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Drill, baby, drill,,oops!

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by icarus, Apr 28, 2010.

  1. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    We need more wars so we can get more oil to fuel the war machine so we can have more wars.

    Wait, that can't be right. :confused:
     
  2. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Oh, that's just for every OTHER problem. If the world really is going to end in a couple of years, I might as well become a 5 pack a day smoker. Imagine what I missed out on all these decades

    I'm good at yelling loudly. I will give it a try. Can you imagine me in a boat, bobbing in the Gulf, seriously drunk, and screaming

    "Close RIGHT NOW you mother(bleep) worthless blowout preventer (bleep) (bleep)!"

    How did you determine that?

    U.S. Sales of Distillate Fuel Oil by End Use

    Already well on the way to fielding this technology, such as the Oshkosh Defense ProPulse

    ProPulse® is an unmatched hybrid electric drive system that provides dramatic benefit for military fleet performance.

    The savings in logistics alone make it worthwhile

    I disagree. Contingency planning is *expensive* so the bean counters barf up at it

    Anyway, am off a week, we'll see what unfolds by then.
     
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Fail-proof contingency planning implies a mixture of 1)historical information, and 2)*complete* data sets and consideration of *every* scenario.

    Puleeze.

    I agree though that many contingency plans are discarded based on presumed risk and cost.
     
  4. DeadPhish

    DeadPhish Senior Member

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    ArmyWife is correct. First, you're looking only at the US domestic usage. The US Army operates all over the world. The statement though is accurate because the US Army is the single largest user of fuel in the world. You're a user, I'm a user, FedEx is a user but the US Army is the single largest user.

    BTW, the Pentagon gave an interview to the Guardian (uk) recently where it warned that as the single largest user of petro-fuel in the world it's seriously planning on dealing with the consequences of facing shortfalls in supply as soon as 2015. IOW your next generation of Prius.

    This is after both Toyota and Virgin Atlantic this year both warned of the same threat to their respective survivals. The contention of all three ( as well as the official position of the US Govt ) is that all the low-lying easy-pickin fruit is identified and under development as regards oil supply. As soon as the world economies pick up again demand will outstrip what the oil companies can produce easily. This will send fuel prices skyrocketing and create spot shortages all over the world. 2015 is a good estimate for the first occurances. Plan accordingly.

    At that point when we've been shut out at the pump and we show that we're willing to pay euro-prices of $6 and $8 a gallon then the more expensive sources farther and farther out in deep waters so-to-speak will become attractive to bring on line.
     
  5. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    To me the implied assumption was on a "per capita" basis, not total use.
     
  6. zenMachine

    zenMachine Just another Onionhead

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    Cheap prices and high tax revenues underpin America's love of Big Oil | Business | The Guardian

    The MMS, more than anyone, would be aware that halting offshore oil production operations of any particular company would improve safety but reduce tax revenues of $13bn annually.

    It would also cut vital output for a country that imports 10m barrels of oil a day to feed consumer addiction to cheap fuel which, at 40p per litre, is two-and-a-half times less than in the UK.

    The British sector of the North Sea used to be regulated in a similar way but was forced to change tack after a report on safety from Lord Cullen in reaction to the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster in which 167 workers lost their lives.
     
  7. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Just like we'd do ... enter (fuel & tax money) addiction withdrawels ... then change back to the old rules.
     
  8. Armywife

    Armywife New Member

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    It's nice when some fights your battle. LOL

    But in my defense

    The US military oil consumption | Energy Bulletin

    :p

    I can source the direct quotes the article references but I figure with all of them in one place..

    So actually the DOD is the largest consumer in the world.

    Makes sense thou... A tank BN (Heavy) has 14 tanks that get 3 gallons a mile (Varies based on actual tank), while the small-er- humvees and FMTV's are loaded with both personal and pulling artillery...

    A Guardrail unit has 10 planes that gets 0.1667 gal/mi and they are the upper end in military aircrafts. (And the only one I have had personal contact with. I am sure a naval or air force jet is astronomical in comparison.)

     
  9. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    And use harsh language. :)
    M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank mentions 0.6 mpg for M1 tanks, so that's close. On that note, I'd seen Ultimate Factories | M-1 Tank | National Geographic Channel long ago which shows the plant that rebuilds them. It's worth watching, IMHO.
    I finally got around to watching this. It was decent.
     
  10. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    u are soooo sooo wrong. every contingency can not be "pre-staged". but for operations of this scale, importance and risk. there be damn well be a plan and it better take less than a month to deploy

    also that chart on gas sales. that is what is sold on military bases. the Army does not "buy" gas. they allocate it. what that charts states is what the current military operations overseas use weekly
     
  11. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    I do it for a living, it's an expensive exercise to engage in

    I don't have a problem with the Defense Department using oil sources in other parts of the world, while operating in other parts of the world. The Saudi's quite happily enter into this business agreement

    But domestically, the military is not the sole largest demand of petroleum products. Personal transportation is

    The important links in that article are Missing In Action: 404 Not Found

    Yes, there damn well better be a plan. If the bean-counters and legal wizards determine it's too expensive to do so, and creates "liability" issues in the process (Admitting there might be a problem), those needed plans are never allowed to be developed

    There are demand charts too

    U.S. Oil Demand by Product

    Around 90% of total Defense petroleum demand is for JP-8. Everything from fighter jets to Hummers to generators runs on JP-8 now

    http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp121-c4.pdf

    Depending on how you define the consumption, the tallies can skew quite dramatically

    According to this site

    US military energy consumption- facts and figures | Energy Bulletin

    The Defense Department consumes 1% of total energy that is consumed/demanded in the United States. Points are raised that contrast this consumption to energy demand in Nigeria, but that is a rather pointless exercise
     
  12. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    According to a recent article, the 'top kill' operation isn't going so well. Relief wells won't be completed until August. Apparently the next step is to try a containment valve, which is already on the sea floor.

    150 million litres and counting...
     
  13. socratesthecabdriver

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    everybody should stop buying gas at shell stations and watch the gas prices go down after a while! shell controls the prices at the pump as they are the bigest gas providers
     
  14. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    The price is already too low.

    And we should buy less gas from every provider.
     
  15. icarus

    icarus Senior Member

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    And now it has been 6 weeks since I opened this thread, and still no progress to stop the leak, and little to progress to contain it. The right wing media is all about blaming Obama for "his" lack of effort to stop this catastrophic leak, and yet there seems to be little talk about (as I asked in the first post of the thread) changing the behavior which has lead to this result: Quite possibly the worst environmental disaster EVER in the US!

    And now they are suggesting that it might well be into August, in the midst of the Caribbean hurricane season before the relief wells are likely to be done. (Even that may not stop it it is suggested!) So we will be left with quite likely 3 months more of this and even then it may not end.

    My question to all those out there is really quite simple. How can anyone suggest that at a minimum, new under water drilling should be allowed, and more to the point, why haven't we had massive up rising of people decrying the system that now seems to regard this whole mess as just another price of doing business, rather than truly opening the door(s) for real alternatives? As I said in the original post(s), I am not naive enough to think we can pull the plug on off shore oil over night, but clearly, we should work at the very least to wean ourselves off this stuff!
     
  16. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Personal, uninformed point of view:

    BP has demonstrated their inability to respond quickly and effectively to this situation. As they early issued public appeals for assistance, by extension none of the other drilling companies showed they could do better.

    Thus, no drilling companies have demonstrated the capacity to handle deep-water emergencies. All exploration and production activities in US deep offshore fields should be suspended until at least one demonstrates such capability.

    Naive? The fraction of US oil demand that is currently being fulfilled by domestic deep drilling is what? exactlY?? Compare the losses to the apparent risks of not doing so.

    Zero denomstrated capability, industry wide.

    DAS
     
  17. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    And yet even the US military is saying the industry should handle it because they're better equipped.

    I'm beginning to think the 'limited liability' concept for corporations is a serious error in judgement.
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i read they're bringing in kevin costner and james cameron. that should do it. i vote for cameron diaz too!:rolleyes:
     
  19. Jimmie84

    Jimmie84 New Member

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    It's Funny, I just saw a newly updated story on CNN, That said, Oil pipe cut, Oil Spewing into ocean, Next is the diamon saw cut on the existing pipe. :rolleyes:

    It sounds like this new measure is going to work, And we begin pumping useful oil from the ocean.
     
  20. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Agreed (except for my corporation - I'm all for limited or no liability there!) What this whole mess demonstrates to me is that we have been developing the technology to do deep water drilling without developing the corresponding technology to handle deep water blowouts. Only regulation forces safety equipment to be developed in advance. As we can see from this one, even the prospect of huge economic loss isn't enough of an incentive, at least for the first go around.

    Tom