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Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S.
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Omega
8/28/2005 3:59 AM
Report abusive post | Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S.
| Quote |
More connect the dots.
Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S.
By LOUISE S. DURHAM
EXPLORER Correspondent
So much to worry about, so little time.
Here´s a whole other reason to toss and turn at night:
Eighteen percent of the entire nation´s energy supply depends on a deteriorating, narrow two-lane road surrounded by water in South Louisiana.
This is the southernmost stretch of Louisiana Highway 1, providing the only land-based access to Port Fourchon, which supports 75 percent of all the deepwater oil and gas production in the Gulf, according to the LA 1 Coalition, comprised of private and public stakeholders intent on saving and improving the roadway.
LINK
The Port also is the site of the booster pumps that carry crude oil from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) to underground salt dome storage areas in Galliano, along Highway 1.
Even on a good day, water laps close to the edges of this vital strip of concrete roadway, which not so long ago was surrounded by marshland. Besides its crucial role in the country´s energy supply, the highway serves as the hurricane evacuation route for residents in southern Lafourche Parish and Grand Isle, as well as 6,000 offshore oil and gas employees.
Today, it´s a sitting target for the next big hurricane, which can strike at any time during the annual June 1 to November 30 season.
"We´re kind of the poster child for the infrastructure component of what´s at stake in the coastal land loss issue," said Ted Falgout, director of Port Fourchon. "Our vulnerability to storms has increased tremendously because of the land loss, and the threat to Louisiana 1 is increasing daily.
"It´s since Hurricane Betsy in ´65 since we had a real large storm with the kind of worse case scenario," he said, "where it was to the west and we took the full brunt of the northeast quadrant.
"But it doesn´t take a big storm anymore," Falgout noted. "When Hurricane Bill, which was just a strong thunderstorm, came through recently, our entire roadway was under water."
More than 10,000 vehicles traverse this highway daily going to and from Port Fourchon. A thousand of these are cargo trucks, delivering material to go to the OCS, according to Falgout.
"Port Fourchon is the support base that provides all the widgets and gadgets and things needed to run the offshore oil fields," he said. "Sticking out into the Gulf as we do presents a huge economic advantage for oil and gas operations there.
"The Port has the latest technology and equipment," he added, "and if we lost it, the companies would operate at a huge inefficiency for a long time until the facilities could be reproduced, which wouldn´t happen overnight."
A Vital Operation
A shut-down has the potential to send shock waves through the national economy.
Some analysts predict lost access to Port Fourchon could choke the nation´s energy supply, sending gasoline prices to $3/gallon. The EIA has said if the Port were to shut down for two weeks or more, gasoline would top $2/gallon.
The Louisiana offshore petroleum industry pumps $5 billion a year into the federal coffers, yet no cost sharing mechanisms are in place to mitigate the impacts this activity has on infrastructure and the environment of the coastal areas that furnish the crucial land-side support services.
"We in Louisiana are proud to be in the oil and gas business, and we do it with little fanfare," Falgout said. "It´s part of the fabric of who we are, but it´s impossible to continue at this level of activity without some type of revenue sharing."
Legislation to rectify this situation via "fair share" offshore revenue sharing was included in the energy bill being drafted earlier this year in Washington (see related story).
Should this legislation be enacted, it is anticipated that some percentage of Louisiana´s fair share would go into a special money pot dedicated to infrastructure because the $14 billion the state intends to request from Congress for coastal restoration programs cannot be tapped for these needs. Instead, those funds will be used solely to achieve a sustainable coastline, which will be 17 miles north of the Port, Falgout noted.
Some of these restoration projects, such as barrier island stabilization, will play a role in helping to save the Port itself. In fact, it can be saved rather cost effectively because it has a source of sediment and sand and can exist as an island, Falgout noted.
Thus far, more than $11 million has been amassed from various sources for Highway 1 needs. A part of these funds went toward the now-completed environmental impact statement for a half-billion-dollar elevated four-lane highway, which more than likely will be a toll road. An effort is under way to acquire a federal loan to start construction in late 2004 on the $100 million Leeville bridge, which is the weakest link between Port Fourchon and Highway 90 to the north.
"I like to say we ought to have a world-class highway, and we do," Falgout said. "It´s just that it´s a third-world-class highway.
"At the end of the day, our port plays a key role in somewhere between 16 and 18 percent of the entire nation´s hydrocarbon supply," he noted. "That´s huge; that´s foreign and domestic.
"There´s no other dot on the map more significant to the nation´s energy supply."
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
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ashesand sackcloth
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Good catch Omega
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Muse
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Amazing. 
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
No worries Katrina´s going to take care of that.. |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
 |
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Rev. Star Gazer
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Damn!
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Wul
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Just another spanner in the works here Omega:
[link to www.commondreams.org]
Published on Saturday, August 27, 2005 by the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Oil´s Peak: The End May Be Nearer, It Seems
Until recently, opinion on the future of world oil supplies was dominated by two views. One group of experts held that production would decline fairly soon, within a couple of decades at most. Another group argued that the crude would keep flowing for generations, thanks to ever-advancing detection and drilling technologies.
Either way, the scenario was for a gradual and orderly transition to fuels of the future. Now a third perspective is gaining both popular attention and professional respect -- the notion that oil´s decline will be sharp and uncontrolled, following a peak that may be more or less at hand.
This "peak oil" theory is neither new -- some geologists think the world has already passed the high point of recoverable reserves -- nor universally accepted. But it is gaining ground as world demand surges, especially in China and India, and as the most important supplier shows signs of strain.
Pretty much everything about Saudi Arabia´s oil reserves and production rates is a state secret. This leaves its customers to rely on promises and assurances that can´t be checked, from officials whose self-interest can´t be ignored.
But one American petroleum expert and industry consultant, Matthew Simmons, sifted through a couple of hundred obscure engineering papers and found clear signs of trouble at Ghawar, the biggest oil field in Saudi Arabia and, so far, the world.
Simmons thinks the Saudis are about to hit their peak production, if they haven´t already. This is horrible news for a global oil economy that is relying on Saudi promises to boost production from 10 million barrels a day currently to 12.5 million by 2009 and then 15 million within several years. And, as an article by Peter Maass in last Sunday´s New York Times Magazine noted, Simmons is not alone in challenging those pledges -- even some in Saudi Arabia have their doubts.
A recently retired top manager in the Saudi oil enterprise told Maass that 15 million barrels a day might not be sustainable, and that U.S. government forecasts of 22.5 million barrels by 2025 can´t possibly be met. Anyway, the Saudi said, the problem isn´t how slowly his countrymen boost production, it´s how quickly consumption is growing. The global appetite has been swelling by at least 2 billion barrels a year, a pace that would require bringing two new Saudi Arabias on line every decade.
Back in Washington, a study commissioned by the U.S. government´s National Energy Technology Laboratory found no reason to "expect that exploration success will dramatically improve in the future." The world is moving into an era in which, experts found, new reserves are more than offset by growing demand -- "one of a number of trends that suggest the world is fast approaching the inevitable peaking of conventional world oil production."
What would that peak be like? Obviously it would be catastrophic if the flow of petroleum products came to a sudden halt, or even if supplies remained steady but prices climbed to double or triple today´s levels. Economies would stagger; some would collapse. Famines and mass migrations would ensue. Wars have been fought over much less.
Because it´s the nature of oil fields to go into steep declines after reaching their peak, this clearly is not a problem that can be solved -- or perhaps even postponed -- by drilling new wells. Sooner or later, the United States and every other industrial nation will have to make the switch from oil to renewable alternatives. The advantage will belong to those who act soonest to develop the fuels and technologies of the future.
Just now, the sky-high gas prices are making biofuels more competitive. But even if they were to recede tomorrow to the levels of the early 1990s, there would still be cause for the U.S. government, U.S. companies and U.S. citizens to invest far more aggressively in the necessities of a post-petroleum era -- which may be arriving sooner than we like to think.
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Good one Wul, and I concur.
Omega
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Wul
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
We are so close to the abyss I can almost smell it, yet the MSM reports none of this and the sheep are kept asleep...
Oh what a rude awakening there will be!
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Yep, man if this thing hits New Orleans direct it could kill a couple hundred thousand people. In addition, people are waiting until the last minute to leave, the storm has increased forward movement by 3mph.
Worst thing that could happen to you is get caught out in a car in a Cat 5 storm. You are DEAD.
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Wul
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
I suppose I am lucky that weather as extreme as the southern USA states sees never occurs in SW Scotland!
We are a green and wet country!
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Wow Wul,Scotland is way cool. Never been, but have seen pictures.
I understand the women can be a....handful, LOL.
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Wul
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Yeah my wife is as extreme as your weather and as changeable!
Sorry hen, just kidding.....
ouch...
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Thanks Trinity, was wondering if you saw this.
If it hits New Orleans and takes out this highway look for a stock market crash and gas at 4 bucks a gallon almost immediately.
No joke people. .
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
not only that it could turn the gulf of mexico black with oil |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
for want of a highway, a nation was lost... |
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sean(UK)
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
The chances are the market will react before the disaster. It is Sunday 5pm in UK now. I expect the market to slide as soon as it is open monday morning. They know what might happen and they are not going to wait for it before reacting.
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
The mayor of New Orleans just stated on Msnbc that if this storm knocks out thier oil port facility Trinity mentioned it will result in an immediate 2 dollar a gallon increase in gas!!!!
Than he tried to back out and said "but I don´t want to speculate"!
Too late to back up now fool!!!!!
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
^TrInItY^
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
good find omega
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Omega
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
I hear Bush is fixin´ to have a news conference on this storm. Lets see what the village idiot has to say.....
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
^TrInItY^
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
yea like
gee sorry I sent the entire national gaurd to iraq to die...
no one is here to help!
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
This is going to be HORRIBLE |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
well, first and foremost i am not a fearmonger and very little concerns me, it takes alot to get me worked up. well needless to say i am worried, i think this may be the straw that breaks the camels back. i sit and think of all the things we need that come from or go through this area,lp comes through, natural gas, and a list of other chemicals for industry, and the thought that this area could be shut down for a week (at the least)would have devastateing effects to the US. i´m scared, and i have a very bad feeling about this in regard to the future of the US. sadly i also feel there will be a lot of lives lost, why did they wait so long to impose a mandatory evacuation order? what about the people who cannot leave? put them in the superdome, which will be underwater to a point? can the superdome survive two hundred mph? this sucks and it depresses the hell out of me. |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Katrina, it is safe to say, will go down in the history books. There is no question of death and destruction. I sympathize with the Brits´ introspection. Once the reigns of oil can no longer be held, alternative forms of energy will come out. Isn´t the conspiracy on the oil companies squashing any forms of "free energy"? I´m sorry but I believe that Moray and Tesla and others knew what they were doing. I´m not for rich executive´s in government profiting from blood money; let the mother slap her child.
BTW, I´m at the point to where I´m ready to join a militia and do a little pig hunting... |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
or maybe it will fizzle out into nothing... |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Is HARRP Active?
CHECK THE FREQUENCY |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Is the port of entry for Venezuelan oil Port Fouchon or Houston? |
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Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | |
Yep
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | |
Dr. Bill
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
RE: Bio Fuel Alternatives....
Gee excuse me guys but aren´t farmers dependent on petro-chemicals to raise their crops in the first place?
Say no oil means no fertalizer which means no corn, which means no biomass and no alcohol to replace the the gas they don´t have anyway.
Handguns are a skill; shotguns an art; rifles a science.
_____________________________________
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner.
Disarmament is the precursor to Genocide.
Better to take action now rather than chances later. Your choice. |
|
Anonymous Coward
12/8/2005 10:09 AM | | Re: Louisiana Oil Artery Clog Could Impact U.S. | Quote |
Louisiana Man
Bobbie Gentry
(Doug Kershaw)
At first Mom and Poppa called the little girl a lady
They raised her on the banks of a river bed
A house boat tied to a big tall tree
A home for my poppa and my momma and me
The clock strikes three Poppa jumps to his feet
Already Moma´s cookin´ Poppa somethin´ to eat
At half past Poppa he´s a ready to go, he jumps in his pirogue headed down the bayou
He´s got fishin´ line strung across the ´Lousiana River
Got to catch a big fish for us to eat
He´s settin´ his traps catchin´ anything he can
Gotta make a livin´ he´s a ´Lousiana man,gotta make a livin´ he´s a ´Lousiana man
Muskrat hides hangin´ by the dozen, even got a little bitty muskrat cousin
Got ´em out dryin´ in the hot hot sun, tomorrow Poppa´s gone turn em into money
They call Moma Rita and my Daddy Jack,my little baby
brother on the floor that´s Mac,Rhett and Lynn are the family twins, big brother Eddie´s on the bayou fishin´
On the river floats Poppa´s great big boat
That´s how me and Poppa get in to town
It takes every bit of a night and day to even reach a place where the people stay
Oh I can hardly wait until tomorrow comes around
That´s the day my Poppa takes the furs to town
Poppa done promised me that I could go
He´d even let me see a cowboy show
I saw the cowboys and Indians for the first time then
I told my Poppa "gotta go again" but Poppa says"Hon we got lines to run,we´ll have to come again,cause theres work to be done"
He´s got fishin´ line strung across the ´Lousiana River
Got a catch a big fish for us to eat
He´s settin´ his traps catchin´ anything he can
Gotta make a livin´ he´s a´ Lousiana man
Gotta make a livin´ he´s a´ Lousiana man-an |
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