The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
The US Geological Survey wildly underestimated the Bakken shale oil reserves in North Dakota and Montana by several billion barrels, according to this Saturday's article in the Wall Street Journal. I think he's being awfully picky: isn't the difference between 5 billion and 24 billion completely within the realm of reasonable estimation errors?
Its a fascinating interview with Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Energy Resources and it becomes intentionally humorous when it turns to the current Whitehouse occupant, since He Of The $3.00 Dinner Ticket has his own theories on how the world of energy should work:
A few months ago the Obama Justice Department brought charges against Continental and six other oil companies in North Dakota for causing the death of 28 migratory birds, in violation of the Migratory Bird Act. Continental's crime was killing one bird "the size of a sparrow" in its oil pits. The charges carry criminal penalties of up to six months in jail. "It's not even a rare bird. There're jillions of them," he explains. He says that "people in North Dakota are really outraged by these legal actions," which he views as "completely discriminatory" because the feds have rarely if ever prosecuted the Obama administration's beloved wind industry, which kills hundreds of thousands of birds each year.
But enough of the oil Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the Ospry? Americans can be thankful that their ever vigilant Birdman of Alcatraz is keeping Mr. Hamm on the straight and narrow so that he can deliver parting shots like this one:
Mr. Hamm believes that if Mr. Obama truly wants more job creation, he should study North Dakota, the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 3.5%. He swears that number is overstated: "We can't find any unemployed people up there. The state has 18,000 unfilled jobs," Mr. Hamm insists. "And these are jobs that pay $60,000 to $80,000 a year." The economy is expanding so fast that North Dakota has a housing shortage. Thanks to the oil boom—Continental pays more than $50 million in state taxes a year—the state has a budget surplus and is considering ending income and property taxes.
We can only hope Mr. Hamm is more circumspect with his discarded clamshell fast food containers or there's no telling how low that unemployment rate might go.
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Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
"Mr. Hamm calculates that if Washington would allow more drilling permits for oil and natural gas on federal lands and federal waters, 'I truly believe the federal government could over time raise $18 trillion in royalties.' That's more than the U.S. national debt, I say. He smiles."
That entire article is quotable.
Sep '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
That entire article is quotable
Agreed. I especially like this one:
According to Department of Energy data, North Dakota is on pace to surpass California in oil production in the next few years.
Sep '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Since Peter Robinson doesn't know any ex North Dakota governors now in Washington as a Senator, I'm sure there's no chance of lining up Harold Hamm for a Ricochet or Uncommon Knowledge interview.
(Cough).
Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
I'd pay cash money for that interview.
Sep '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Comment 50 at the WSJ was interesting (and no, it wasn't me):
The conservatives are missing a huge opportunity but not highlighting stories like that of Mr. Hamm. The RNC, congressional and presidential candidates should be all over the fields of North Dakota and talking with energy successful people like Mr. Hamm to enlighten the public. This article is has such a great narrative. I am sending it to any friends I know who may not read the WSJ.
Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
A commercial with a split screen with oil rigs generating billions upon billions in dollars on one side and batteries going down the toilet on the other.
Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Rob could write the script of a Family from Beverly Hills Who moves to the projects after losing everything when "discovering" "green gold."
Sep '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Harold Hamm is from Oklahoma originally, so there's some material to work with.
Dec '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
I thought Texas was the only state allowed to get filthy rich on oil.
Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
The president's reaction? "He turned to me and said, 'Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.'"
I guess that settles it.
Actually though, I have a couple of questions Mr. President:
How much will it cost?
No really, how much without the subsidy?
What's its range?
Can I fit my 2 kids (they're pretty small now, but I hope for that to change) inside?
Can it go uphill? Survive a 10 mph collision with a pillow?
Sep '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Is there ever creation without some form of destruction? This seems to be what they're looking for.
Apr '11
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Even if a huge breakthrough in battery technology is around the corner and our needs for oil and gas will drop, we aren't all going to junk our cars overnight and buy brand new ones. You can expect this future technology to be expensive for years, too. We can always export surplus gas and oil, if we don't need it ourselves.
And by the time that these new miracle batteries are affordable and widely available, congressional Democrats will be holding hearings where they demand that the executives of these battery companies grovel, apologize, and explain why they are making so much profit. Maybe Maxine Waters will even threaten to nationalize their companies.
Jun '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
"I think he's being awfully picky: isn't the difference between 5 billion and 24 billion completely within the realm of reasonable estimation errors?"
A billion barrels here and a billion barrels there...pretty soon yer talkin' real oil.
Dec '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
It's so much worse than Utopian fantasies of free lunches. The evidence for how sinister and cynical the Green Movement (capitalized because it's a religion) is is the accumulation of songbird corpses at the foundation of each wind turbine intentionally erected in the little darlings' migratory flight paths. It just sickens me.
I know a lefty who, like me, is an amateur birder and yet, when confronted with the reality of decimating bird populations to the god of Free Wind Energy, which is neither free nor reliable, he's eager to sacrifice their little lives. Like Moloch, the Green god is insatiable.
Going Green isn't about conservation or saving God's creation for future generations... it's about centralizing power in the hands of leftists. Period.
Apr '11
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Is there is a deliberate decision by the Administration to aggressively apply the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (or other statutes) against the petroleum industry while refraining from enforcement against the wind industry from similar or greater injuries? Discrimintary enforcement based on political opinions is unconstitutional; discrimination based on favored energy technologies is a short half step removed from blatant political retaliation against political opponents through the use of the power of the prosecutor. Another potential lawsuit that my office might see in the near future.
Apr '11
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Well estimation is a funny thing it depends on the system your estimating. I don't know the rules for geological surveys, but I recall being told that in astronomy if your estimating the distance to a star you just have to be with in an order of magnitude to be considered accurate. So for Astronomy 5 and 24 billion are close enough to be the same.
Jul '10
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
Palaeologus: The president's reaction? "He turned to me and said, 'Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.'"
I guess that settles it.
Actually though, I have a couple of questions Mr. President:
How much will it cost?
No really, how much without the subsidy?
What's its range?
Can I fit my 2 kids (they're pretty small now, but I hope for that to change) inside?
Can it go uphill? Survive a 10 mph collision with a pillow? · Oct 1 at 11:33am
Nothing is invented until it is invented. According to the finest prognosticators in pulp it has been common knowledge since the 1930's that we were all driving air cars by the 1970s. Using atomic reactors.
But notice the date on that is safely into the next administration.
Sep '11
Re: The Carl Sagan of North Dakota - Billions and Billions Served
cdor: "I think he's being awfully picky: isn't the difference between 5 billion and 24 billion completely within the realm of reasonable estimation errors?"
A billion barrels here and a billion barrels there...pretty soon yer talkin' real oil. · Oct 1 at 12:20pm
Here, for once, I would cut the guys from USGS a little bit of slack. It is almost impossible to know what the reserves are until you start drilling (Clarification: until you start pumping/production. The best way to determine reservoir size is production rates and their decrease over time). My boss often says "God alone knows whats down there, and He ain't talkin'."
Edited on Oct 3, 2011 at 7:44am