[Coral-List] Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier Reef.

Thu May 5 15:50:02 EDT 2011

Tom, I'm not sure what you're saying.  Does NO mean that peak oil will never
happen?

While not apparently directly related to coral and the seas, the end of
cheap oil has implications.  For instance, the amount of oil possibly off
the coast of Belize (or in any other location) will be incredibly small
compared even to current world oil production.  This raises the question of
whether the environmental risks are worth taking for a tiny bit of oil.  We
would all be much better off (as would seas and reefs) to leave the tiny
bits alone, and change our paradigm that oil will be plentiful (and cheap)
until the end of time.

Funny that you should mention "fracking" as a way to extract natural gas.
Take a look at a video posted here --
http://renewwisconsinblog.org/2011/04/28/southeastern-minn-could-become-hotbed-for-frac-sand

Even before you mentioned fracking, I was wondering whether any of the
fracking fluids have made their way into the sea and what consequences they
may have for reefs and other ocean life.

Extracting oily Canadian tar sands shows another extreme attempt to uphold
our oil-forever paradigm --
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text.html

Ed Blume
Madison, WI

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Tom Williams <ctwiliams at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Peak Oil
>
> NO
>
> Anyone in the O&G industry knows better - peak oil production at what
> barrel price...
>
> At Parsons Corp (Pasadena,CA) we had production and processing projects
> arranged at various price levels - ancient now - $20/, $25/, $30/, and
> $35/bbl
>
> At DeepWaterHorizon they were in "Extreme Drilling" or "Unconventional" O&G
> - mile deep of water = 2000psi, and 15,000ft drilled hole = total BOH
> 8000+psi   WHAT happens at such pressures - noone knows - is there any
> coelenterates at that depth - how many investigations have there been...
>
> PEAK oil at $200/bbl will resurrect many fields in US and California as we
> are experiencing NOW with Hydraulic Fractionation - Fracking for gas and oil
> and condensate
>
> OBTW costs of products may not change at all, unless the govt starts
> subsidizing diesel - not gasoline/petro unless Belize gets a refinery...
> OBTW most jobs will not go to most Belizeans as offshore work usually goes
> to the producers team - not general hiring....
>
> Tom
>
> --- On *Thu, 5/5/11, Ed Blume <eblume2702 at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Ed Blume <eblume2702 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier
> Reef.
> To: "frahome at yahoo.com" <frahome at yahoo.com>
> Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Date: Thursday, May 5, 2011, 8:23 AM
>
>
> Just a factoid (God, I hate that word): U.S. domestic oil production peaked
> in 1972.
> http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M
> Individual oil wells, oil fields, oil producing nations, and the world will
> all follow a similar production curve, no matter how hard oil companies try
> to tap unconventional sources of oil, such as tar sands.
>
> Ed
>
> On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 4:55 PM, frahome at yahoo.com<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=frahome@yahoo.com><
> frahome at yahoo.com<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=frahome@yahoo.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > With all respect, the statement: "It could bring big bucks and jobs to a
> > relatively poor country and hopefully  bring down the cost of fuel."
> seems
> > taken
> > out from a purely demagogic political debate, a lot more emotional and
> > emotionally appealing than the statements being criticized.
> >
> > Hoping that the cost of fuel will go down when peak oil has been reached,
> > or
> > will be soon reached, it's quite an interesting expectation (IEA stated
> > last
> > November that conventional crude oil peaked in 2006).
> > Hoping that the involved corporations will share the profit with the poor
> > local
> > people sounds also quite "naive".
> >
> > I might be hysterical but I do not feel assured even if they promise me
> > they
> > won't drill right on top of a coral or my house. Anyway all that is oil
> and
> > pro-conventional-growth based it is for me definitely short-sighted even
> in
> > the
> > best scenario and unless overcome quickly it will lead to world wide (not
> > just
> > Belize) disasters, but maybe I have been reading too much
> > post-carbon/post-growth stuff.
> > Greetings
> > Francesca
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=eshinn@marine.usf.edu>
> >
> > To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=coral-list@coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > Sent: Sun, May 1, 2011 7:18:16 PM
> > Subject: [Coral-List] Help Ban Oil Exploration on the Belize Barrier
> Reef.
> >
> > "offshore drilling in Belize will lead to an environmental disaster
> > from which Belize will never recover."
> > Now that is as hysterical and emotional as it can get! It would be
> > good to get your facts in order before making such knee-jerk
> > reactions. Several wells have already been drilled along the Belize
> > shelf during the 1960s and 1970s and there were no "disasters" other
> > than the fact that they did not find any oil.
> > It would be good to know if they (who ever they are) are planning
> > deep water drilling or shallow water drilling as was done there in
> > the past? It makes a big difference. Of course actual discovery of
> > oil might have a large impact. It could bring big bucks and jobs to a
> > relatively poor country and hopefully  bring down the cost of fuel.
> > You can be sure that no one is going to drill right on top of a coral
> > reef. What does a gallon of gasoline costs in Belize? I assume it is
> > all transported there in tankers which is well known to be the
> > largest source of oil pollution in the oceans worldwide. Gene
> > --
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> > ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
> > E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
> > University of South Florida
> > Marine Science Center (room 204)
> > 140 Seventh Avenue South
> > St. Petersburg, FL 33701
> > <eshinn at marine.usf.edu<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=eshinn@marine.usf.edu>
> >
> > Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
> > -----------------------------------
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> > _______________________________________________
> > Coral-List mailing list
> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov<http://us.mc1301.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>