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Lies, Damned Lies, And Obama's Energy Statistics
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Topic Started: Oct 18 2012, 08:28 PM (240 Views)
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Berton
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Oct 18 2012, 08:28 PM
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Lies, Damned Lies, And Obama's Energy Statistics
Leases and production are down on federal lands, the EPA is waging war on coal, and as for building enough pipelines to encircle the earth, we'd settle for just one from Canada to the Gulf. When President Obama, in responding Tuesday to Mitt Romney's chiding about failing to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, claimed that his administration has added enough new oil and gas pipelines to "encircle the Earth and then some," we felt a perfect response from Romney would have been, "You didn't build that." In fact, energy companies have built some 55,000 miles of pipeline, including one from Canada, mostly requiring only state and local permits, and they have operated with an admirable safety record. Keystone XL would be just as safe, creating 20,000 jobs up front. But Obama's blockage has been about catering to his environmentalist base, not reducing gas prices or creating jobs. Keystone XL is part of Romney's plan for North American energy independence. As the Institute for Energy Research points out, Energy Information Administration (EIA) figures released last week reveal that the U.S. buys an average of 869,000 barrels a day of oil from the Venezuela of thuggish President Hugo Chavez. The Keystone XL Pipeline, if approved, would bring almost that same amount of oil every day from our closest trade partner, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries — the exact destination of Venezuelan crude. Obama's pipeline whopper was not his only falsification of the facts Tuesday night. Romney was exactly right that domestic oil and gas production is up only because of technology the EPA has fought to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations like the Bakken in North Dakota and the Marcellus centered in Pennsylvania.
North Dakota pumped another record amount of crude oil during the month of August, topping 700,000 barrels per day for the first time ever. As the American Enterprise Institute's blog points out, the state's oil boom has resulted in the nation's lowest state unemployment rate at 3% in August. There were nine North Dakota counties with jobless rates below 2% in July, and Williams County, which is at the center of the Bakken oil boom, continues to boast the lowest county jobless rate in the country at just 0.8%. According to the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, in 2008 under President Bush a total of 55,085 oil and gas leases were in effect on federal land. In 2011 under Obama, there were just 49,174, a decrease of 11%. Federal acreage under lease shrank from 47.2 million in 2008 to just 38.5 million, a drop of 19%. And 6,617 oil and gas permits were approved in 2008 vs. 4,244 permits in 2011, a decrease of 36%. The Heritage Foundation's Nicolas Loras points out that a recent report from the EIA documents the fact that energy production fell 13% on federal lands in fiscal 2011 compared with fiscal 2010. A snail-like permitting process has reduced planned capital and operating investments by $18.3 billion and cost the Gulf more than 162,000 jobs in just the past two years. Loris notes that in Utah and Wyoming, for instance, projects held up by the National Environmental Policy Act process are preventing the creation of 64,805 jobs, $4.3 billion in wages and $14.9 billion in economic impact every year. The EIA also reports that a record-high 57 coal-fired generators will shut down in 2012, representing 9 gigawatts of electrical capacity. In 2015, nearly 10 gigawatts of capacity from 61 coal-fired generators will be retired, largely due to regulations and costs imposed by the EPA. America, the Saudi Arabia of coal, is being transformed into the Bangladesh of energy.
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Berton
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Oct 19 2012, 12:49 AM
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Thumper
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Oct 19 2012, 10:57 AM
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Looks like Goombah put this one to bed. LOL
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tomdrobin
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Oct 19 2012, 12:23 PM
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- Berton
- Oct 18 2012, 08:28 PM
In fact, energy companies have built some 55,000 miles of pipeline, including one from Canada, mostly requiring only state and local permits, and they have operated with an admirable safety record.
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The U.S. has enough oil and natural gas pipelines to circle the Earth 100 times, yet many Americans rarely see or even think about them. That's partly because most pipelines are buried underground, and partly because of their "strong safety record," according to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates the industry. But not everyone is so impressed with that record. According to the PHMSA's own statistics, pipeline accidents kill or hospitalize at least one person in the U.S. every 6.9 days on average, and cause more than $272 million in property damage per year. Critics often blame weak regulations as well as lax enforcement. "It's a systemic issue," says Anthony Swift of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which opposes some pipeline projects. "To a large extent, the recent disasters reflect a regulatory mindset where you don't have a problem until you've had a number of catastrophes." Officials have vowed to improve safety, and the overall frequency of accidents has declined in recent years. But population growth near aging, corroded pipelines — combined with a rush to build new ones from Canada's tar sands — has still raised the stakes. That became clear during a series of accidents across North America in 2010 and 2011, including: Marshall, Mich.: A Canadian oil pipeline ruptures on July 26, 2010, releasing 840,000 gallons into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River. San Bruno, Calif.: A 56-year-old natural gas transmission line explodes on Sept. 9, 2010, killing eight people and destroying 55 homes. Romeoville, Ill.: On the same day of the San Bruno blast, workers discover a leaking oil pipeline outside Chicago, which ends up spilling 250,000 gallons. Cairo, Ga.: A corroded gas pipeline explodes while a utility crew is repairing it on Sept. 28, 2010, killing one worker and injuring three others. Wayne, Mich.: A gas explosion in a Detroit suburb destroys a furniture store and kills two employees on Dec. 29, 2010. Philadelphia, Pa.: One person is killed and six others are hurt when a gas pipeline blows up in Philadelphia's Tacony neighborhood on Jan. 18, 2011. Allentown, Pa.: Five people are killed when a cast-iron gas main explodes on Feb. 10, 2011, just 60 miles away and three weeks after the Philadelphia blast. Alberta, Canada: A Canadian oil pipeline running from northern Alberta to Edmonton ruptures on April 29, 2011, spilling roughly 1.2 million gallons. Brampton, N.D.: The relatively new Keystone oil pipeline from Canada springs a leak on May 7, 2011, releasing 21,000 gallons into rural North Dakota. Laurel, Mont.: Exxon Mobil's Silvertip oil pipeline ruptures on July 1, 2011, spilling an estimated 42,000 gallons into the flooded Yellowstone River.
The San Bruno explosion helped raise the total cost of U.S. pipeline accidents in 2010 to $980 million, more than triple the annual average from 1991 to 2009. And since the ruptured pipe was 56 years old, it also revived doubts about the safety of aging pipelines. More than 60 percent of all U.S. natural gas transmission lines were installed before 1970, according to the nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust, and 37 percent are from the '50s or earlier. Around 4 percent — nearly 12,000 miles — are pre-1940, and some segments have been in place for 120 years. While pipelines have no official expiration date, age can amplify many other problems, PST executive director Carl Weimer tells MNN. "Certainly age is a factor," he says. "But with steel pipes, age isn't the main problem. It's more how it's constructed, maintained and operated." The U.S. pipeline network is too complex to cite a single cause for the recent accidents, Weimer adds, but he does point to a general lack of action on well-known safety issues. "There has been a rash of tragedies over the last year, and if you look at the causes, they've all been different," he says. "A lot of those are problems that have been known and talked about for some time, but they haven't been addressed." Natural gas pipelines Most U.S. pipelines already carry natural gas, and their burden is expected to grow in coming decades. A drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, aka "fracking," has spurred a shale gas boom in the U.S., and environmental concerns about coal, oil and nuclear power seem poised to boost gas demand even further (despite similar concerns about fracking). The U.S. Energy Department projects shale gas will jump from 14 percent to 47 percent of all U.S. energy production by 2035, helping raise total gas production by 5 trillion cubic feet within 24 years. There are three basic types of gas pipelines, each for a different stage of the fuel's journey. First are gathering lines, which carry gas from the well to a vast network of transmission lines. These larger pipes then move the gas among states and regions, finally arriving at a local network of smaller distribution pipes, which deliver the gas directly to consumers. (See the interactive graphic above for more.) About 95 percent of all U.S. gas pipelines handle local distribution, but most don't pose much threat of exploding, Weimer says. "The smaller distribution lines that bring gas to a house or a business, a lot of those are plastic these days," he says. "They have much less pressure, so that isn't really an issue, and being plastic they don't have any corrosion problems." But they do have their own set of risks, he adds: "Plastic is easier to break, so if someone is digging near them, they tend to break more easily." Steel transmission lines, however, handle higher pressure and can corrode over time, especially older ones. "A 50-year-old pipeline probably doesn't have the same coating as a modern one," Weimer says. "Cathodic protection creates an electrical charge on the outside of a pipeline and helps counteract external corrosion. That didn't really start until the '60s, so if a pipeline was in the ground before then, it might not have that protection." The San Bruno line was from 1954, for example, and had inspection lapses. "It's pretty easy to fix segments of pipelines," Weimer says. "If you inspect them on a regular basis, you can usually tell when it needs to be swapped out." The same can't be said for cast-iron gas mains, though, which pump gas to local distribution systems, mainly in large cities. The recent blast that killed five people in Allentown, Pa., is a tragic reminder of their frailty, Weimer says, since that cast-iron main was installed in 1928. "Age does matter with those," he says. "They're not even being put in the ground anymore. Some have been around for 80 years or more ... and that cast-iron does become brittle with age." Oil pipelines Since oil pipelines move more than just crude oil, the PHMSA classifies them broadly as "hazardous liquid pipelines." There are about 175,000 miles of these in the U.S., making up just 7 percent of the pipeline network, but they perform a key role for the country's oil-reliant industries. They also inhabit some pristine parts of the country, from Alaska to the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, raising the ecological stakes of a leak. The rise of Canada's tar sands has made oil pipelines an especially hot topic lately, thanks to the Keystone pipeline from Alberta to Oklahoma and the proposed Keystone XL, which would connect to Texas. Like gas pipelines, oil pipelines are split into three basic groups: gathering lines, which carry crude from both onshore and offshore oil wells; larger crude oil "trunk lines," which bring the raw sludge to refineries; and refined-products pipelines, which pump gasoline, kerosene and various industrial petrochemicals to the end user. Oil pipelines are often kept away from populated areas, but spills can still be dangerous. In July 2010, a pipeline leaked 840,000 gallons of oil into Michigan's Talmadge Creek, creating an ecological mess that cost nearly $26 million to clean up, including the removal of 15 million gallons of water and 93,000 cubic yards of soil. Less than two months later, another pipeline owned by the same company, Canada-based Enbridge, spilled 250,000 gallons near Chicago. And less than 12 months later, a pipeline owned by Exxon Mobil ruptured near Laurel, Mont., spilling 42,000 gallons into the famed Yellowstone River and fouling the property of at least 40 landowners. TransCanada's Keystone pipeline, which opened in 2010, has already had 11 leaks in its first year, including one in May that spilled 21,000 gallons in North Dakota. That's a lot for a new pipeline, says the NRDC's Swift, who argues that tar sands' "diluted bitumen" requires tougher safety standards than crude oil. Because bitumen is so thick, it must be diluted with corrosive solvents to help it flow through long-distance pipelines. "We're seeing a large increase of a new type of product in our pipeline system, and we've already had a number of leaks," Swift says. "One of our concerns is that this oversight is occurring even as there are plans to build more." Beginning in Alberta, the 1,661-mile Keystone XL pipeline (click map to enlarge) would run south through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before finally linking to oil refineries in Texas. The international project must be approved by the U.S. State Department, but the EPA has openly criticized that review process as inadequate. "We have a number of concerns regarding the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project, as well as the level of analysis and information provided concerning those impacts," the EPA wrote in a letter to the State Department on June 6. A study released July 11 warns the threat of spills is far greater than TransCanada's risk assessments suggest; the company estimates an average of one spill every five years, while the study estimates "a more likely average of almost two major spills per year." On top of spills, the EPA is worried about greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution from Texas oil refineries, destruction of local wetlands and deaths of migratory birds. TransCanada and many Republicans in Congress say Keystone XL would boost U.S. energy security, while environmental groups, some Democrats and local residents contend it's not worth the risks. The State Department plans to release a final environmental review later this year, but with a dispute between two Cabinet-level departments, President Obama may be forced to weigh in personally. Going beyond pipe dreams U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, whose department oversees the PHMSA, has repeatedly pledged to improve pipeline safety since the recent string of accidents. He held a "National Pipeline Safety Forum" in April, and introduced a new rule that, starting in August, will require all operators of gas distribution lines to "evaluate their risks and take immediate steps to mitigate those risks." LaHood also notes on the DOT's Fast Lane blog that President Obama has proposed a 15 percent increase in pipeline safety funding, and says he has "called on Congress to raise the maximum civil penalties for pipeline safety violations" and to make more experts available for inspections. Old pipelines and too few inspectors aren't the only problems cited by safety advocates, though. "In San Bruno or in that big spill in Michigan, the problem was leak-detection systems," Weimer says. "The regulations say you have to have them, but they don't define what that means. So some companies have had leaks that leaked all night long, and their fancy leak-detection systems didn't know. We need standards for leak-detection systems, and for automated valves, so pipelines can be shut down quickly." While Weimer expresses pessimism that will happen anytime soon, he is at least heartened by the ongoing discussions in Washington. "It has been talked about for many years," he says, "but it is good they're talking about it."
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/us-pipelines-at-a-crossroads
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Berton
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Oct 19 2012, 12:33 PM
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Obama's pipeline whopper was not his only falsification of the facts Tuesday night. Romney was exactly right that domestic oil and gas production is up only because of technology the EPA has fought to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations like the Bakken in North Dakota and the Marcellus centered in Pennsylvania.
North Dakota pumped another record amount of crude oil during the month of August, topping 700,000 barrels per day for the first time ever. As the American Enterprise Institute's blog points out, the state's oil boom has resulted in the nation's lowest state unemployment rate at 3% in August. There were nine North Dakota counties with jobless rates below 2% in July, and Williams County, which is at the center of the Bakken oil boom, continues to boast the lowest county jobless rate in the country at just 0.8%.
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tomdrobin
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Oct 19 2012, 12:39 PM
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Mitt Romney says 'oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land'
President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney sparred during the second presidential debate over drilling policy on federal lands.
Romney said -- among other things -- that "oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land."
That’s similar to a statement that PolitiFact Ohio checked last April-- "Last year, we produced 14 percent less oil on public lands than we did the year before." It’s also similar to a claim we checked a few weeks later, that oil "production's down where Obama's in charge."
We’ll recap our analysis here.
The 14 percent number
We turned to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration titled, "Sales of Fossil Fuels Produced from Federal and Indian Lands, FY 2003 through FY 2011." To produce the report, EIA worked with the Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue, which tracks royalties to the government for oil, gas and coal produced on federal lands, including oil from offshore wells.
While Romney said "this year," the most recent data available is from 2011, so that's what we'll use. In 2010, EIA data show, 726 million barrels of oil came from federal lands, including offshore wells. In 2011, it was 626. That’s a drop of 13.77 percent, which can be rounded to 14 percent. This data, as well as a more complex measure (it involves royalties and British thermal units of energy, but we’ll spare you), would appear to render the statement accurate.
How reliable is it?
But is the 14 percent figure cherry picked?
Yes, says Jay Hakes, who directed the independent U.S. Energy Information Administration for seven years during the Clinton administration. "From a statistical standpoint, to take one year out of three — one year is not indicative of a trend," he said. So we pulled the numbers from when George W. Bush was in office -- January 2001 to January 2009 -- as well as from when Obama was in office. In our chart, we’ve italicized the years he was in office and put in bold the years Obama led. We note that: • From 2004-08, well into Bush’s tenure, oil production on federal lands and waters fell in four of five years, for a net decrease of 16.8 percent. • From 2009-11, the Obama years, oil production rose two of three years, for a net increase of 10.6 percent. From 2009 to 2010, oil production from offshore sources rose by 14.9 percent. Prior to that, before Obama’s presidency, the offshore volume fell for several years, and it was erratic even during a phase in which it rose, EIA figures show. Yet onshore oil production generally rose on federally owned land -- and did again in 2011, by 3.7 percent. Offshore production that took the hit, falling 16.8 percent.
So the big story of the one-year dropoff in public production is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. A six-month moratorium on exploratory drilling followed — though it by no means stopped gulf oil production— along with changes in regulation that forced the industry to adjust. While the moratorium could have been more targeted, it wasn’t a policy choice unique to Obama, said Hakes, the former EIA director who also directed policy and research for the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Bush had his own disasters to contend with: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 also drove a decline the next year, said Shirley Neff, a senior adviser at EIA. And President Richard Nixon ordered a moratorium in the wake of a 1969 well blowout off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif.
"Every president, if you have a blowout like that … is going to get a moratorium," Hakes said.
Who gets the credit or blame? It’s important to note that most big boosts in production, according to experts, follow years of earlier exploration and drilling -- efforts begun under the policies of prior administrations. By the same token, Obama’s actions in office should have an impact in the years to come.
"I don't think Obama can claim a lot of credit for production levels now, and I'm not even sure that Bush can," said Hakes, the author of A Declaration of Energy Independence, which looks at energy policy from President Harry S. Truman to President George W. Bush. "If you're going to go back — who should get the credit — I might be able to find something that Nixon did." The recent expansion of hydrofracking — using pressurized fluid to get gas or oil out of rock formations — came about over decades. "That's why attaching production things to any particular administration is a very, very tricky business, and probably best handled in books rather than in articles," Hakes said. "There are just too many factors." So, Obama certainly shouldn’t be claiming full credit for increases in oil production on private land — but neither should supporters of Bush.
Our ruling So: Did the United States produce 14 percent less oil on its public lands last year? Yes. But there’s nuance in the number. Production under Obama was hobbled due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, making a one-year figure subject to cherry-picking. And it’s not at all clear that the president in charge when the oil is taken out of the ground deserves full credit or blame; years of prior policies on exploration and drilling had an impact.
On balance, we rate the claim Half True.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/16/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-oil-production-down-14-percent-ye/
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Berton
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Oct 19 2012, 12:51 PM
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According to the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, in 2008 under President Bush a total of 55,085 oil and gas leases were in effect on federal land. In 2011 under Obama, there were just 49,174, a decrease of 11%. Federal acreage under lease shrank from 47.2 million in 2008 to just 38.5 million, a drop of 19%. And 6,617 oil and gas permits were approved in 2008 vs. 4,244 permits in 2011, a decrease of 36%. The Heritage Foundation's Nicolas Loras points out that a recent report from the EIA documents the fact that energy production fell 13% on federal lands in fiscal 2011 compared with fiscal 2010.
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