Ray Nagin targeted in federal grand jury probe. #rsrh

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Steve Maley

From the Times-Picayune:

A federal grand jury is investigating whether city vendors gave former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin gratuities ranging from plane tickets to materials and equipment for his family’s granite-countertop business and also helped the firm land an exclusive installation deal with a retailing giant while Nagin was in office, according to several sources close to the probe. The federal probe is zeroing in on Nagin along three parallel tracks: luxury travel and home maintenance provided by city technology vendors; a granite countertop installation contract that Nagin’s family company got from The Home Depot; and the possibility that at least two businesses with City Hall dealings arranged for the delivery of free equipment or materials to the Nagin family’s now-defunct firm.

The federal probe apparently is zeroing in on former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin along three parallel tracks.

Nagin’s lawyer, Harry Rosenberg, said he had “no comment on those notions.” U.S. Attorney Jim Letten declined to comment.

Part of the case the government is building is well-established in the public record. Court documents and sworn testimony established long ago that Nagin and his family went to Hawaii in December 2004 on the nickel of city technology vendor Mark St. Pierre, who is now serving a 17-year prison sentence for bribing Nagin’s chief technology officer, Greg Meffert.
Likewise, it’s long been known that St. Pierre lined up a private jet and then paid for first-class airfare so the Nagins could vacation in Jamaica after Hurricane Katrina, and also provided a private yacht and plane tickets to Chicago for Nagin re-election campaign parties. And newspaper stories and court testimony showed that St. Pierre spent more than $1,000 on landscaping services at Nagin’s home in the months after Katrina.

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Conservationists oppose PA’s largest solar farm. #rsrh

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Steve Maley

As we’ve pointed out before, It’s Not Easy Going Green …

A solar farm’s slow going

When Bob Keares proposed building Pennsylvania’s largest solar farm in the heart of Chester County, he expected a warm reception, certainly from environmentalists.

With 35,000 panels arrayed on a steep slope in Caln Township, the farm would generate 10 megawatts of energy, pollution-free. It could power 2,000 homes, he asserted, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 200,000 tons over 40 years – equivalent to planting eight million trees. …

Since announcing his intentions last February, Keares has been confronted by the expected cadre of opponents from the neighborhood, but also some he never unexpected: environmentalists.

The Brandywine Conservancy, one of the region’s leading land preservation groups, has come out against his Coatesville Solar Initiative.

Turning the 46-acre forested tract into a field of panels – rising as high as 9 feet, and set in rows 12 feet apart – could dangerously increase storm-water runoff, the conservancy contends, and destroy vital wildlife habitat.

“We love solar energy. We love wind energy. It’s just that it’s a high price to pay to rip out these natural areas,” said Wesley R. Horner, senior adviser for water resources.

“Solar’s a great idea. But it’s got to be put in the right place.”

H/T somebody on twitter… Ah! I remember it was @NYShaleGasNow

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Drilling Chukchi Sea, and not drilling ANWR, is insane. #rsrh

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Steve Maley

Drilling Chukchi Sea, and not drilling ANWR, is insane. #rsrh

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale…

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Steve Maley

Around here, we have a word that aptly describes shale formations: ubitquitious. (sic)

Every conventional oil and gas basin must have a hydrocarbon source, and that source is a shale. And since shales are low in permeability, we’re finding that the source rock still contains plenty of hydrocarbons, if you can figure out how to get the stuff out.

One of the newly-emerging plays is the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, which is being explored in a wide arc that cuts across central Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

Although the promise of the Marine Shale has yet to be proved, there is reason for optimism: if you follow that arc to the west, roughly parallel to the Texas coast, you’re smack-dab in the middle of the Eagle Ford trend of south Texas, currently the site of one of the hottest drilling plays in the country. And the Tusc is equivalent in age to the Eagle Ford.

Yes, the shales are indeed ubiquitious.

Tuscaloosa shale promising

St. Helena well’s initial production spurs interest

The Encana Weyerhauser well, completed in November, averaged 784 barrels of oil per day and 309,000 cubic feet of natural gas, according to Encana’s filing with the state Department of Natural Resources. …

Around two dozen wells have been drilled or are being drilled in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, an oil-rich formation that covers Louisiana’s midsection. Energy companies have leased more than 1 million acres in the formation, but so far the firms aren’t sharing much of their early production figures.

Kirk A. Barrell, president of Amelia Resources, of Texas, said before the formation can be considered economically viable, 10 to 20 wells will have to be completed.

“You need the initial (production) rates for 10 to 20 wells, but you also need to get 12 to 15 months out and see what the decline of that rate is,” Barrell said.

Barrell has a blog called The Tusacaloosa Trend:

Sources indicate that Devon will be adding a 2nd rig to the TMS play soon.  Encana, who has been rumored for weeks to be adding rigs, now appears to be slowing down the plan. Several sources indicate that it is for corporate reasons relating to very depressed natural gas prices and not the TMS results.  The initial rates on the Weyerhaeuser 73H-1 and their record drilling time and lateral length on the Anderson 17H-1 are very encouraging.  Sources indicate that after 5-6 completions, a full operational plan will be implemented.

It is worth noting that RedState’s editor, Erick Erickson, attended high school in Jackson, LA. Jackson is in East Feliciana Parish, right in the heart of the Marine Shale play. Considering that Erick’s younger years were spent in Abu Dhabi, we should not be surprised if eventually oil and gas leasing action heats up in and around Macon, GA.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.

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Coming Soon: FrackNation

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Steve Maley

Phelim McAleer and his wife Ann McElhinney are journalists and documentary filmmakers. You may remember Not Evil Just Wrong (2009), their takedown of Al Gore and Global Warming hysteria.

Now they want to tell the truth about natural gas development and hydraulic fracturing in a full-length documentary titled FrackNation. McAleer says:

FrackNation will skeptically examine some of the scarier claims made by anti-fracking activists and look at how shale gas is helping some of the poorest communities in the US and potentially across the planet. It will feature small farmers, the working class and others who are benefiting from this economic boom. We will look at the backgrounds and motives of those opposing fracking.

[Click here to see the producers’ Kickstarter pitch for the project. (2:53)]

FrackNation will go head-to-head with GasLand II, Josh Fox’s planned sequel to GasLand (2010), the highly effective anti-gas propaganda piece. With scant concern for earth science and demonstrable fact, GasLand earned an Academy Award nomination and stirred up anti-fracking hysteria nationwide with its memorable footage of flaming faucets. PBS and HBO will jointly bankroll Gasland II to the tune of $750,000. It is set to air on HBO this fall.

Here’s how you can fight back: To tell their grassroots tale, McAleer, McElhinney and co-producer Magda Segieda will rely on grassroots financing. The website kickstarter.com provides a fundraising platform for creative projects. FrackNation‘s goal is a modest $150,000.

For as little as $1.00, you can support a professional, fact-based counterargument to GasLand II. $20 donors will receive a copy of the DVD upon release. All donors will be named executive producer of the project.

But why fracking? Continue reading →

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Dirty Sexy Fracking Money. #rsrh

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Steve Maley

H/T Steve Milloy at JunkScience.com

From 2007 until 2010, Chesapeake Energy and its employees donated $26 million to the Sierra Club for the purpose of conducting an anti-coal campaign.

Then the Sierra Club decided natural gas is bad, and rejected Chesapeake’s nasty gas money.

Ultimately, the only safe, smart, and responsible way to address our nation’s energy needs is to look beyond coal, oil, and gas, and focus on clean, efficient energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal. It’s clear to countries around the world that the most successful 21st-century economies will be based on using energy that is safe, secure, and sustainable. Let’s get to work building that economy right here at home.

The Sierra Club is delusional if it thinks that wind, solar and geothermal, currently about 3% of energy supply, can ever be the foundation of supply. “Safe, secure and sustainable” are words I associate with gas, for at least the next 100 years.

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Federal Government Opens More Ocean to Wind Projects. #rsrh #unicornflatus

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Steve Maley

NYTimes Green blog:

Federal Government Opens More Ocean to Wind Projects

“With the right investment and the right timing, Atlantic wind can help power cities from Baltimore to Boston and Savannah, creating tens of thousands of manufacturing and engineering jobs,” Mr. Salazar said, adding that there were a number of developers interested in the leases. “This is not something that’s going to be waiting around.” [Wanna bet? – Ed.]

Offshore wind projects have been popular in other regions but have not moved forward in the United States like onshore projects. There are several projects in various stages of planning or development on the East Coast, including the underwater transmission spine Google is helping to finance, but creating giant wind farms at sea poses so many challenges that it has proved difficult to get projects off the ground.

I keep trying to figure out how the economics of this could possibly work. Any structure in the marine environment requires lots of maintenance. Lots of expensive maintenance, kind of like an oil and gas structure. With natural gas at 10-year lows, wind power must be 10 times more expensive.

I’m sure there will be plenty of talk, and maybe even a project or two. The utilities who would build these things like to keep their regulators happy, and a windmill picture would make a great cover shot for an annual report.

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SpOILed, the Movie. #rsrh

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Steve Maley

Appearances by Robert Bryce, the late Matt Simmons, and the irrepressible Michael J. Economides:

Do they lie, or do they believe in their own wishful thinking? Either way, it’s not very pretty.

H/T BigHollywood.

Posted in Energy | 1 Comment

Interior ruling on endangered frog habitat could cost landowner $36 million. #rsrh

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Steve Maley

From the Times-Picayune

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The Volt: What Happens When Ideology Gets Ahead of Reality. #rsrh

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Steve Maley

From the Energy Tribune:

In 2011, instead of the forecasted 10,000, 7,671 Volts were sold—which comes out to three-hundredths of 1 percent of US carmakers unit sales. Analysts say there has been a “slow initial uptake of the first models to come on the market.” Many of the Volts that were sold were to government. New York City bought 50. The city of DeLand, FL used part of a $1.2 million federal grant to buy five. Perhaps in effort to save his “ambitious energy project,” President Obama has committed the fed to buying 100+. He’s even pushed his Jobs Council leader, Jeffery Immelt, to buy them. GE will purchase 3000 through the year 2015. …

Citing statistics for the Nissin Leaf, Forbes Magazine counts the cost of an electric vehicle (EV): “At $0.11/KWH for electricity and $4.00/gallon for gasoline, you would have to drive the Leaf 164,000 miles to recover its additional purchase cost. Counting interest, the miles to payback is 197,000 miles. Because it is almost impossible to drive a Leaf more than 60 miles a day, the payback with interest would take more than nine years.” But, they state: “The cost is not the biggest problem.” “The biggest drawback is not, range, but refueling time. A few minutes spent at a gas station will give a conventional car 300 to 400 miles of range. In contrast, it takes 20 hours to completely recharge a Nissan Leaf from 110V house current. An extra-cost 240V charger shortens this time to 8 hours. There are expensive 480V chargers that can cut this time to 4 hours, but Nissan cautions that using them very often will shorten the life of the car’s batteries.”

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