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Shell
Shell's Noble Discoverer drilling rig sits above an oil field in Alaska's Chukchi Sea on Saturday, Sept. 8.
More than 20 years after the last drill bit went into the Chukchi Sea floor off northern Alaska, a Shell drilling rig on Sunday began work that the company hopes will lead to a bonanza that adds to its bottom line and extends Alaska's oil economy.
"Today marks the culmination of Shell’s six-year effort to explore for potentially significant oil and gas reserves, which are believed to lie under Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf," Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby said in a statement.
Welcomed by the Obama administration, the exploration in Alaska's Arctic waters has become a major battleground for environmental groups, which fear oil spills in the pristine area already threatened by warming temperatures and reduced sea ice.
"The melting Arctic is a dire warning, not an invitation to make a quick buck," said Dan Howells, a campaign director for Greenpeace.
Shell has paid the U.S. $2.8 billion for lease rights to areas in the Chukchi and neighboring Beaufort Sea, and the U.S. estimates those waters hold 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
On Aug. 30, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that Shell, even though its spill response barge was not yet certified by the Coast Guard, would be permitted to drill pilot holes and then dig what's called a cellar to hold a critical safety device.
The pilot holes will be 1,300 feet below the ocean floor and roughly 4,000 feet above a known petroleum reservoir.
Marvin Odum, Shell Oil president, discusses Tropical Storm Debby and its impact on oil production, oil drilling in Alaska and more, with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.
Shell argues there's little chance of a spill like BP's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. Drilling will be in water about 130 feet deep, it says, versus 5,000 at the site of the gulf spill, and wellhead pressure is expected to be far less.
Support vessels could quickly choke off and cleanup any spill, Shell adds.
Workers on Friday moored the drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, in heavy seas with eight anchors that each weigh 15 tons. The diameter of the circular pattern of anchors is more than 6,500-feet, it added.
The immediate goal is to dig a 20-by-40-foot mud-line cellar that will house a blowout preventer below the seafloor, protecting it from ice scraping the bottom.
Shell's oil spill response barge remains in Bellingham, Wash., and is expected to undergo sea trials over the weekend, Shell said.
Shell
This illustration shows how far drilling will go for now, as well as what the cellar for the blowout preventer will look like.
Shell last explored in the area in 1991, but it was not economically viable to produce from there at the time.
Shell's other Arctic Ocean drill ship, the Kulluk, is in the Beaufort Sea waiting for the fall whale hunt to end before moving to the drill site.
The company isn't expecting to drill for oil until next year, since it only has a few weeks before sea ice forms in the area. It will then resume drilling next summer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Well that's it then, I'm gonna have to vote for Romney! :P
Make hole !!
The really sad part is that this will do nothing to lower the energy costs here in the US. In all probability, it will be sold off to the highest bidder (China).
Oh, but where is all the mantra of "Drill Baby, Drill".
Funny thing there is always something to blame Obama. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Shuck Fell!
I hope there is no oil or gas in alaska. First thing you know, the united states will invade it.
marlen101917
Global supplies determine global prices, the more oil on the market the lower the fuel costs for all of us. It sounds like there could easily be as much there as Prudhoe Bay and that has significantly enriched AK for decades now but is well past it's peak production and declining rapidly.
@fuel
HAAHAAHAAHAAHAA. Do you actually believe what you said? In that case gasoline in America should be cheap because it's our largest export. Wait, it's not, it's going up again. Well, I guess that makes you wrong.
If we have so much we're exporting it why is it going up? How about GREED!
According to the article Shell gave the US $2.8 billion for reserves that contain 26 billion barrels of oil plus a substantial amount of natural gas. At $100 per barrel, which is a good estimate over time given the current markets, Shell gave the US 1 penny for every dollar they will make off of our oil.
Why should a private company be able to practically steal our natural resources only to sell them back to us at an unreasonable price?
The environmental wackos must be banging their heads against the wall today. Their Messiah has sold them out.
Ice problems in the Arctic?
I think the last season of Deadliest Catch and its captains would argue a bit of there being lack of ice issue in the north oceans and seas since there was unprecedented ice the likes that haven't been seen in years.
Doesn't matter where the companies drill there will be people upset about it yet those people seem to enjoy that feeling that their car starts when they turn the key because it has gas in it that they just may have gotten from the local "Shell Oil" station.
Doesn't matter who the president is or will be, big oil money talks and every and any president listens regardless of their political party.
It's been that way since oil was first drilled and will be that way until we're all gone..or..well..till the zombie apocalypse happens.
I explored the whole northslope between 1974 and 1980, it was the greatest adventure i've done besides surviving 2 tours in vietnam.... the company i was with found large reservoirs of oil, i worked one year out on sea ice, not a fun place to be, very dangerous....glad to see we are finally going to drill for the oil we found over 30 years ago....
Dennis Price
Do you really think that if gasoline was as plentiful as water there would be anything to be greedy about? Supply effects price immediately and dramatically....in fact one can predict prices if they can predict supply and demand. Sure there are some perversions to the markets but if you think greed is the only parameter in the equation then why is oil not $200 or $1000/bbl? You know better.
@Fuel
Unfortunately gasoline is plentiful at the moment and they're exporting it as fast as they can. The price certainly hasn't gone down, quite the opposite. It's our number 1 export and yet we're getting killed at the pump. There is a disconnect there don't you think?
John Hunt, you just assumed it is free to produce that oil, and it is unlikely shell will ever recover all of that oil.
Shell gave the US $2.8 billion for a lease on the land to be able to drill... not for the oil. They have to pay a royalty on that yet to the mineral owners.... I assume the mineral owners in this case is the US government, but can't say for sure if any other parts have mineral interests there.
Fuel, Dennis isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, clearly.
OK Olivia, where am I wrong? Tell me. If you're going to insult me the very least you can do is back it up.
I stated a simple fact, gasoline is our number one export. If there is a glut of gasoline why are we getting killed at the pump. If we were to go by Fuel's premise it should be relatively inexpensive, especially since demand had been dropping due to increased fuel efficiencies. It's not.
Where do you think I'm mistaken?
Dennis,
For first time since 1949 the US has exported MORE refinery products then imported. US fuel demands are down due to economy and other factors including better mpg--US oil production has been increasing dramatically over last 4 yrs, developing economies are demanding cars and fuel like never before. The good ol' USA is the third largest oil producer on earth, it would be strange if we didn't export any of it. We consume roughly 8M bll/day gasoline, export about 0.4M/day this yr., import about twice that much.
All of these liquid fuels are relatively very cheap to ship so unlike natgas the market price (before taxes, etc) varies little from one region to the next so if there is a small differential in price between US and destination X then they have incentive to take advantage of that. It's not as tho US companies could export 100M bll/per day without collapsing the price at the pump both hear and abroad...exported gasoline can only depress our price at the pump also as it's a global market. If you somehow forced them to dump the that would cut US pump price for a while but such interferences in markets are almost always detrimental over all. (Not suggesting you are advocating that) If we want to knock our transportation costs in a big way short term--we should start shifting to NG (natural gas), even allowing for a reasonable up tick in NG price from today's record lows that would allow about $1/gallon diesel energy equivalent. Of course many companies are beginning to do just that but it takes time to convert.
It's hard to be very sympathetic to American drivers in general as they go right back to buying ridiculous SUVs as soon as price at pump drops 10%--we pay half or one third as much per gallon as Euro countries and far less then most developed nations.
@Dennis: In addition to what Fuel has said, "Demand" influences the price as well. It is simple to grasp the fact that as other nations become more industrialized and their middle class citizen grows, coupled with the fact that they are a higher percentage of the global economy, that increasing supply may just be enough to keep prices where they are.
I agree with Fuel that we should transition to a natural gas fuel source for our vehicles. But, we should still be drilling and exporting our oil in order to generate much needed exports. The jobs created are high paying jobs. The revenue generated is needed to increase our tax base and increase US GDP. It's not only based on a lower gasoline price.
I must be in the wrong place - these posts are almost civil.
Bottom line; oil is a has been, just because we won't see the last drop harvested in our lifetime doesn't mean it's not a by gone source of energy. Had the lobbyists not shut down advanced options 30 years ago - this wouldn't even be a discussion now.
@ Fuel and Dave 20121, thanks... internet boards aren't a good place to go to affirm your faith in humanity, but I was getting worried there.
@ John Hunt, you say "At $100 per barrel, which is a good estimate over time given the current markets, Shell gave the US 1 penny for every dollar they will make off of our oil."
Corporate income tax is 35%, but due to the "tax breaks for big oil" let's say for the sake of discussion they'll pay 20% corporate income tax on the oil they take out of the ground.
That's a lot of tax dollars. Add to this, enormous liability (i.e. BP) should something go wrong, and the billions in infrastructure capital investment it took for Shell to get where they could drill the oil, and...
The US government/taxpayer, guaranteed about 20% of the total revenue, has by far the largest profit margin in this entire business venture.
we need more pollution
Too bad Shell is a Dutch company. God bless the USA.... I mean Netherlands!
The idea of this gives me gas.
I sh it my pants. I thought it was gas. Turned out to be nothing but pure crude oil running down my legs.
I hope no government money or support is going into this venture. If it is like all the other ventures around the world America has helped destroy the forests, seas, and environment for PRIVATE enterprise for decades. Even supplying military or political support if needed, in the name of National Security. Gas is not funny.
Wah Wah Wah! Do you drive or have you driven a gas powered vehicle?
You sound like one of those hypocritical Greenpeace nut jobs.
Take your environmental rants somewhere else.
I wonder if they are getting tax breaks to drill there too.....
They will get their tax breaks guaranteed so long as they contribute to Obama's campaign.
"Tax breaks" sounds like a parrot or pre-schooler wrote this post. No business EVER pays ANY taxes! All taxes are part of the cost of the service or product sold by the business. Business taxes hurt the poorest the most; by higher product costs and by lost jobs when the company has to go offshore to compete with lower business taxes. The USA has the HIGHEST business tax of any nation. This is the major reason for the depression we are sinking into at present. It's cheaper to manufacture in China and ship across the ocean than to produce with present business taxes. Higher taxes always deepen recessions into depressions.
mike
Right from the gop play book. And how many companies pay that? I bet the list is smaller then the ones who pay nothing.
B.S. It is not taxes but labor costs that make production overseas more profitable. Why pay an American 10 dollars an hour when some overseas will work for pennies a day?
Yup, and American companies make money not by shifting their corporate headquarters overseas, but by shifting the jobs overseas.
That's right, it ain't the corporate tax rate, it is the relative cost of living.
Does anybody know what a chinese factory worker makes an hour, or a day?
I'll bet it is a fraction of what a U.S. worker is paid.
US corporate taxes are high - on paper - but then with the other hand Uncle Sam gives back most of it.
We need to come to terms with paying a higher price for goods made in the US, due to the living wage US workers should be paid. Chinese companies can build dormitories, ship in workers from the countryside, work them 6 days a week for a buck an hour - and the young workers are happy to get it. Their dads on the farm would work them 7 days a week, and pay them nothing.
Mike-2594304
It's cheaper to manufacture in China and ship across the ocean
Obciously Mike you are paying attention to current economic news. Labor (wages) in Cbhina are rising and companies are slowly starting to return to the U. S. Comanies are also getting fed up with the quality of the crap they are getting out of China. Same thing goes for places like Vietnam.
Ah... the staunch protector of the environment... Pres. Obama... Drilling for votes.... yeah..... and I bet he going to "tap" the strategic reserves also... why not... Change the Dem platform on the day of... sign a few more executive orders.... last minute budget deal with the Republicans... 2nd term..
Yup they will get a 2.8 billion tax LOOPHOLE to reduce their income for the lease expense.
But those with no math skills do not understand the difference between a tax credit and a income reduction.
This should prove to anyone in question that Obama cannot "do anything right" in some people's eyes and we should just stop listening to them. How many times did they cry for "drill baby drill" and for the stupid pipeline? He does what they would have done and they still complain about it...
@Mike 8% is the highest in the world? Try one of the LOWEST. WTF WOULD YOU DO IF ALL BUSINESS TAXES IN ALL COUNTRIES WERE THE SAME RATE. Could you move your factory overseas then smart guy? It is only because people like you have managed to fool and convince people that taxes are a bad thing. How else could we have a government without taxes? Let me guess a black man has your credit card and you are chitting bricks? Why do we even have a credit card in the first place? Could that be because of Regan maybe? And what did he do? HE LOWERED TAXES and INCREASED THE DEBT. Read my lips "pay your taxes and STFU".
Why do people not make the same rate of pay? Why does someone in China not make the same as someone in the U.S. who does the exact same job? If someone does the same job, and produces the same amount of goods or services, THEN THEY SHOULD BE PAID THE SAME DAMN AMOUNT OF MONEY.
Higher taxes only lead to recessions when people act like babies children and do not get their way. Clinton raised taxes, where was the recession/depression at? You still think that you can make unlimited amounts of money without our government having to print any more, which never has an effect on the value of that SAME money. That all people in a system can make 1000 to 1 ratios even though that violates simple math and logic. You all are a bunch of donkeys chasing your tails, wind, carrot, etc., YOU WILL NEVER CATCH IT.
WE COULD NOT DRILL HERE IF NOT FOR GLOBAL WARMING TOO! Hooray for even more CO2.
Guys like Mike want all of the services taxes pay for but they don't want to pay any taxes to receive those services. Typical and not surprising. These guys are not amusing at all anymore.
Yeah, it's like a lady telling me about her cousin - he owns his own business, and does very well, but he hides income, plus gets his healthcare from his wife's work to save money on that, being small enough to not have to buy it for his employees.
All I know is that I hope for the good of this great nation that the "middle" American isn't stupid enough to listen to either the left OR right wing nuts that post on these pages.... The way both sides skew their information is amazing...
Yep that $2.6 billion they paid just for the right to drill sure seems like a tax break to me. NOT! After that the U.S. Government OWNS 12.5% of the oil extracted. Is THAT part of the tax break you are talking about? Do a little research before you start with the talking points.
flame
Like daddy and baby bush did, just before the elections?
Is President George W. Bush pandering for votes
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-10-10/why-bush-is-dipping-into-oil-reserves
first President Bush approved tapping the reserve in 1991
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2011/03/06/tap-strategic-oil-reserves/
At least they're being polite and waiting until the whale-killers are through for the season
Whale killers .. Its called subsistence.
Educate yourself
1. About the whale hunt....do the drillers plan on halting drilling every whale hunting season or are the hunters just sh--- out of luck from now on?
2. I too am disappointed in Obama's decision to let this happen, but bet if Romney gets elected that will be the end of holding off Acrtic drilling. AND I'll bet the regulations just slip away into the deep cold water.
Arctic drilling is a big disappointment and Obama approved it .. Why are you bringing Romney into this to justify what the president has alread done.. makes no sense.. I would rather be on land drilling than in our oceans ..
No @!$%#. What's wrong with our society?
Nancy, your ignorance is hilarious! WTF is the difference if they drill on land or in the ocean? What possible difference could that make to you? At least they're not fracking.
Also, calling the whale hunt "subsistence" shows YOUR ignorance. Wow.
Once again taken out of context.. The Obama administration welcomes exploration into finding alternate sources of energy outside of coal and oil.
Ok, I'll vote for Obama
It welcomes both, which is why it is called an "all of the above" energy strategy.
Sure; every billion dollar boondogle funded in "alternative energy" has been a failure either technically or through bankruptcy. Importing faulty solar panels from China did not generate new jobs in the USA. BHO stopped the 17 oil/gas projects the prior administration had started just on presidential stupidity, causing loss of potentielly over a million jobs. Wake up and look at reality, not politicians promises.
Big joke now is even china solar industries are going under and now the chinese government is having to subsidies them.
Big oil successfully stopped the small oil companies (wildcatters) in the 60's and 70's in order to monopolize the industry. Big Auto successfully stopped Tucker and Delorean. Don't cha think the oil and gas industry can bust the emerging solar industry? I would bet that they continue to work to squash it.
NO industry is perfect from the get go. It takes time and failures before you succeed.
My God. This is the only planet we have. They are desparately running around the planet trying to destroy whats left. And the majority of us can't seem to stop them. I can't wrap my head around this.
Didn't YOU ever ride in an auto, bus, train, or plane? Never use electricity or heat? Silly "trying to destroy the planet" sounds like a statement of drunk or drugged persons. The purpose of developing our natural resources is to provide useful products like fuels and plastics. If you knew anything at all about "the planet" you would know that even if mankind tried, they would probably not be able to destroy the planet. Come out from under the bed and visit your library. Read science, instead of the NY Times.
Remember, those that can't think for themselves say that on the 6th day: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
"Dominion over all the earth..." So they can do whatever that want to do to the earth and feel that it's justified.
Hey... my Darwinian beliefs call for drilling as well. Mother earth isn't using the oil and we need it. Besides, new drilling is "good" in my book. Look, I can afford gas at $20/gal. Drilling for new oil benefits the lives of those in developing countries who gain access to energy for the 1st time.
That's awesome in my book. And, alternative energy tech will continue to improve in the interim...
win/win/win/win
Wilbert123 Are you portraying sarcasm? If so, have you never heard of growing your own food? Purifying your own water? Eat nothing but clean air you say? Only if you're too lazy to become self sufficient. Let's see, man kind has been, as you put it ''eating nothing but clean air," for centuries and they were doing just fine health wise. If we were to live that sort of self sustaining life again, but with the modern medicines we have now, we would be golden, but human beings are too selfish, lazy and want instant gratification, so we continue to live this way until we -and the planet- cannot take it anymore. We will cause our own extinction, and the Earth will simply shake us off like a bad virus and carry on.
Yeah Think...most of us would rather not freeze to death in the dark, or walk everywhere we go, or glean our food from the fields.
Yah, because you're too lazy to do anything for yourself, including thinking!
Doug... "Well that's it then, I'm gonna have to vote for Romney!" Admit it, you were going to anyway. If you think that PRESIDENT Obama had any control over this you had better check your information and your sources.
Romney/Ryan: The best government money can buy.
Think, after we are a long since extinct species, this planet will keep turning until the sun goes supernova. Until then, new species will continue to evolve and proliferate. No worries. Mother Nature is one tough and efficient broad.
"And the majority of us can't seem to stop them."
And how exactly do you know " the majority" share your small minded opinion ?
@Mike Maybe you should educate YOURSELF, if you are posting ignoramus statements that man's actions have no effect on the environment.
I bet the powers at BP never thought the Gulf oil spill could happen either.
Do the world a favour...don"t procreate.
Jas, we do have an effect on the environment, but most of us don't care. You try to be sensible and avoid waste, and build ever more efficient technology. Other than that, I'm not willing to take away from human progress so the environment can be more pristine.
As long as the environment allows people to live nice long lives, I don't care. When we've degraded the environment to the extent that it doesn't, we will adapt to those new parameters and find a way to thrive in the new environment.
Go back to your vegan lifestyle, and I'll celebrate Darwin, capitalism, fake boobs, and all that.
About time. This project was approved after years of ignorant "ecologists" silly protests. They still talk of "what if, it could, it might," nonsense. The drilling is old hat with very small chance of ANY environmental degradation. The blackmail from self proclaimed "ecologists" has to stop somewhere. Their main goal is to get all the dollars they can from doing their silly dances and protests. Shell has the permits. Get the naysayers out of the picture. They have no purpose except obstructing the USA economy and getting press for their tantrums.
Mike:
Tell that to the Coal Miners in this country... 1000's of Jobs lost and still Counting. Obama's EPA at work again.
Sorry, but there is no such thing as "clean coal". The coal industry is being phased out. Time to go to college and find a new line of work.
Maybe you should turn off FAUX news and do a little research yourself. All I can hope is someday your children have to suffer for the idiotic thinking of people like you.
Mike, I agree with you. These tree huggers never think of the worker at the other end of the drilling platform, making parts for these machines.
My husband is a machinist who makes a good living building parts for oil rigs. But when these green folks start throwing temper tantrums about offshore drilling, they fail to think of the possible economic repercussions for those involved at the lower end of the oil and gas industry.
Notice most of these eco folks are richie rich folks who can afford their soy milk, organic foods and to bitch about things they know nothing about. They've probably never gotten their hands dirty doing real man's work their entire lives. DRILL BABY DRILL.
djkrs2
Why do you have to be so mean to people? Did your daddy beat you till hated the whole world? All I can hope is you don't have children, hopefully your mate is pro-choice.
Olivia: If your husband is a machinist, I believe he could be making parts for wind turbines, solar panels or whatever.
Fact is that there is room to grow in other energy alternatives, without completely closing out the oil and natural gas industries. Fact is that the oil and gas industry is not paying taxes, but receiving corporate welfare from the US taxpayer. Fact is the name of the company is Royal Dutch Shell, a foreign company. Fact is the oil and gas which these industries draw out is OWNED by the United States taxpayer and all citizens for free. Think about that...
Oh, yeah, and the stock I have in Royal Dutch Shell is doing quite nicely, thank you very much. Now BP stock has yet to recover.
Olivia: Glad to know your nest egg is growing. I'm sure you thank President Obama every day for his diplomacy and compromise with big oil. IMO it would be better to compromise on shore where blowouts are more quickly contained and capped, but, that might interfere with your rising stock.
Mike, you really don't have any facts at all, do you? Did you not R-E-A-D that Shell doesn't have ANY protections in place at this time. THE BOAT'S IN WASHINGTON! So if or when there's a spill, they don't even have any boom line up there. And with the waves and conditions up there, it's pretty much "Game Over" when it happens and I'm fairly sure it will.
Shell already Wrecked the jungles and peoples of Ecuador and spilled more oil in Africa than 10 BP/Gulf spills. They LOST that $3 Billion dollar lawsuit! I don't particularly care for Shell now screwing with MY nation Next.
Gee - Tell me there Mikey - what are you going to say should there be an uncontrollable spill? Just the price of doing business? Yeah, Dude, - - Go tell that to the people of the Gulf! Jerk!
Oh - and Olivia? Since YOU'RE doing SO WELL with your stock, why don't you get around to paying your debts to the African and Ecuadorean people whose lives have been DESTROYED so that your "stock" can do so well? I consider you a CHEATER!!
If Obama is re-elected the envirowhacko faction of the dem party will be good with it.
If Romney is elected they will want it nuked.
I can't say I mind the drilling per se, but I never could understand how more drilling is going to do any good if the problem that causes the price of gas at the pump to go up is lack of refinery capacity. They can drill baby drill all they want but if the limiting factor in production is refinery capacity all that can be accomplished is to build up reserves, unless their intent is to sell the oil to another country. If oil is sold on the world market, this little bit may create some very nominal downward pressure years from now, but when there is a glut of oil on the world market, they always tell us that the high price of gas is due to inadequate refinery capacity. Why are we drilling if we don't have refineries to crack it?
Don't believe the NBC, ABC, etc. and NY Times; we have excess capacity in most of our refineries. The EPA has stopped expansion of the refineries, but that is frivolous and can be reversed by real science.
You had your head in the sand lately. The US has surplus refinery capacity we EXPORT gasoline.
What Bunch of Hooie.
Presently I support thr oil industry, but this is nonsence. There is nothing to be gained there that warrents another disaster. Just my oipnion.
Amazing. Destroying the enviroment and killing whales in one article. Perhaps it is past time for Mother to shrug of off.
"Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?" Ooooooooooooo, yaa mother do you think they'll like this song...
Nuke a gay whale for Jesus.
Been on both those rigs, shell owns the Kulluk and manages it,
Noble mans the rig. The Discoverer or as it’s known in the industry as the
disco, is a Noble death trap, it’s had problems with retrieving the BOP from
the sea bed off the coast of New Zealand. If there’s any rig in the oil field
that can create a major disaster it would be the Noble Discoverer, The rig was
purchased along with seven other heaps and two new builds, Bully 1 & 2, from
now bellied up Frontier Drilling. Shell just got stuck with the contract, and
the old log hauler.
Yes, we can beleive everything an Oil company say's because the GOP say's it is so? Who has the biggest ownership in these oil companies? The members of the GOP elite. Ask Romney and his buddies that hide their profits in off shore accounts? Why not reveal "ALL" your tax returns? Including the ones from the tax shelters you should have paid on?
They will continue to destroy and rape our resources for profit because they can. They have all the money and the votes to back it up.
Where did this country go so wrong?
The records show that BHO has more oil company donations than Mitt Romney has. Makes you full of something, not oil. Just last week the DNC rallied oil companies for "million dollar" donations to bolster their convention shortfalls.
Where did this country go so wrong? When it started naively believing the spew of the socialists.
Where did this country go so wrong? When it started naively believing the spew of the Reagan and his fascist cohorts
socialists. Laws in this country need to be changed so that all owners/ stockholders are held responsible for any accident that may happen while a company conducts business. The tax payers should not be left holding the bag.The liberal/progressive world with A political philosophy That embraces lying, cheating and stealing to advance their agenda as laudable behavior is inherently evil.
When did the conversation turn to discussing the romney/ryan campaign?
@MSBELLE
actually Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska has a lot of interest in oil companies and he is a Democrat.
Mike: Trying to make a point by making untrue statements is pointless in the days of the internet where any claim can be readily fact checked. No one would believe oil companies are supporting Obama over Romney.
Records show that Obama has more oil money? Bull! 260 million dollars in undisclosed donations in 2012! 90% going the GOP. Get it straight
mike 13.7
Correct. Ben Nelson has a D next to his name. That is the only thing D about him. They are called "Blue Dogs".
Sane: I do understand the concept of Blue Dogs which in Nelson's case not sure that applies. He is more of, what can I get for my vote kinda guy. I just like pointing out how both sides have their special interest and at the end of the day Senator Nelson's vote still has that D by it.
Forget about eating sea food. Probably have an accident and screw up sea life. Figure BP did it in the gulf
It's not about what you eat, it's about what you feed your SUV.
Gulf is fine now. Mother nature is resilient.
No not really, the pollution is still there.
http://www.examiner.com/article/lsu-confirms-isaac-tar-balls-were-from-bp-spill
What a bald faced lie. No doubt perpetrated by the bald faced eagles that were anti-pollution to begin with.
The truth is the Gulf is more pristine than ever before. The pollution merely killed off the weakest links, promoting darwinism. I understand that the new and improved three headed fish are actually thanking BP for the spill now.
Wilbert123, why don't you take your idiotic name calling and go somewhere else!
Leave the Arctic alone. It's been left alone for millions of years and has served our planet well. There are other degenerate ways to make money.. Shell can continue to serve their masters...the stockholders, without disrupting out Mother. Mother F@ck#*S!
Through those "millions of years" the planet has gone through cycles of ice ages and fireball ages. Your comment makes no sense.
Why leave the arctic alone? Mother nature is resilient. New oil means people with less money than me can afford gas. I like my fellow humans, so that's a good thing.
Sounds good to me. You and all your friends get together and sign a legal document that you will use no oil products to make up for us NOT drilling. The share the remaining world reserve you would have consumed will go to the rest of us.
.........what no takers... or did you remember that almost everything you use is made with oil in one way or another
Good to see shell has the foresight to help meet our energy needs.
26,000,000,000 barrels X ~$100/ barrel = $2,600,000,000. 2.6 Trillion They got the lease for 2.8 Billion, that is is a lot of profit, we should of charged them more.
Well, I'll be damned. Some progress and growth that Osambo was not able to scuttle!
"Battle"? Why must MSNBC determine this to be a "battle"?
If we don't explore and exploit these resources, some other country will!
Use it wisely to best effect until development and markets take us to another level. Solar, wind, who knows?
What could possibly go wrong?
I’ve worked on both those rigs, the Kulluk is owned and managed
by Shell, Noble Drilling mans the rig with personnel. The Noble Discoverer or
as it’s known in the drilling industry, the Disco. The Disco is an old log
hauler built in 1966 and converted over to a drilling rig. The rig has had numerous
problems with the engines not operating properly, the BOP not being able to be retrieved
off the sea bed offshore New Zealand for a number of weeks, other contractors
would even lend their support to help Noble with the issue. If any drilling rig
was to have any problems it will be the disco. Noble purchased Frontier
Drilling along with the contracts, which at the time was with Shell oil. Noble
in return got from Frontier Drilling eight heaps that should have been used for
target practice by the Cuban navy. But Noble was only after the two new builds
that Frontier owned, Bully 1 & 2. But hopefully the Shell drilling campaign
goes well and nobody loses their life.
You're giving me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Its about time, they have been there for yrs wanting to drill.
HEY MSN What is going on with your comment sections? I kept clicking the fricken show comments and on one article it just kept showing some stupid video commercial. This has been going on all weekend. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. I have looked at numerous articles and tried to read the comments and the same thing keeps happening. FIX IT, I don't know how it finally worked here but it took multiple times of leaving the article etc....
I think I might like it if a bunch of pirates went on board, took their stuff and sunk it : ) NO ONE should be drilling in the ocean, they are idiots.
"No one should be drilling in the ocean"...
Like your lifestyle? Warm in winter, cool in summer? Takin' the "L" train to wherever? Get a grip on our fossil fuel lifestyle, kris. From the PVC pipe that brings water to your house to the soles on your shoes we are infused with the need for petroleum and it's products.
The computer keyboard you're blogging on is built with hydrocarbons.
What I find ironic about a liberal being against new drilling, is that it raises the price of gas, which poor people need just like rich people. But the rich don't care what the price of gas is-it doesn't affect their pocketbook or make a dent in their budget at $10 per gallon.
So if you're against drilling, then you're for poor people, and poor people alone, suffering and cutting back until alternative energy becomes affordable.
The only possible outcome of your environmental agenda is devastating to the poor, and poor alone. Why are you intent on hurting poor people?
A poor person NEVER gave me a job, "relax".
Anyways... You must be emotionally and inventively poor, and I have pity, but little else for you.
I can't believe there are nieve repulsicans that still believe more drilling will bring down gas prices. The oils companies just cap most of the wells without even taking the oil right now. It's about power and leverage. My friends father in law worked on oil rigs in Alaska. The majority of the wells they drilled were capped. Now if getting access to this oil would bring down gas prices, why weren't they doing it. Some people just refuse to open their eyes to how they're being played.
Koch brothers get around a buck for every gallon of gas we use. Motivation?
There is no free market. Every market is manipulated and when it isn't advantageous to manipulate the market a refinery or two blows up and shuts down.
Shell pays 2.8 billion to lease and then the taxpayers will pay 4 billion back to shell in tax revenue.
It's a function of investment and profit as a result of risk. Something your pea-brain wouldn't comprehend.
Soooo, you'll be cold in winter and hungry at the expense of a young seabird?
I'm a bona-fide member of the SPCA, but a realist, pst.
Get real or get gone.
The question is will this harm or destroy the environment. Of course it will, that is if we are speaking of the political environment of the liberals, progressives and communists, the ones now controlling the Democrat party. They all think us nasty Americans should be paying over ten dollars a gallon. When we are not paying that much we get to keep to much of our own money.
Socialist utopias can only be created when the citizens of a nation are in poverty and misery.
Why do you care if you live in Europe, socialist!
Because he's still part of the world, dumb *ss conservative!
"How can we be so arrogant? The planet is, was, and always will be stronger than us.
We can't destroy it; if we overstep the mark, the planet will simply erase us from its surface and carry on existing.
Why don't they start talking about not letting the planet destroy us?
Because "Saving the planet" gives a sense of power, action and nobility.
Whereas "not letting the planet destroy us" might lead us to feelings of despair and impotence, and to a realisation of just how very limited our capabilities are.
Let’s be humble. Let’s respect Mother Earth because if She becomes furious with our behavior, we are in trouble." Paulo Coelho
pstttttttttt, you suggested that you'd rather use a horse in one post, and rather live like the Amish in another post.
BUT YOU WON'T! Here's the crazy part--you can convince SoCal to drive the Prius and go organic/vegan, but now you have to convince billions in the developing world to not develop and enjoy the computer and car that you rely on, and refuse to give up (yes, any typed response from you indicates you do refuse to go Amish).
So, if you're going to operate in a petro driven world, and you care about the environment:
1. Dedicate your life to developing affordable clean alternative energy, and be normal with "great regret"
or
2. GO FULL-ON AMISH
Don't do what you're doing now, trying to prevent drilling, which is just hurting people by making gas more expensive.