Maley's Energy Blog

Hacking for nat’l security sparks bureaucratic turf battle. #rsrh

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Steve Maley

Hacking for nat’l security sparks bureaucratic turf battle. #rsrh http://amplify.com/u/epcj

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Hacking for nat’l security sparks bureaucratic turf battle. #rsrh

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Steve Maley

Link: Hacking for nat’l security sparks bureaucratic turf battle. #rsrh

Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Pentagon is debating cyber-attacks

The Pentagon’s new Cyber Command is seeking authority to carry out computer network attacks around the globe to protect U.S. interests, drawing objections from administration lawyers uncertain about the legality of offensive operations.

Offensive actions could include shutting down part of an opponent’s computer network to preempt a cyber-attack against a U.S. target or changing a line of code in an adversary’s computer to render malicious software harmless. They are operations that destroy, disrupt or degrade targeted computers or networks.

But current and former officials say that senior policymakers and administration lawyers want to limit the military’s offensive computer operations to war zones such as Afghanistan, in part because the CIA argues that covert operations outside the battle zone are its responsibility and the State Department is concerned about diplomatic backlash.

Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

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Obama’s Strange New Respect For Natural Gas

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Steve Maley

The President’s post-election remarks contained something of an “olive branch” to Congressional Republicans. It came in the form of a broad hint that the Administration might backpedal on its opposition to natural gas development.

Obama’s Enthusiasm for Gas Drilling Raises Eyebrows

“We’ve got, I think, broad agreement that we’ve got terrific natural gas resources in this country,” Obama said when he was pressed for issues on which he could compromise with Republican leaders. “Are we doing everything we can to develop those?”

With all due respect, Mr. President, the answer to your question is not “No”, but “Hell, no!”

Your tax proposals would structurally alter the economics of drilling and chase capital away.

Your populist impulse to target Big Oil for punishment post-BP misses the true multinationals and falls disproportionately on the domestic independents, the non-integrated exploration firms which drill 90+% the nation’s gas wells.

Your Secretary of the Interior has blocked the awarding of leases in Federal lease sales in the Mountain West in order to appease anti-development environmentalists. Furthermore, he sees energy companies as the enemy and still maintains his “boot on the neck” attitude toward companies that had nothing to do with BP’s problems.

You and the Interior Secretary have overreacted to the BP spill to stall orderly development on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf. Shelf drilling poses a miniscule environmental risk compared to BP’s deepwater Macondo fiasco: BOPs are at the surface, pressures are generally lower, and intervention is much easier than in water a mile deep. When the rare blowout does happen, more often than not a shallow well “bridges off”, or plugs itself, within a few days.

Plus, a natural gas “spill” never killed a pelican, a sea turtle or a dolphin.

Forty-two thousand shelf wells were drilled from 1970 until March of 2010. Probably 80% of them targeted natural gas. By the government’s estimates, the total volume of oil spilled by drilling and producing well blowouts during that period is 1,800 barrels. Out of several billion barrels produced, that’s a ridiculously low percentage.

Natural gas is a clean, abundant and nearly 100% domestic fuel. It’s insane to be hostile to its development.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.