Oil And Gas Companies Ready Drilling Projects For Newly Melted Arctic
Oil And Gas Companies Ready Drilling Projects For Newly Melted Arctic
Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions is rapidly melting the Arctic. Sea ice coverage this past March “was the lowest in winter since measurements by satellite began in the early 1970s,” and NASA-funded U.S. scientists believe in 30-50 years, “summer sea ice will have vanished from almost the entire Arctic region,” conditions not seen in the area in a million years.
For energy companies, this catastrophe means a “new era of oil and natural gas exploration in the region,” Greenwire reports:
The Arctic region contains a quarter of the world’s remaining oil reserves, experts estimate. It also contains massive natural gas fields in the Barents Sea, including Russia’s huge Shtokman field. “By 2040 or 2050, the Arctic Ocean will be navigable and that will mean significant developments very soon,” said ArcticNet research group head Martin Fortier.
European Environment Agency head Jacqueline McGlade warned that “the region’s opening could lead to another rush like the Klondike gold rush, which ‘could potentially destabilize’ the area and its 10 million indigenous inhabitants.”
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46 Responses to “Oil And Gas Companies Ready Drilling Projects For Newly Melted Arctic”
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Visualize this - Exxon, Mobil, BP management teams sharpening their steely knives, getting ready for the feast…
January 29th, 2007 at 11:12 amThe lunatics are running the asylum.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:14 am…
WHERE ARE OUR ANWR PEOPLE?
This is the time you’re supposed to be screaming, protesting, etc.
Oil companies don’t want to curb global warming - they want to make it worse!
More Global death from climate change = Profit.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:14 amLet me see, global warming is melting the north pole so we let oil and gas companies drill in the newly opened sea areas so we can have more oil and gas to burn and increase global warning.
Whew, that could have only come from Dumbya and Sith Lord Cheney! Oh well….
Texas Juice
January 29th, 2007 at 11:15 amI don’t think they get it. Melting means bad, not good.
Ok so now there are more fossil fuels accessible, to even speed up the already warming climate. Hurry lets melt as much as possible.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:15 amBoy, talk about a positive feedback loop.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:16 amThis maybe one of the best examples of our tax credit dollars at work!!!
January 29th, 2007 at 11:19 amIt is not Global Warming mind you, It is “Global Climate Change”. Says the Chimp.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:21 amOil companies can have their cake and eat it too, huh?
They are claiming climate change doesn’t exist, but are more than willing to profit from its effects - thereby exacerbating the situation.
I wouldn’t be half as disturbed if they weren’t already subsidized to the gills by OUR tax dollars… and if their CEO’s didn’t consistently make 9-digit bonuses (helped by OUR tax dollars)… and they take NO responsibility for any impact they have on people and the environment they ravage… leaving it to us to clean up with OUR tax dollars. To paraphrase Ms. McGlade and her ‘concern’, “Them eskimos are screwed…”
Robber Baron’s are not a thing of the past…
January 29th, 2007 at 11:29 amTruth,
Melting means money — f*ck future generations.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:35 amYesterday, the moment making me shake my head in disgust, was Exxon Mobile advertising during, of course, Meet the Press. I wonder if that will change anytime soon… Meet the Press being the lapdog for the admin that it is…
“Oil companies can have their cake and eat it too, huh?”
Exactly! Amazing, isn’t it?
January 29th, 2007 at 11:38 amZoo,
Better get those sexy thigh high boots out of the closet…… your house may look like it is in Venice REAL soon!
January 29th, 2007 at 11:39 amMelting means money — f*ck future generations.
Comment by Zooey
Those future generations won’t even get a kiss when its over.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:42 amHopefully by then they won’t want to drill, because oil will have no value, thanks to our alternative energy choices we are about to make. But I guess that depends on the people we put into office, doesn’t it?
January 29th, 2007 at 11:48 amBetter get those sexy thigh high boots out of the closet…… your house may look like it is in Venice REAL soon!
Comment by upside00
In Idaho they’re called hip-waders. Hard to find with a stiletto heel… :)
January 29th, 2007 at 11:53 amSince I live at 2600+ feet, ya’ll would be screwed, wouldn’t ya?
With most of the world’s attention focused on Iraq and the War On Terror, the Arctic Circle war is already shaping up to be one of the biggest confrontations we’ll see in our lifetimes.
Unlike the GWoT, the Arctic Circle war will country go against country, as Russia, Canada, the United States, Greenland and their various backers are pitted against one another to control the ‘ice-free’ shipping lanes, and the oil and mineral assets under the thinning ice already described as the 21st century’s New Gold Rush in the business section of (Australian) newspapers.
Once the ice is mostly gone, there will be some 9000 miles of virgin coastline available for settlement.
We’re not going to move to the Moon, or to Mars. But millions of us may well migrate to the New Arctic in the coming decades.
If we can afford it, that is.
Global warming isn’t so bad if you’re planning to live and do business in the Arctic in 15 to 30 years. And there are plenty already looking forward to those future days. In fact, the faster the planet warms and the Arctic ice retreats, the sooner all those untapped oil and mineral deposits can be got at.
So for the major energy and mining corps, it is in their interests to advance the speed of global warming. If you belive in James Bond-like global corporation bad guys, that is.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:56 amThose future generations won’t even get a kiss when its over.
Comment by ForTruth
Just the one-finger wave….
January 29th, 2007 at 11:56 amstill trying to figure out how the romans we growing grapes in britain… before we had a mini ice age… must have been those SUVs… but i understand i would rather freeze than burn…
January 29th, 2007 at 12:06 pmIn Idaho they’re called hip-waders. Hard to find with a stiletto heel… :)
Since I live at 2600+ feet, ya’ll would be screwed, wouldn’t ya? Comment by Zooey
Yea, we have the same problem here, too. Is about 6,000 ft and those stiletto heels suck in the waist deep white stuff. But it is sunny and 30F today!
January 29th, 2007 at 12:10 pmGlobal warming isn’t so bad if you’re planning to live and do business in the Arctic in 15 to 30 years. And there are plenty already looking forward to those future days. In fact, the faster the planet warms and the Arctic ice retreats, the sooner all those untapped oil and mineral deposits can be got at.—– Darryl Mason
The artic ocean sheet if it melts will only make the sea levels rise a few meters, because the ice is already partially displaced in the water. But thats not the whole story, most of the ice is actually on top of the Antartic shelf and on Greenland. If both the shelfs in greenland and antartica melt, it is estimated the sea level will rise at least 80 meters.
80 meters.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:14 pmPhotographic evidence shows both shelfs are melting as rates faster than predicted. It may already be too late to reverse it now.
still trying to figure out how the romans we growing grapes in britain… before we had a mini ice age… must have been those SUVs… but i understand i would rather freeze than burn…
Comment by Joneser
A retrospective analysis published in 2005 showed that the heat wave caused 2139 excess deaths in the UK.
Well better not move to the UK then Joneser you just might burn.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:16 pm#20, so it would be accurate to say either;
January 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pmWe’re in deep shit!
or
We’re in deep, …Shit!
We’ve gotten very good at that “destabalizing” thing, haven’t we?
January 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pm#22, it’s almost as if they’re motto is
January 29th, 2007 at 12:23 pmdestabilizers-R’US…
Although you might laugh, the IPCC calls it Global Climate Change. This is because the local effects are climate change, although the average effect is global warming. To use global climate change indicates to the public that the changes are unpredictable and include local heating and cooling (such as our wonderful local Colorado non-stop cooling this winter, following our lovely above average hot summer and the disappearance of our spring).
January 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm(such as our wonderful local Colorado non-stop cooling this winter, following our lovely above average hot summer and the disappearance of our spring). by Carol
Exactly!! As a fellow Coloradoan and an environmental scientist, it is quite easy to see the changing impacts, and it does go to both extremes.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:35 pmYou don’t need to be an environmental scientist to see it anymore.
In fact, you need to be an obtuse, ignorant butthole to not see it.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:04 pmglobal warming is all a lie made up from the left. these studies and experiments mean absolutly nothing… They’re nothing but hard facts, measurable data and indisputable evidance! Its Crazy!! CRAZY I SAY!
January 29th, 2007 at 1:26 pmIt’s about time we do something to lesson our dependence on foreign oil.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:43 pmA new land rush - full of Ambulance Chasers
January 29th, 2007 at 1:45 pmMust be God’s way of saying He wants us to drill more oil …
January 29th, 2007 at 2:01 pm> Must be God’s way of saying He wants us to drill more oil …
I do rather think that it’s His way of saying I’m going to drill you all a second a**hole in a few moments. You dig?
January 29th, 2007 at 2:12 pmMust be God’s way of saying He wants us to drill more oil …
Comment by Jason M. Hendler — January 29, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
It’s possible.
It is also possible that the flood was God’s way of telling Noah to eat more fish…
January 29th, 2007 at 2:14 pmUrban heat islands anyone? Oh my mistake - those pictures clearly include Reykjavik and Fairbanks - that must be the cause.
“dependence on foreign oil” - all oil is foreign - that’s what globally fungible means.. The system is called the ‘free market’ - perhaps you’ve heard of it.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:54 pmEveryone should see “Inconvenient Truth” it very clearly explains global warming with facts and charts, and photographs.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm#33, Gregor,
Excellent line, I’ll put that one in my back pocket.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:45 pm‘
‘
Ice already in water will lower the overall water level when it melts. Water expands when it freezes and has a larger displacement when solid than when liquid.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:49 pmWell, time to rearrange my investment portfolio…
January 29th, 2007 at 3:52 pmThe good news may be, that the Arabian Peninsula will end up under water, then we won’t have to worry about Iraq so much.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:02 pmThe real issue with the melting is that it feeds the positive loop - white ice reflects more energy, therefore less ice allows the ocean to warm up more…just one factor in the loop. The sea ice will not change the level at all - it is already fully displaced. Its the land-based sheets that are the problem. Oh and don’t miss the methane-heavy Siberian tundra…oh bugger. Kevin Costner - time for a sequel, old son
January 29th, 2007 at 4:03 pmI repeat — see Inconvenient Truth. Land ice - sea ice — the effects on sea level of each melting will blow you away. Less ice, less reflection, more melting.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pmWe actually reduced the hole in the ozone of the past decades, this is more challenging, but it can be done if the will is there.
Drilling is not the answer.
> Ice already in water will lower the overall water level when it melts. > Water expands when it freezes and has a larger displacement when > solid than when liquid.
No-one cares because the problem comes from the ice on the land that’s melting away.
> The good news may be, that the Arabian Peninsula will end up under
> water, then we won’t have to worry about Iraq so much.
Wrong. All the Iraqis will have come to the USA … bearing righteous anger. Muahaha!
And behold a new consenus was born upon humanity and it wasn’t good:
http://environment.newscientist.com/ article/ dn11049-major-climate-change-report-looks-set-to-alarm.html
January 29th, 2007 at 4:31 pmUnles the Discovery Channel likes to make shit up floating ice will also cause problems when it melts. Something about undersea magma chambers that are held in check by the pressure of so much water above them. Reduce the water and kablooey, bye bye Seattle and and just about every pacific rim city. I guess it won’t matter much to the new inhabitants of Oceana North.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:10 pmjg - now that’s a new angle I’ve not heard of. Got a link to start us off?
January 29th, 2007 at 6:48 pmGuess not.
January 30th, 2007 at 12:07 amThis is how capitalism is going to destroy our planet.
January 30th, 2007 at 1:01 pm