libya and Nigeria””

1. Blake says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:05 am

   I think Alaska should just tell the feds to fuck off and start issuing drilling permits.

   If the President can ignore laws and regulations that he finds inconvenient, then Governor Parnell should feel free to do the same.

2. JD says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:17 am

   I blame Palin. And Bush. And the Koch Brothers. And the jooooooooooooos.

3. JimK says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:22 am

   Palin is right again. Thanks, BO, for nothing(that is: No Oil and No Gas).

4. Ernst Schreiber says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:28 am

   Don’t Texans have an expression for the Ken Salazars of the world?

5. Spiny Norman says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:31 am

   All hat, no cattle?

6. dicentra says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:39 am

   The mideast and India and northern Africa (where next) are on fire because of food shortages (and global organized labor, which has been waiting anxiously for just such a crisis), but WE sink our valuable cropland into subsidies for ethanol corn and paying farmers to let their land LAY FALLOW to keep prices artificially high, because FDR said so, and then we turn the pumps off in CA’s central valley to save a smelt bloat the egos of enviro-freaks while refusing to drill ANWAR because… because… well because.

   We have got to be the stupidest nation on the planet.

   Also, frakking.

7. Ernst Schreiber says:

   February 25, 2011 at 11:48 am

   Spiny, that’s the one.

   And frakking is good.

8. Squid says:

   February 25, 2011 at 12:07 pm

   The mideast and India and northern Africa (where next) are on fire because of food shortages…

   Tell this to your average Proggie, and he’ll tell you that they’ve had it coming for decades. If they’d just let themselves starve to death in the 80s, instead of listening to that evil Borlaug bastard, they wouldn’t be starving today.

   Besides, what are the deaths of a few million brown people, when you’re bringing about the Glorious Revolutionary Workers’ Manifest Destiny?

9. A fine scotch says:

   February 25, 2011 at 12:08 pm

   Bbbbbbut, the CARIBOU!

10. A fine scotch says:

    February 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Sorry, comment 9 was supposed to have this link attached.

11. Spiny Norman says:

    February 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Actually, I suspect your average Proggie idiot will blame stinking greedy America’s Consuming of 25% of the World’s Resources™ for the crisis in the Africa and the Mid East.

12. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    RATS with antlers!

13. serr8d says:

    February 25, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    Spiny, I was under the impression that Texans remarked “just pinched off another Ken Salazar” after a successful Obama movement.

14. Russ says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    I’d guess Salazar wears the cowboy hat in much the same manner as members of the Village People wear a hard hat, an Indian war bonnet, a motorcycle cop helmet….

15. alppuccino says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    The purpose of the brim on Salsabar’s cowboy hat is to give people room to knock it off his bean, while mitigating the danger of hitting his pudgy puss.

16. dicentra says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:21 pm

    And frakking is good.

    Frakking is Yet Another Perfectly Good Technology That The Left Will Kill Through Hysteria, just as they did with nuclear power, “frankenfood,” irradiation, and phosphates in soap.

17. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    I rather doubt it, di, that would cost union jobs.

18. Blake says:

    February 25, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    Ernst, the Democrats have already shafted the blue collar unions in Alaska. Unions lobbied to open ANWR and Democrats still voted against opening ANWR.

19. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    You mean to tell me that AFSCME and SEIU have more juice than the UMW and whoever the hell it is representing pipelayers these days? Shirley, you jest!

20. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    It’s there own fault you know. They vote on cultural issues like guns instead of voting their economic interests like the union rep tells ’em too. What’s the matter with blue collar unions?

21. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    There/their. Sew Sue mi

22. McGehee says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    @Ernst, #19. The unions I remember from the mid- to late-’90s that would have been employed to support an opened ANWR or the natural-gas pipeline were Pipefitters, Operating Engineers, Teamsters, IBEW and the like. I don’t remember any UMW presence in the state at all.

23. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    McGehee, Frac sands don’t extract themselves, you know. Not even in right to work as a WAGE SLAVE for THE MAN states.

24. Slartibartfast says:

    February 25, 2011 at 2:37 pm

    Screw the hat; the dude is wearing a bolo tie.

    Which would be ok if he were the only lawyer in Truth or Consequences, NM. But he’s been a state-level or Washington-level pol his entire career.

    I cry WTF.

25. McGehee says:

    February 25, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    So basically he’s a Western counterpart to Senator Jack S. Phogbound. (Google it)

26. Joe says:

    February 25, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    Is it just me, or is it a poignant commentary on the sad decline of American individualism that a flaccid, big-government yes man like Ken Salazar gets away with wearing a fucking cowboy hat these days?

    Think Brokeback Mountain, but instead of it being a tragedy it turns out to be pathetic.

27. Mikey NTH says:

    February 25, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    When push finally comes to shove, I wonder how the noble caribou is going to fare.

    If my readings in history are correct it will be ‘poorly’.

28. mojo says:

    February 25, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    He best not wear it anywhere near Dallas.

29. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 25, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    The caribou will do just fine. There’s plenty of room for both man and beast up there.

30. guinsPen says:

    February 26, 2011 at 8:02 am

    Concerns have been expressed since the late 1960s that oil development on the north slope of Alaska would have significant negative impacts on caribou of the Central Arctic Herd (CAH). Since 1992 we have conducted systematic aerial surveys of the Prudhoe Bay and adjacent oil fields during calving and post-calving periods to determine the distribution and status of caribou in relation to oil field infrastructure. We have also compared the population dynamics of CAH caribou with those from other north slope caribou herds which have not been exposed to oil development to determine if the CAH was impacted by oil development at the population level.

    Caribou from the CAH migrate north each spring from the Brooks Mountain Range to calving grounds and summer range on the coastal plain of Alaska between the Canning and Colville Rivers. Spring and summer habitats include the oil fields in the Prudhoe Bay region. Calving typically occurs from late May to mid-June in relatively dry habitats from the coastline to 100 miles inland, the location varying with weather and snow-melt characteristics. A large portion of the herd calves in and near the Kuparuk and Milne Point oil fields. During the post-calving period, mid-June to mid-August, caribou move into and through the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. On warm days, the animals tend to congregate on the Beaufort Sea coast where wind provides relief from mosquitoes. On cool days they move inland and often forage in the oil fields. While in the oil fields they frequently occur on gravel pads and roads, where there are fewer mosquitoes than on tundra; they also rest in the shade provided by elevated pipelines, well houses, and other buildings to escape parasitic oestrid flies.

    The Central Arctic Caribou Herd increased from about 5,000 animals shortly after oil development commenced in the 1970s to about 23,000 in 1992; the latest (1997) census by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game disclosed about 20,000. Size trends and demographics of the herd in the last few decades have been similar to those of the other 3 herds on Alaska’s arctic slope, which have distributional ranges that are not in oil-field areas. Several mitigation measures such as elevating pipelines to allow caribou to pass beneath them, prohibiting hunting in the oil fields, and providing caribou the right-of-way on roads have reduced the potential for caribou to be adversely affected by oil fields. Except for a tendency for cows with newborn calves to distance themselves from human activity, caribou appear to tolerate the oil fields, and may even benefit because of protection from hunting and from the insect relief provided by gravel pads and buildings. Past speculations that oil fields would reduce herd productivity or numbers have not been supported by data on caribou demography, distribution, and abundance. Existing oil fields are used extensively by caribou, partly because of mitigative measures incorporated into oil-field design, and future advances in oil-field technology may further reduce the risk of adverse impact.

    Caribou stew.

    Yum!

31. SDN says:

    February 26, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    That should work, Blake, as long as they make a simultaneous announcement that they will not assist in investigating the sudden increase in feds being eaten by grizzlies on the way to shut down drilling.

32. Ernst Schreiber says:

    February 26, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Of course, you can starve to death on a diet of Caribou. At least if I remember how that story of Canadian government incompetence towards teh First Peoples nobly living in harmony with nature goes.

33. Swen says:

    February 26, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    11. Spiny Norman posted on 2/25 @ 12:11 pm
    Actually, I suspect your average Proggie idiot will blame stinking greedy America’s Consuming of 25% of the World’s Resources™ for the crisis in the Africa and the Mid East.

    It’s true, we do consume 25% of the world’s resources, but we also produce 40% of the world’s goods and services. We’re efficient! :D

34. Swen says:

    February 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    I don’t know if caribou are as smart as antelope, but the antelope have learned that the oilfield is the place to be. Nobody hunts them in the oilfield, too many people and too much expensive equipment make it too dangerous.

35. McGehee says:

    February 26, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    Swen, that was my theory about the areas along I-90 and I-25 in Wyoming years ago, when my wife and I saw literally hundreds of them hanging out along the right-of-way fence while driving from Sheridan to Cheyenne.

36. LBascom says:

    February 26, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    “Of course, you can starve to death on a diet of Caribou. “

    I heard the same thing. If you’re starving up there, shoot a polar bear, you’ll live longer.

    Plus, fuck Algore.

37. John Bradley says:

    February 26, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    “as smart as antelope” is a phrase that just doesn’t come up all that often.

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    February 27, 2011 at 2:26 am

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39. Mueller says:

    February 27, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    #32
    Too much protein and not enough fat. I cold climates your body needs lots of fat to keep you healthy. Since Caribu migrate they tend not be as fatty as say an Moose.

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