Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Six Senate Democrats today urged the Obama administration to forgo oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean until more is understood about its impacts on the environment, the economy and Native Alaskans.

Led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.), the lawmakers said it was “perplexing” that the Interior Department had decided to include up to three sales off the Alaska coast in its new five-year plan given the lack of infrastructure and the challenges of cleaning up a spill.

“The Arctic Ocean is characterized by hurricane-force storms, 20-foot swells, sea ice up to 25 feet thick, sub-zero temperatures and months- long darkness,” said the letter last week signed by Merkley; Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.); and Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.). “Moreover, the Arctic has extremely limited infrastructure (there are no roads or deep water ports and only a handful of small airports) and the nearest Coast Guard station is 1,000 miles away.”

The agency this summer finalized a leasing plan that would allow targeted sales in the Chukchi Sea in 2016 and in the Beaufort Sea in 2017.

But in contrast to Gulf of Mexico sales that include all of the federal planning areas, the size and location of the Arctic sales will be determined by factors including resource potential, subsistence use and environmental conditions, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Moreover, Salazar last November told a House committee he won’t hesitate to yank the leases if new infrastructure and scientific insight are not developed in time for their sale (Greenwire, Nov. 16, 2011).

That’s the course Senate Democrats called for in their letter, which cites a recent report from the members of President Obama’s oil spill commission that found additional infrastructure and Arctic research is needed to safely develop oil.

The senators said Interior should make future Arctic leases contingent on scientific research and monitoring, demonstration of effective spill response, and continued protection of sensitive areas including Hanna Shoal and Barrow Canyon.

But Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a backer of Arctic drilling, said the Obama administration has exercised an “abundance of caution” in allowing Arctic development.

“We support the Obama administration on this one,” he said, adding that Murkowski believes there should be annual lease sales in the region.

Arctic leasing has spawned controversy since the George W. Bush administration sold billions of dollars in federal blocks during its second term. Environmentalists oppose Arctic drilling, warning weather conditions there would make oil spill response nearly impossible.

And for the first time, an oil giant today publicly opposed drilling in the Arctic. Christophe de Margerie, the CEO of Total SA, said energy companies should not drill in the Arctic because the costs are simply too high (Greenwire, Sept. 26).

Royal Dutch Shell PLC this summer began drilling the first well in Arctic waters in more than two decades, though it was forced to postpone drilling into oil-bearing rocks until next summer.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/transcanada-turns-sadisti_b_1917264.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share

Posted: 09/26/2012 4:53 pm

This is awful. DV

Watching from a distance is hard. I’m on the move setting up our big roadshow assault on the fossil fuel industry, but the real action is in Texas, where a growing number of blockaders are trying to shut down work on the southern section of the Keystone Pipeline — and where TransCanada, according to the people at the Tar Sands Blockade, is turning more than a little sadistic.

Here’s the story from this morning, as it’s been emerging from a flurry of emails and tweets. (No video — police aren’t letting journalists or observers near the site). There are eight — no, now nine — people in makeshift tree houses in a grove of forest that TransCanada needs to obliterate to push their pipeline through. It’s on private land that was taken with threat of eminent domain, a tactic that the company has used repeatedly to bully landowners from Nebraska to Texas, but despite the protests of everyone from Sierra Clubbers to Tea Partiers, TransCanada is going ahead full bore with construction.

Until this morning when, in an effort to protect those tree-sitters, two other protesters locked themselves (one arm each) to the logging equipment. This slowed operations and it angered the police.

Here’s how organizers of the protest described what happened next:
A plain-clothes police officer was among the aggressive officers to implement torture tactics. He put [Benjamin] Franklin in a chokehold cutting off his breathing, and bent him over backwards in an attempt to make him pass out. Franklin reports difficulty swallowing because of bruises sustained to his esophagus.

The most physically aggressive was the ranking officer, a Lieutenant with the Wood County Sheriff Department under the observation of TransCanada employees. He twisted and contorted the tube that [Shannon] Bebe and Franklin had locked their arms into, cutting off circulation to their hands and cutting abrasions into their hands and forearms.

Franklin and Bebe then describe pepper spray as the most painful part of their ordeal. Police sprayed into their lockdown tube, and the chemicals burned their already-open wounds.

Fortunately they were able to make it through their mutual torture by intimating personal reassurances to each other. Franklin and Bebe say they were able to endure the pain knowing that they were in it together. Despite the immense pain our brave blockaders remained locked to the machinery for several hours – determined to stop this toxic tar sands pipeline.

After the pepper spray didn’t work the police again conferred with TransCanada employees before sending someone back to the police car to bring a taser. Franklin and Bebe were each tased for one second. Then Franklin was tased for 5 entire seconds. He described the pain as immense and almost physically unbearable.

Afterwards, John, the senior TransCanada supervisor openly congratulated the aggressive Sheriffs Department Lieutenant on a “job well done.” To which the Lieutenant replied: “if this happens again we’ll just skip to using pepper spray and tasing in the first 10 minutes.”

This is obviously a lot harder than what any of us underwent in the civil disobedience outside the White House last fall that delayed the northern section of the pipeline a year. In fact, it’s hard to imagine — handcuffing someone and then tasering them? (And on a day when the University of California was forced to pay $1 million to the peaceful protesters they pepper-sprayed at UC Davis last year).

But given all the ways that Transcanada has bent the facts and warped our political system in their pursuit of tarsands profit, it maybe stands to reason they’re willing to twist arms too.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.thestar.com:80/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1261677–china-closing-in-on-huge-oilpatch-purchase

Published on Monday September 24, 2012

TODD KOROL/REUTERS Nexen president Kevin Reinhart votes during the special shareholders meeting that approved CNOOC’s offer to buy the Canadian oil and gas producer. (Sept. 20, 2012)

By Gillian Steward, Columnist

CALGARY-Will one of the tallest buildings in Calgary soon be emblazoned with the initials of a Chinese state-owned oil company?

That’s just one of the many questions that hangs over the proposed takeover of Nexen, a major oilsands player, by the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).

In July CNOOC offered Nexen shareholders a 61-per-cent premium on the share price and last week those shareholders decided it was a deal that they simply couldn’t refuse. It was an important step toward completion of the $15-billion deal, China’s largest overseas acquisition to date.

After the shareholder vote, Nexen’s interim president, Kevin Reinhart, assured the media that CNOOC would be keeping all of Nexen’s 3,000 employees. It has also promised to make Calgary headquarters for all its operations in the Western Hemisphere.

But there are no guarantees that CNOOC will not move in its own executives and staff. It might even want to bring in Chinese workers for its oilsands project in northern Alberta.
This is a really big deal in more ways than one. And it is making a lot of people here uneasy, mainly because there are so many unanswered questions. Just last week, Alberta MP Ted Menzies said he is hearing lots of questions and complaints about the deal from constituents.

The Harper government has yet to approve the deal and so far the prime minister hasn’t said much about it publicly. But as the NDP has pointed out, we still don’t know how the government defines a net benefit to Canada in cases like this.

The energy sector is used to multi-million-dollar takeovers. And it is certainly accustomed to foreign ownership. U.S companies have maintained a strong hand in Alberta’s resource development ever since oil was first discovered here just over 100 years ago.

At one time or another Gulf, Texaco, Chevron and Mobil have all had imposing office towers in the heart of Calgary’s downtown core. BP and Shell have been active in the oilpatch for decades. More recently investors from India to Norway have bought into oilsands development in a big way.

According to a report prepared by Forest Ethics Advocacy , a B.C.-based conservation group, two-thirds of oilsands production in Canada is owned by foreign companies, an analysis based on shareholder information from more than a dozen companies involved in oilsands development.

Many in the Canadian business sector argue that money is money, that Canada needs foreign investment because we don’t have enough homegrown wealth to develop our resources without it, and as long as foreign investors play by our rules there won’t be a problem. Many oil companies are openly courting Chinese investors.

But the CNOOC takeover is in a different category than most foreign takeovers. China is not a democratic state and its marketplace is not the kind of free market we are used to.
CNOOC is owned and controlled by the Chinese government a.k.a. the Chinese Communist party. There is no distinction between the party and the state in China. There is no distinction between the party and the marketplace. The CPC rules, and can be ruthless when it comes to getting what it wants.

So what are we really getting when CNOOC buys up a major Canadian player in the energy sector? Since presumably it will always have the financial backing of the Chinese government, its activities won’t be curbed by the need to make a profit, as is the case with other players in the marketplace. It will have more than enough resources to tilt the playing field in its favour.

And while Nexen, or whatever CNOOC’s Canadian operation will eventually be called, might still be headquartered here, we all know where its marching orders will come from. How accessible will those party bosses be to government, business and media watchdogs in this country?

It is our oil after all; and our land, water and air that will be used to bring it to market.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford has already made it clear that she welcomes investment from China. And it’s hard to believe that Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn’t salivating at thought of all that Chinese money pouring into the oilsands.

Meanwhile, there are a lot of unanswered questions. And there’s a big black SUV with a CNOOC1 license plate driving around Calgary. I saw it at the airport a few weeks ago.
Looks like CNOOC plans on being here for quite a while.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary journalist and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week. gsteward@telus.net

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/09/virtually_all_alabama_tar_ball.html
Published: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 9:55 PM

In this Sept. 5, 2012 aerial photo, a combination of alluvial clay and tar mats are seen on the shore of Elmer’s Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, in Jefferson Parish, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — A new chemical analysis shows that virtually all the tar balls washing onto the Alabama coast are directly linked to the BP oil spill more than two years ago.

The report released Thursday by Auburn University says that tar balls caused by the spill are hundreds to thousands of times more common than another type of asphalt-like tar deposit that’s been in the Gulf for years.

Researchers tested tar found after Hurricane Isaac last month. They found the material is from the BP well, and that certain chemicals in the tar have barely broken down since June 2010.

The work was funded by the city of Orange Beach, the National Science Foundation and others.

BP says it hasn’t seen the study. Spokesman Ray Melick says the tar balls are scattered and that BP is working to remove them.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Department of the Interior
September 24, 2012

Date: September 24, 2012
Contact: Blake Androff (DOI) 202-208-6416
John Filostrat (BOEM) 504-731-7815

March Sale Part of Administration’s Plan Making Areas Containing 75% of Recoverable Offshore Oil, Gas Available for Exploration and Development

WASHINGTON – As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau today announced that BOEM will offer 38 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration and development. This sale will build on two major Gulf of Mexico lease sales in the last year – a 21 million acre sale held last December and a 39 million acre sale held in June – and supports the Administration’s goal of continuing to increase domestic oil and gas production which has grown each year the President has been in office, with domestic oil production in 2011 higher than any time in eight years.

Proposed Lease Sale 227, scheduled to take place in New Orleans on March 20, 2013, will offer all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and could lead to the production of up to nearly a billion barrels of oil and nearly 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This will be the second sale under the Administration’s new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 and the first of five annual Central Gulf lease sales. Announced in June, the Five Year Program makes offshore areas with more than 75% of the technically recoverable oil and gas resources available for exploration and development, consistent with President Obama’s commitment to continue to expand domestic energy production and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

“The Obama Administration is fully committed to developing our domestic energy resources to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Secretary Salazar said. “We are moving full speed ahead on the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy because the exploration and development of the Gulf of Mexico’s vital energy resources will continue to help power our nation and drive our economy.”

Since President Obama took office, domestic oil and gas production has increased each year, with domestic oil production at an eight-year high, natural gas production at an all-time high, and foreign oil imports now accounting for less than 50 percent of the oil consumed in America – the lowest level since 1995.

Lease Sale 227 encompasses about 7,250 unleased blocks covering approximately 38 million acres. The blocks are located from three to about 230 miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters). BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 0.46 billion to 0.89 billion barrels of oil and 1.9 trillion cubic feet to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

“This proposed sale is another important step to promote responsible domestic energy production through the safe, environmentally sound exploration and development of the Nation’s offshore energy resources,” said BOEM Director Tommy P. Beaudreau.

This sale will build on successful lease sales that BOEM has held within the past year. Western Gulf Lease Sale 218, held in December 2011, made 21 million acres available, and received high bids on tracts covering about one million acres, netting nearly $325 million. Central Gulf Lease Sale 216/222, held in June 2012, covered nearly 39 million acres, and attracted more than $1.7 billion in high bids for more than 2.4 million acres. The next sale, Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 229, announced earlier this year, will take place in New Orleans on Nov. 28, 2012.

BOEM conducted an extensive environmental review and published a Final Environmental Impact Statement with analysis to support decision-making for proposed Lease Sale 227 and other Western and Central Gulf of Mexico lease sales scheduled under the new Five Year Program. The terms of this sale include conditions to ensure both orderly resource development and protection of the human, marine and coastal environments. These include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region.

The proposed terms also continue to include a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers. In addition, BOEM has implemented a new, streamlined format for sale notices, beginning with this sale, making the document more user-friendly and accessible to the public.

Proposed terms and conditions for the sale are available at: http://www.boem.gov/sale-227. The Notice of Availability of the Proposed Notice of Sale can be viewed today in the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection. Copies can also be requested from the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Public Information Office at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123, or at 800-200-GULF (4853). All terms and conditions for Lease Sale 227 will be finalized when the Final Notice of Sale is published at least 30 days prior to the Sale.

– BOEM –

About the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) manages the exploration and development of the nation’s offshore energy resources. The bureau seeks to balance economic development, energy independence, and environmental protection through responsible management of offshore conventional and renewable energy development based on the best available science. The bureau is within the Department of the Interior.

For More Information on Press Releases and Notes to Stakeholders:
Blossom Robinson
BOEM Office of Public Affairs (202) 208-6474
Please visit us at www.BOEM.gov

Special thanks to Richard Charter