Obama In Bed with Fed

US Person cannot be held responsible for the two-bit tampering with good ideas that passes for legislating in Congress. He urged his readers to support auditing the Federal Reserve. If you read his posts on the issue {"audit fed"}, you know he had in mind a periodic, if not an annual, examination of the books by Congress. What we got after the lobbying was done, is a one time audit by GAO for the period of the financial crisis beginning in December 2007. Senator Sanders caved on the audit's scope apparently in order to get any audit passed in the face of the administration/banking lobby's opposition to oversight of the mysterious temple of finance. They were particularly afraid that the inner sanctum of the Open Market Committee where interest rate policies are made would be violated by the public's profane glare. Voodoo economics indeed! At least there is an audit provision in the Senate's finance reform package to be sent to reconciliation with the House proposals.

{5.5.10}Obama has turned out to be mostly a virtual reformer. The latest deviation from his rhetoric: the administration is attempting to stop the Federal Reserve audit proposal{"audit fed"}, a bill which has over 300 co-sponsors in the House. A version of auditing the Fed proposal passed the Senate by 95-1. So how is it Forty-four, who pledged to bring more transparency* to government, is objecting to bringing much needed transparency to the operations of America's most powerful chartered bank? Because secrecy allows an administration to favor certain banks over others, as the Fed did during the 2008 financial crisis. It provided $2 trillion dollars to selected financial institutions at virtually no interest. The Federal Reserve has repeatedly rejected legislators' requests to name loan terms or recipients of the public money, and is fighting two FOIA suits in federal courts that ordered it to divulge the information. Former Chairman Greenspan also used the bank's secrecy cloak to keep policy dissent within the Open Market Committee away from public notice. A Federal Reserve bank president expressed his concern about rampant real estate speculation in Florida being influenced by "our very accommodative [interest rate] policy". Jack Guynn's March 2004 remarks were not released by the Fed until now. Independent socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is shepherding the audit amendment through the Senate Banking Committee chaired by Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT). Senator Sanders has picked up new supporters, but the amendment will probably have to scale the 60 vote filibuster to reach the Senate floor. Do you want the grip of the plutocrats broken, and control of America returned to the people's elected representatives? Call your Senators and ask them to support auditing the Federal Reserve. After all, it's your money.

*page 3, The Blueprint for Change, Barack Obama's Plan for America, Obama For America Campaign Committee

They Made Love Not War--

At least some of the time. The great mystery of human paleontology has been answered by genetics. A study published in Science concludes that the ancestors of modern humans interbred successfully with Neanderthal. That makes Neanderthal entitled to the coveted title of Homo spaiens. The scientists who participated in the study estimate than non-Africans (Europeans and Asians) have 1-4% Neanderthal genes. They also estimate that modern humans and Neanderthal humans became separate between 270,000 and 400,000 years ago.  The divergence in genomes between modern humans and Neanderthal was about 12.7% compared to about 30% for chimpanzees.  (Yes, we share 98% of the same genes with Pan, but the sequencing is different.) There could be other plausible explanations of the data besides hybridization and these are ably discussed here. Personally, US Person likes the idea of two human ancestors getting it on in their dark caves, trying to keep warm in Ice Age Europe. I always thought I had some Neanderthal in me.

[image: scienceblogs.com/observations/2010/05]

Reimpose Moratorium on Offshore Drilling

An inexperienced President facing political pressure to secure the nation's future energy supplies gives the nod to an industry who's environmental record is checkered with accidents.  The industry rewards his misplaced confidence by causing an unmitigated ecological disaster of biblical proportions. Forty-four took more campaign money from BP than John McCain did. When boosterism replaces good government, this what you get. Claiming offshore drilling is safe and environmentally benign is to be dangerously ignorant of the facts or is simply a industry sales pitch.  The offshore drilling moratorium* was imposed for good reasons. Americans became concerned that their beaches, fishing spots and seafood would be covered in smelly, sticky ooze from coast to coast.  Since April 22nd when the drilling platform Deepwater Horizon collapsed in flames, it has leaked an estimated 3 million barrels of crude oil into the sea.  The calamity in the Gulf of Mexico will have adverse effects lasting generations, just as the Exxon Valdez spill still affects the lives of Alaskans twenty years later.  Until the government comes up with a way to make offshore drilling safe, and it's inevitable environmental impacts minimized, it should not allow new drilling on the OCS.

Hope is with BP as it positions the cofferdam [photo] to capture most of the oil gushing out of the damaged well. If it works, the Gulf coast may be spared another huge disaster. If it does not work, the relief well being drilled is the last desperate option.  No one wants to contemplate the Russian suggestion to use a subsurface nuclear detonation to bury the runaway well. In the face of the Deepwater Horizon calamity that is slowing turning the northern Gulf of Mexico into a smelly, scum ridden, toxic lake, perhaps Congress will be motivated to spend the $54 billion it plans to give to another subsidized polluter, the nuclear power industry, on building a green energy economy.  You may not be able to drive a 11mpg SUV anymore, but your children will thank you.

*On January 28, 1969, Union Oil's Platform A experienced an uncontrolledblowout in southern California's Dos Cuadras field that lasted for approximately eight days. The spill of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil affected over forty miles of coastline. Several environmental laws were passed at the federal and state levels following the blowout, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Future OCS and state tideland leasing would require a formalized environmental review process. www.countyofsb.org/energy/information/history.asp

[L photo: Vets rehydrate a gannet that was covered in oil.  The spill has reached the Chandeleur Islands, the nation's second oldest wildlife refuge, off the coast of Louisiana.  UK First Post]

Yes, Muffin, It's a Dirty Business

Everyone seems to like the phrase "visible from space" because it reminds us of what our technology has been able to accomplish.  It is used so often, the phrase is becoming trite. This sight too, is visible from space, but it is not a pretty one.  The gas flares of Nigeria burn brighter than the city lights of the capital, Lagos.  The profligate waste of a valuable natural resource makes it difficult for nearby Nigerians to breath, and contributes significantly to global warming.  Medical studies in Nigeria's oil rich delta region show that gas burning contributes to a high infant mortality rate and an adult life expectancy of 43 years. Officially flaring is illegal since 1984. The corrupt central government has set three separate deadlines for stopping the practice.  The latest one is December 31 this year.  But the waste continues unabated for a stark economic reason:  It is cheaper to flare off the gas, than build the infrastructure needed to process it and bring the product to market.

Nigeria is by no means alone in the amount of flaring of natural gas, but only the Russian Federation flares more.  According to the first global satellite survey of the practice commissioned by NOAA, Nigeria has actually reduced the amount of flaring over the past twelve years.  The dispute over the amount of flaring is whether the ongoing civil unrest in the delta that has halved oil production is responsible for the reduction in the amount of gas burned.  The flares are color coded in this composite image   1992 is blue, 2000 is green and 2006 is red.  World wide flaring has remained stable, but a huge amount of natural gas is simply wasted every year.  An estimated 170bcm was flared in 2006 or 27% of the total US natural gas consumption for that year. That amount of wasted gas would have had a market value of about $40 billion in the US.  The burning creates 400 million tons of CO₂ or more than the total emissions of France.  Flaring, while a cheap way to dispose of natural gas, is not 100% efficient. Unknown amounts of methane--a more potent greenhouse gas than CO₂--escapes into the atmosphere.  An independent oil and gas expert told the Independent newspaper the flares are "a continuing economic, political and environmental disaster".

Nigeria officials blame the major oil companies operating in the Niger Delta for the waste, while oil companies blame the government for failing to create  infrastructure and domestic demand.   Furthermore the companies say they are forced to operate as junior partners in joint ventures with the government.  Nigeria has some of the world's sweetest crude that attracted companies in the 1950s to develop its oil fields. But Nigeria has always had more gas than oil. Slapping fines on the oil companies is largely meaningless to an industry that supplies 80% of the nation's income.  Flaring of associated gas cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be reduced, especially continuous flaring that wastes the most gas.  In 2002 the World Bank and Norway started a global initiative to reduce flaring.  The partnership now has 12 country members and 10 industry participants.  Despite their good intentions the major hurdles of lack of regulation, lack of markets, and lack of infrastructure remain.  A Nigerian environmental activist told the Independent that the oil companies are not serious about ending the waste; "They will never stop gas flaring until the oil wells run dry."

[image: www.news.mongabay.com]

More BP Denial

Update:  News reports coming from the scene say BP has succeeded in stopping the smallest of the crude oil leaks fouling the Gulf of Mexico after the leased drilling rig Deepwater Horizon suffered a catastrophic explosion and fire last month.  However, the oil slick continues to spread at an estimated rate of 200,000 gallons a day.  The company admitted the spill could get much larger if a worse case scenario actually occurred.  During a private meeting with Congress members Tuesday, BP said the ruptured well could spill as much as 60,000 barrels a day.  Fortunately for the coast, the weather is expected to be calm for the next several days, keeping the floating slick away from beaches, estuaries and wetlands.  Another burn of floating oil is scheduled to be ignited according to AP.  Concerns for wildlife in the area to be affected by the burn were dismissed by the joint incident information center.  However, dead endangered sea turtles have already washed ashore in Mississippi [AP photo].  Several species of sea turtles are at the peak of their nesting season.

Environmental concerns were never foremost in the minds of BP or the federal agency responsible for managing the OCS when plans for drilling on the Mississippi Canyon block 252 were formulated.  The Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service exempted BP from detailed NEPA requirements after three assessments said a massive oil spill was unlikely.  The MMS, which made the news during the Regime for wild parties conducted by its employees, gave British Petroleum a "categorical exclusion".  In the Gulf of Mexico where there are hundreds of platforms operating, the agency routinely grants 250 to 400 waivers a year.  Environmentalists say the agency is little more than a rubber stamp for self-serving drilling plans.  BP lobbied the White House Council on Environmental Quality to provide categorial exemptions more often.  BP spent $16 billion lobbying in Washington in 2009, triple what it spent two years before. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP may find the going tougher: an acoustic trigger on a blowout preventer costs $500,000.  Before the oil patch boys led by Vice-President 'Darth' Cheney got to the agency, the MMS proposed in 2000 to mandate the mechanism for all OCS rigs.  By 2003 the proposed requirement was dropped.

{5.4.10}BP continues to deny that it did not take adequate measures to prevent a blowout of its deep water well on the Mississippi Canyon block.  A spokesperson for the company said an acoustic switch on the blowout preventer that could activate the BOP from the surface, or subsurface cut off valves, "were not appropriate for a discovery well". Whether the well was classifiable as a discovery well or a production well is really immaterial.  What is important is the Deepwater Horizon was operating in an environmentally sensitive region at great depth where unknown gas pressures could pose a hazard of a well blowout, and the well at the time of the explosion was producing an 8,000 barrel a day flow of crude. A Transocean employee who escaped the flames also said the well was drilling down to 22,000 feet, in excess of the federally permitted 20,000 feet. Facts now emerging show the well services firm Halliburton was hired to cement the well bore in place to prevent subsurface gas pressures from escaping up the bore.  Cementing or capping is typically a difficult process, often prone to accidents. Over the pass 14 years, 18 of 30 blowouts have been linked to cementing by the Minerals Management Service. A Wall Street energy analyst told the Wall Street Journal that faulty cementing was the likely cause of gas reaching the surface, and a lawsuit filed by Transocean employees alleges the contractor Halliburton was negligent in it's cementing operation. Halliburton was also implicated in the blowout that spilled tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil into the Timor Sea for ten weeks before the well was shut down. The investigation into the Timor Sea incident is still proceeding. Cameron International Corp. built the blowout preventer used on the well that did not stop the gas explosion from occurring. BP said drilling a relief well will begin in two weeks. In the meantime the company will attempt to lower a 98 ton steel dome over the largest leak to contain it. The operation has never been tried at over a mile down.

[photo: www.businessinsider.com]

'Toontime: Paul Revere Revised

"Drill, baby drill!"

Migratory Birds at Risk in Gulf

The Deepwater Horizon catastrophe will impact not only sea and wading birds native to the Gulf coast, but also migratory songbirds passing through Gulf coastal areas on their way north during late April and early May. The smoke created by efforts to burn off some of the oil will make their long journey even more difficult as they arrive near the US weak and undernourished.  Environmental News Service reports that the following bird sanctuaries are at immediate risk of damage from the spilled oil:

• Gulf Coast Least Tern colony--one of the world's largest colony of the threatened least tern nest on a man-made white sand beach in Biloxi;
• Pascagoula River Coastal Preserve--the marshes at the mouth of the river provide habitat for yellow and black rails, snowy plovers;
• Gulf Islands National Seashore--thousands of wintering shorebirds live here including the brown pelican, Louisiana's state bird, and the endangered piping plover;
• Breton National Wildlife Refuge--includes the Chandeleur Islands, home of the largest tern colony in North America, also oystercatchers, piping plover and frigatebirds inhabit the refuge;
• Dauphin Island--stopover for gulls, terns, herons and rails;
• Fort Morgan Historical Park--another important resting place for migrant birds;
• Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge--thousands of Gulf migrants rest and feed here;
• Baptiste Collete Bird Islands-- artificial barrier islands that are home to terns, brown pelicans, and skimmers;
• Elgin Air Force Base--the base has significant coastal habitat used by shore and wading birds as well as an inland population of red-cockaded woodpeckers;
• Delta National Wildlife Refuge{4.15.10}--thousands of wading birds such as snowy egrets, herons, and white ibis live here, and migrating shorebirds use the mudflats during migration.

Even though Forty-four has announced a halt to new drilling pending an investigation, Shell Oil has already announced plans to drill in the Arctic an area equally as fragile as the Gulf Coast. There is even less demonstrated facility to clean up a major oil spill in the Arctic according to a former director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, now an executive with Defenders of Wildlife. Mr. Jamie Clark called for a reinstatement of the drilling moratorium on the OCS and legislation from Congress mandating a shift to greener energy sources.  California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced an about face on his decision to allow a limited expansion of oil drilling off Santa Barbara, citing the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

British Petroleum, the energy company that advertised itself as "Beyond Petroleum" has offered no explanation so far of why such a deep water well was not equipped with an acoustically controllable blow out preventer (BOP) and redundant systems. A 1999 Minerals Management Service report says that many blow out preventers used by oil companies do not work properly. According to the report, during a two year period in the late nineties, there were 117 failures of blow out preventers offshore. Between 1992 and 2006 there were 39 actual well blowouts. Blowout preventers can weigh up to 500,000 lbs, and be up to 50 feet in length. According to one newspaper account, the crew that escaped the platform said the blowout preventer (BOP) was activated before abandoning the rig. Investigators may find that the crew lost control of the oil and gas pressures in the well bore leading to an onboard explosion and fire. The rig itself contained over 700,000 gallons of fuel oil to run operations. The intense heat of the ensuing fire caused the drilling platform to collapse. Without support, the well riser fell to the sea bottom were it ruptured in several places, spewing oil into the Gulf. Transocean, the owner of the drilling rig leased by BP manages 142 offshore rigs. It experienced problems with BOPs in 2009. Steven Newman of Transocean addressed the problem during an earnings conference as "...a handful of BOP problems; nothing that I would characterize as systemic or quarter specific. We did a deep dive on each one of those incidents. We've identified the root causes. We are going back to address them in our management systems so they don't happen again....All of the BOP incidents that occurred in Q2 have been resolved, and we'll continue to keep our eye closely on the performance of our subsea equipment."

Twenty dead sea turtles including endangered Kemp's ridley have already washed up ashore in Mississippi.  Ingestion of oil coated fish is suspected to be the cause of death.

[photo: brown pelicans, Breton NWS, USF&WS]