Ray, Well said. Maybe Harry is right to criticize me for blaming it on corporations. But then maybe not! Don't all the greed-heads and destroyers use corporate cover?
Bruce Leier > -----Original Message----- > From: Ray Evans Harrell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 6:05 PM > To: Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; Bruce Leier; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: 'Harry Pollard' > Subject: Re: [Futurework] "One word: 'coal'" "Yessir." (From: The Yale 68 Skull and > Bones Graduate) > > Of course the earth cries and Harry never tires of saying that we have all > of that coal but what he doesn't say is that you will have to destroy much > of the Rocky Mountains to get it out. Colorado as the new West Virginia. > I would feel bad for all of these Republican Ranchers but the only reason > they are crying is because it is THEIR ranch and not some one else. They > have two senators in Congress and less than a million people. Their > senator was that colorful character Alan Simpson, who now teaches at the > Kennedy School at Harvard and who stuck us with more than a few of the > inadaquate conservatives on the Supreme Court while trashing Anita Hill a > graduate of Fundamentalist Oral Roberts University and who was born and > raised in my father's hometown Morris, Oklahoma in the Creek Nation. > Well, folks, I've been there. My hometown Picher is their future and > before they had their burning water we had tar creek where children played > and absorbed lead, zinc, cadmium, mercury and other heavy metals. Horses > waded in the creek and the alkaline water ate the hair right off their legs. > > These Republican Wyomans had better grow to like the Gowanus Canal in > Brooklyn which also burns and they may as well get used to polluted > aquafers, ground that will grow nothing because it has been so chewed up for > the coal that it is an unworkable stone and dirt mix, and bad water brined > with salt and sulphur. To hell with beauty. Down with the > environment. After all this is the world and they are NOT of this world > but simply in it for a time, as they will tell you themselves if you listen > truly to what they are saying. > > Of course that whole area is one giant Caldera and it is bound to blow at > some point or other. When it does, it will be worse than the Asteroid > everyone keeps speaking about and could mean the end of humanity but until > then George W. will tweak the sleeping beast and try to steal a few golden > scales off of the sleeping dragon. Gollum, Gollum? Is it any wonder > that the commercial artists are making so many movies about dragons these > days with methane breath? > > Once its done, maybe they can turn it into something like Central City with > the Opera and gambling. But in order to have that kind of business on > ruined used up land you need a big city next door like Denver and they don't > have that. It will take more than Metamusal to keep "Old Faithful" Geyser > working in this sick environment. In flow and out go and that is all that > matters in the world right? Shall I talk about the morals of the > "wretched refuse" or the "walking wounded" again or maybe I should just talk > about all of those rich folks who are creating another Venezuala right here > in the good ole' US of A. In flow and out go? Maybe that is the key to > how that Caldera is going to blow and we are all going to die. > > REH > > > > December 29, 2002 > Ranchers Bristle as Gas Wells Loom on the Range > By BLAINE HARDEN and DOUGLAS JEHL > > > GILLETTE, Wyo. - As it runs through Orin Edwards's ranch, the Belle Fourche > River bubbles like Champagne. The bubbles can burn. They are methane, also > called natural gas, the fuel that heats 59 million American homes. Mr. > Edwards noticed the bubbles two years ago, after gas wells were drilled on > his land. The company that drilled the wells denies responsibility for the > flammable river. > > An hour's drive west, the artesian well on Roland and Beverly Landrey's > ranch has failed. After producing 50 gallons a minute for 34 years, the > well, the ranch's only source of water, stopped flowing in September. A well > digger who examined it blames energy companies drilling for gas nearby, but > the companies dispute that. So the couple - he is 83 and ailing; she > describes herself as "no spring chicken" - hauls water in gallon jugs and > drives 30 miles to town weekly to wash clothes and bathe. > > Dave Bullach, a welder who lives near Gillette, couldn't take it anymore. > For two sleep-deprived years, he endured the incessant yowl of a methane > compressor, a giant pump that squeezes methane into an underground pipeline. > There are thousands of these screaming machines in Wyoming, where neither > state nor federal law regulates their noise. Mr. Bullach stormed out of his > house at midnight last year with a rifle and shot at the compressor until a > sheriff's deputy hauled him off to jail. > > This is the cantankerous world of energy extraction in the Rocky Mountain > West, where natural gas is abundant and cheap to remove, and where the Bush > administration, in its aggressive push to increase domestic energy > production, is on the brink of approving the largest-ever gas-drilling > project on federal land. Here in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, the Bureau of > Land Management says that early next year it will give final approval to the > drilling of 39,000 wells on eight million acres. > > With natural gas consumption expected to soar in the next two decades, no > one questions the need for new sources of this clean-burning fossil fuel. > What alarms ranchers, along with environmental groups, is the hugely > disruptive process of getting gas out of all those wells. > > It is a 15-year-old drilling technique called coal-bed methane extraction, > which can turn ranches and prairies into sprawling industrial zones, laced > with wells, access roads, power lines, compressor stations and wastewater > pits. > > Stoking local outrage, the split nature of land ownership in much of the > West, with mineral rights owned separately from surface rights, allows > energy companies to operate on ranchers' land without their consent. > Environmentalists also doubt whether energy companies can actually remove - > in a way that is profitable and ecologically sound - the enormous amounts of > methane that federal experts say is available in Western coal seams. > > "Ranchers have never truly thought much of tree-hugging environmentalists," > said John Dewey, 76, who owns a small cattle ranch outside Sheridan, Wyo. > "But with these methane boys on our land, we are starting to see these > environmentalists as conservationists who want to help us preserve land for > our kids." > > Most natural gas in the Rocky Mountain West lies fairly close to the > surface, in coal seams, trapped under huge aquifers. To get to the gas, > water is pumped out, peppering the landscape with large numbers of > relatively cheap and shallow wells. > > Oddly, in an arid region prone to persistent drought, the primary waste > product - and environmental threat - of extracting coal-bed methane is > water, in phenomenal amounts. In the Powder River Basin, for example, > drillers are expected to pump out 3.2 million acre-feet of water - as much > as New York City uses in two and a half years. > > It is primarily this immense draining of aquifers by thousands of wells that > makes drilling for coal-bed methane so environmentally intrusive. > Conventional gas wells are usually much deeper and more expensive to dig, > and do not drain huge quantities of groundwater. > > This water can, of course, be a godsend to ranchers - if it is not too salty > and shows up in a convenient place and in usable amounts. But if the water > is contaminated with salts, as much of it is in Wyoming and across the West, > it can turn pasture barren. > > In addition, coal-bed methane wells often produce far more water than a > rancher can conceivably use. Besides causing damaging erosion, too much > water can sharply lower water tables, sometimes for decades, while drying up > nearby wells and ruining natural springs used by wildlife. Methane drilling > can also send unwanted gas into nearby stock troughs, house wells and creek > beds. > > These consequences can make ranchers loathe companies that extract methane. > > "Polarization and demonization are absolute hallmarks of drilling for > coal-bed methane," said Mickey Steward, director of the Coal Bed Methane > Coordination Coalition, a Wyoming group that tries, and often fails, to make > peace between agitated ranchers and impatient producers. Energy producers > stopped giving the group money, complaining that it was too sympathetic to > ranchers and environmentalists. The coalition now relies on state and county > taxes. > > "On one side, the producers feel very strongly they are helping to preserve > the American way of life," Ms. Steward said. "On the other side, drilling is > changing the lives of ranchers who are just not used to having anybody > affect where they live except for themselves." > > Compounding the anger is the fractured ownership of land in much of the > Rocky Mountain West. Far more than in other parts of the country with oil > and gas reserves, landowners here do not own the wealth under them. Farmers > and ranchers settled more than 30 million acres of the West under the Stock > Raising Homestead Act of 1916. The act's rules, in almost all cases, granted > mineral rights not to homesteaders but to the federal government. > > Companies that lease these rights from the Bureau of Land Management have > access to ranch land, whether ranchers want them there or not. Producers > almost always try to make surface-use agreements with ranchers. But even > without landowner consent, federal law allows them to build roads, > pipelines, power lines, compressor stations and well pads, as well as to dam > gullies and build wastewater reservoirs. > > "Ways of life are being changed for the purpose of energy extraction," said > Jim Ventrello, a Republican county commissioner in Delta County, Colo., "and > it is not the quality of life that we seek here." > > That overwhelmingly Republican rural county in western Colorado banned > coal-bed methane operations this year. "We heard horror stories from other > places in the West," Mr. Ventrello said, "and we decided not to allow this > to go forward unless we can make sure it is done right." > > Delta, though, is one of only two counties in the West to slam the brakes on > coal-bed methane. While energy companies are vigorously challenging the > county moratoriums in the courts, coal-bed methane extraction is continuing > to hurtle forward across much of the West, thanks to policies put in place > by the Clinton administration and accelerated under President Bush, with the > encouragement of state governments that rely on tax money from gas drilling. > > The Need for More Gas > > > The eagerness of energy companies and the Bush administration to produce > more coal-bed methane can be explained by these numbers: The United States > consumes about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year, nearly all > domestically produced. By 2020, demand is expected to jump by about a third, > according to government projections. > > The main hope for finding supplies to meet that demand in the long term is > the Gulf of Mexico, the country's single largest natural gas resource. But > energy companies and the White House see coal-bed methane from the interior > West, the country's second-largest gas resource, as a vital part of the > short-term solution. > > The cost difference between conventional and coal-bed methane drilling is > extraordinary. A conventional well on land usually costs several million > dollars. An offshore well costs tens of millions. A coal-bed methane well > can be dug for about $90,000. > > Coal-bed methane accounts for only about 9 percent of the country's proven > natural gas reserves, or less than one year's production at current > consumption levels, according to the Energy Department. But over the last > decade, estimates of likely reserves have soared. > > The federal Energy Information Administration has described the Rockies as > having the potential to become "a Persian Gulf of natural gas." > > There are serious questions, however, about how real that potential is. "In > the 1970's, oil shale was hailed as our energy salvation, and it turned into > a huge bust," said Pete Morton, an economist with the Wilderness Society. > "This could be history repeating itself." > > In a new assessment released in mid-December, the United States Geological > Survey said coal seams in five Western basins, including Powder River, might > contain a total of 42 trillion cubic feet of additional gas. The agency, > which said in 1995 that Powder River probably held undiscovered coal-bed > methane resources of 1.5 trillion cubic feet, raised that estimate to 14.3 > trillion cubic feet in its current study. > > Another study, commissioned by the Energy Department and released in > December, was even more optimistic. It estimated undiscovered coal-bed > methane in the basin at 39 trillion cubic feet, or nearly two years' worth > of national consumption. > > Even if they are accurate, such estimates often gloss over how much gas is > economically recoverable. In the Powder River Basin, the Energy Department > study said that as much as 29 trillion cubic feet might be recovered in a > cost-effective way. But it noted that the number could vary widely, > depending on how particular environmental safeguards were adopted. > > Environmentalists say any realistic cost-benefit analysis makes coal-bed > methane look much less rosy. > > More Drilling Than Grazing > > > In the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, where ranch land is as rugged as any in > the West, gas wells outnumber cattle two to one. Over the last 15 years, the > basin has been the pioneer in the coal-bed methane process. > > Pinon and juniper woodlands are interwoven with thousands of miles of roads > and pipelines. With 20,000 gas wells in production and at least 10,000 more > planned, a swath of federal land the size of Connecticut accounts for 80 > percent of the coal-bed methane produced in the United States. > > Increasingly, however, the state's pride in coal-bed methane, which is a > major source of tax revenue, is mixed with misgivings. Ranchers like Tweeti > Blancett, a sixth-generation New Mexican, warn that a fragile balance > between production and conservation is falling badly out of whack. > > "We are a multiple-use land, and we understand that," Ms. Blancett said the > other day, bouncing along roads rutted by drilling rigs and water tankers on > land that is owned by the federal government but leased for both ranching > and energy exploration. "But we want industry to understand that there are > other users out there." > > Ms. Blancett, a lifelong Republican, was Mr. Bush's political organizer in > northwestern New Mexico for the 2000 presidential campaign. In November, she > and her husband, Linn, and two other ranching families locked out energy > companies whose plumbing of the gas beneath the surface of the land, they > say, threatens their livelihood. > > They call it an act of desperation. The industry has derided it as a > publicity stunt. But many in New Mexico describe it as emblematic of a > growing unease about the effect of coal-bed methane on the state's landscape > and the ranchers' way of life. > > "It would be disingenuous to pretend that there aren't impacts," said Steve > Henke, director of the land management bureau office in Farmington, N.M. He > oversees nearly all energy exploration in the basin because the federal > government owns all but a tiny fraction of the land. > > "If people are looking for peace and quiet and solitude, they're not going > to find it in the oil patch," Mr. Henke said. > > Oil and gas exploration is not new to the basin. The first drilling rigs > arrived nearly a half-century ago. But it was not until the late 1980's, > when drilling began to increase, that the relationship between ranchers and > energy companies turned adversarial. > > "It may be a clean fuel," said Don Schreiber, a rancher who joined the > Blancetts and another rancher, Chris Velasquez, in locking out the energy > companies, "but it is a very dirty business." > > Across the basin, energy exploration occupies 8 percent of the land. > Coal-bed methane production has pumped out 5.8 billion gallons of > groundwater since the late 1980's. Nearly all of this water - most of it > unsuitable for drinking or agriculture - has been reinjected deep > underground. > > Energy leases in the San Juan Basin date from the 1950's and 1960's, long > before coal beds were explored for natural gas. The leases have allowed > producers broader latitude than would be permitted under tighter > environmental regulations today. > > Ranchers say the effects have been upsetting, including cattle killed by > traffic and spilled chemicals, and erosion set in motion by roads, pipelines > and drilling pads. > > The land bureau concedes that its oversight has failed to keep pace, and it > has stepped up enforcement. Partly because of the impact of drilling, the > bureau has reduced the number of cattle it allows to graze on federal land. > The year-round total is now fewer than 10,000 head, down from the hundreds > of thousands that roamed the dry highlands early this century. > > In financial terms, ranchers in the basin have become insignificant tenants > on federal land. They pay the government a total of about $100,000 a year > for grazing rights. Energy companies pay about $350 million in federal > royalties on gas they produce. > > Against that backdrop, Mr. Henke says it may be wrong to imagine that the > interests of ranchers and energy production can be balanced to the > satisfaction of all. > > "Ranchers are losing out to the energy industry in terms of their capability > to grow grass," Mr. Henke said. > > "Stepping back, though, what's in the public interest? It's not that this > area is unsuited to ranching. But we've got a world-class gas resource > here." > > The Big Gas Play in Wyoming > > > Early next year, the federal regulatory gates are set to swing open in the > Powder River Basin. When they do, there is almost certainly going to be a > rush by ranchers to hire lawyers and file lawsuits. > > Part of the reason is split ownership of land. Of the eight million acres in > the basin, three-quarters of the surface rights are privately owned, while > about two-thirds of subsurface rights are federally owned and leased to > energy companies. > > These numbers mean that most of the basin's 4,000 ranch families will have > no choice but to put up with strangers on their land for the next 10 to 15 > years. Except for nominal access fees, most ranchers will get little > financial benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars in gas revenue > generated beneath their land. > > As it is in the San Juan Basin, the land bureau will be charged with a > seemingly impossible task. Under orders from the Bush administration - which > requires the agency to fill out an "energy impact statement" whenever it > denies a drilling permit - the agency is expected to cut through red tape > and make it easy for drilling companies to get to work fast. > > But the agency will also have to deal with increasingly angry ranchers, > litigious environmental groups and a nervous state on Wyoming's northern > border. They have all had a sneak preview of the fuss coal-bed methane can > cause. > > So has Wyoming's governor-elect, Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat. He believes > that the ranchers' restiveness and the threat of environmental damage from > coal-bed methane are "huge problems," said his chief of staff, Phil Noble. > > Drilling began about five years ago on state and private land in the Powder > River Basin. More than 15,000 wells are already in the ground. While many > have been well managed, some have triggered uncontrolled water runoff, > flooded pastures, eroded land and pumped large amounts of salty water into > streams and creeks. > > Rivers from the basin flow north to Montana, where irrigators have pressured > their own government to demand strict limits on the salinity of the water > that comes out of Wyoming. > > In the last year, the land bureau has lost two court challenges to its > environmental plan for opening federal lands to gas drilling in the basin. A > rewrite of the plans is expected in January, and the agency says it is ready > to handle the permitting of 39,000 new wells, while protecting the > environment. > > "We have staffed up to handle the situation," said Richard Zander, resource > manager for the agency in Buffalo, Wyo. "Our intent is not to leave a scar > on the land." > > Local environmental groups and many ranchers are skeptical. They point out > that federal and state law does not require energy companies to repair all > drilling damage. Companies do have to put up bonds, but they cover only the > removal of drill pads and water impoundment ponds - not the removal of roads > and other scars. > > Ranchers can negotiate binding surface agreements to cover such damage, but > to do so they need legal help. > > "If you have enough money to spend on lawyers, you might get somewhere," > said Jill Morrison, senior organizer for the Powder River Basin Resource > Council, a local environmental group. > > Then, as always in the arid West, there is the question of water. Little of > the 3.2 million acre-feet of water pumped out in the Powder River Basin will > be pumped back into the ground. Companies say it is too expensive. Some > water will naturally filter back into the ground, and some can be used for > livestock or crops, but the federal government estimates that 57 percent to > 85 percent will be lost to runoff and evaporation. > > Neither Wyoming nor the federal government assigns any monetary value to the > wasted water, state and federal officials say. Accordingly, energy companies > need pay nothing for its disappearance. > > Because of the water issue - and the high probability that drilling in the > Powder River Basin will disturb wildlife - one prominent energy executive in > Wyoming says that coal-bed methane drilling cannot be considered > environmentally sound. > > "Looking after the Earth is a pay-as-you-go process, but they don't have a > plan like that here," said Raymond Plank, chairman of the board of Apache > Corporation, one of the largest independent natural gas and oil companies in > the United States. It does not operate coal-bed wells in Wyoming. > > "What happened here is ready, fire, aim," Mr. Plank said. > > He said that if energy companies had to pay for the water they waste, as > well as put up bonds to cover all costs of restoring land when wells run > dry, they would not make money in the basin. > > "I don't happen to think that this gas here is probably economically viable > with responsible land and water practices," he said. > > Mr. Plank, it should be noted, has a Wyoming rancher's bias. A 20,000-acre > ranch he has owned for decades and recently donated to a nonprofit > foundation has been scarred by coal-bed methane drilling. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Bruce Leier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "'Harry Pollard'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 2:30 PM > Subject: [Futurework] "One word: 'coal'" "Yessir." (From: The Yale 68 Skull > and Bones Graduate) > > > > There is a "wonderful" article in today's NYT about a new > > kind of fiver which the extraction of natural gas from the coal > > in Wyoming has produced: "Ranchers Bristle as Gas Wells > > Loom on the Range" (p.A1). THis new kind of river bubbles > > (people always liked the bubbling stuff in Yellowstone > > or is it Yosimite?...), and you can ignite it [should help > > ranchers see on moonless nights?]. > > > > You all know how I love the beauties of nature. So I saved > > the picture in case you miss it. It's like something > > out of Werner Herzog's powerful film about the First Gulf War: > > > > Lessons of Darkness > > > > But with a difference: In Kuwait, all the lakes were > > covered with oil (or were oil in toto) but they deceptively > > *looked* like water. This stuff obviously is not just > > Poland Spring.... > > > > http://www.users.cloud9.net/~lcp/gaswater.jpg > > > > Enjoy! > > > > \brad mccormick > > > > -- > > Let your light so shine before men, > > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Futurework mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
