Arnaudville Guest Houses Are Lovingly Restored and Incredibly Inviting

Arnaudville is a small community in St. Landry and St. Martin parishes on historic Bayou Teche and some pretty cool things are happening there.

A favorite stop of ours when traveling through the southern part of our state is Bayou Teche Brewing on La. Hwy 31. Besides the fabulous beer and tasty wood-fired pizza, you meet the most interesting and friendly people there.  On our most recent trip we met a guy from Florida who was in town working for developer Tony Adrian at Les Deux Mondes guest houses.

It was an odd coincidence because we had spotted the colorful cottages a few days before and been curious about them, and now, here was this fellow ready to tell us all about them. A couple of days later we had the chance to meet Tony and tour three of the cottages and now we can't wait to return and stay for a few days. In fact, I'm rather obsessed with the idea.

Tony Adrian is an energetic and enterprising craftsman; a former nurse, he now is co-owner and developer in the renovation of seven formerly dilapidated homes on Front Street in Arnaudville. The houses all date prior to 1920s and he was eager to show them to us.

The pastel cottages actually face Bayou Teche and while all of them are not complete yet, the three we saw were ready for occupancy while another is the current residence for the ULL student who does the landscaping and gardening.

Just a few years ago the property was a trash dump and eyesore and neighbors were a little nervous when Tony started moving in more dilapidated houses, but after he removed several dump trucks full of trash, fixed up the houses, and planted some flowers, tensions eased.

The cottages we walked through had gorgeous cypress tables and red oak counter tops, fully updated kitchens and bathrooms, stunning pine plank flooring, and simple, tasteful decor.

The walls feature original art from Nunu Art Collective in Arnaudville. Tony pointed out that he used milk paint made on site on the walls, "no latex paint," he said, shaking his head.

He has built spacious porches facing the bayou for each one. 

"Houses used to front the bayou," he explained. "The street side was the back door, so that's what we did."

You can walk across the street to Russell's and pick up your groceries or a plate lunch; you can spend the afternoon in a hammock just watching the bayou, or you can go down to the brewery for pizza and conversation.  You can even put a kayak in the bayou and explore the historic Bayou Teche.

"Have you ever had loquat?" Tony asked me as we walked around to the street side of the houses; he pointed to a tree filled with pale orange fruit. He plucked one from the tree, bent forward, and bit in, juice dripping everywhere. "You might need a bath when you get through!" he laughed.   The gardens along the cottages are filled with lovingly tended blooming plants, natural grasses, fruit trees, and vegetable plants.  Amber was setting out tomato plants when we were there.

Tony is all about conservation and preservation so he uses natural and local materials when he can; the rooms are all inviting and filled with natural light. He has updated all of the plumbing and electricity.

Some of the cottages are single occupancy while others are duplexes with a shared porch.

The cottages are listed on Air BnB, if you're interested in a stay. I plan to try them all!  In fact, I'm hoping maybe I can talk Tony into selling me one someday, but I doubt he'd be game for that. I get the impression this is a project of love for him.



Further Reading:
Arnaudville Guest House Project Targets Tourists, Artists (Acadiana Advocate, 9/10/14)
Les Deux Mondes Project Grows in Arnaudville (Daily World, 8/23/14)
Waterfront Cajun Creole Cottage on Bayou Teche - 4 Guests (Air BnB)
Waterfront Cajun Creole Cottage on Bayou Teche - 7 Guests (Air BnB)

Louisiana's Vanishing Coast

"...like disintegrating lace..."

That's how the authors of the NOLA series on Louisiana's vanishing coast describe what's left of the land and marsh that make up our southern parishes.

I've been searching for reliable sources to read so I can learn more about this subject and this NOLA series, partnered with the New York Times, is my starting point. In a series of articles the authors introduce us to various communities and people in south Louisiana who are watching not only their land but also their homes and their culture and way of life disappear.

It's heartbreaking and from this early stage of my reading it doesn't appear there are any clear answers.  It doesn't appear that any amount of money thrown at this problem will be able to solve it.

The series of articles point fingers at a number of culprits: rising sea levels due to climate change, a series of destructive storms, oil companies who built and widened canals but never repaired them when they left, the construction of levees to control the Mississippi, and even plagues of insects and rodents who destroy vegetation.

This article about the community of Jean Lafitte, located just south of New Orleans, chronicles the efforts of the mayor, Timmy Kerner, who has adopted the strategy of improving his community to the point that it would be more economically feasible to save it from erosion than to let it go:

His strategy was to secure so much public investment for Jean Lafitte that it would eventually become too valuable to abandon. In a decade, he had built a 1,300-seat auditorium, a library, a wetlands museum, a civic center and a baseball park. Jean Lafitte did not have a stoplight, but it had a senior center, a medical clinic, an art gallery, a boxing club, a nature trail and a visitor center where animatronic puppets acted out the story of its privateer namesake.  

Some of the facilities had been used sparingly, and many at the grand opening questioned whether the seafood pavilion would be much different. To the mayor that was largely beside the point. What mattered was that the structure existed, that its poured concrete and steel beams made Lafitte that much more permanent. "Do we lose that investment, or do we protect it?" Kerner asked...

The authors, Kevin Sack and John Schwartz, point out that a fourth of our wetlands are already gone and in fifty years 2,000 square miles could also go.  In human terms:

The Gulf Restoration Network, a nonprofit conservation group, calculates that there are 358,000 people and 116,000 houses in Louisiana census tracts that would be swamped in the surge of a catastrophic hurricane by 2062. The Geological Survey predicts that in 200 years the state's wetlands could be gone altogether.

As Sack and Schwartz report it, the community of Jean Lafitte and everything else south of that New Orleans levee has basically been abandoned to the elements with the Corps of Engineers advocating relocation of the people.  But that's not to say that nobody is trying to solve the problem. There are lots of committees, levee boards, ecologists, politicians, environmentalists, and other experts working to find and agree on solutions.  And then there is the ever present problem of funding.

There are so many factors at play in this issue. This NOLA series is a great place to start learning about it, which is what I'm trying to do.

After you read about the community of Jean Lafitte, be sure you read this article about the Leeville community on Bayou Lafourche and the cemeteries that are washing out to sea.  It's heartbreaking.

While there are plenty of problems in Louisiana and we've long been known for our  notorious politicians and various aspects of corruption, (and tell me where, please, will you NOT find that?) this is one issue on which we should all be united.  Whether you believe in global warming or climate change or not, whether you believe this land loss is due to greedy oil companies and their negligence, or whether you believe it's just a natural course of events, what we all need to remember is that this is our state: our culture, our way of life.

There are few places more beautiful in my mind than south Louisiana. The swamps, the bayous, the people and their way of life, is unlike anywhere else.  How can we let this go?

There has got to be a way to restore and preserve our coastline and our state.

If you have a good source or recommendation for further reading on this, please share with me in the comments!

Further Reading:
Insects Feast on Louisiana's Coast (NOLA: Feb. 2018)
Buried at Sea: As cemeteries on Louisiana coast wash away, so does history (NOLA: March 2018)
Our Drowning Coast (NOLA: Feb. 2018)
Why the Master Plan will not Protect Louisiana (LSU Law Center: Feb. 2017)

Next Black Market Item: Light Bulbs

Tomorrow marks the end of the incandescent bulb.

Jan. 1. marks the end of a seven-year effort to outlaw the ordinary lightbulb, thanks to a 2007 law that raised minimum efficiency standards for traditional incandescent bulbs far beyond what the technology can manage. 

It’s lights out for the traditional light bulb, in other words, which was essentially killed by that bill. 

“The government started phasing out incandescents in 2010, starting with the 100-watt bulb, and then followed by the 75-watt,” explained Melissa Andresko, communications director for lighting-automation company Lutron. 

“Come January 1, both the 60- and the 40-watt bulbs are going away. And that’s really going to have the most impact on consumers because those are the most popular incandescent bulb types right now,” she told FoxNews.com earlier this month.

Because we all want the federal government telling us what kind of light bulbs we can use, right?  Freaking nanny state.  The Heritage Foundation:

The “so what” is that the federal government is taking decisions out of the hands of families and businesses, destroying jobs, and restricting consumer choice in the market. We all have a wide variety of preferences regarding light bulbs. It is not the role of the federal government to override those preferences with what it believes is in our best interest.

It's not too late to stock up on bulbs.

Graphic via Heritage Foundation

Get Ready for Higher Gas Prices

Get ready to dig a little deeper; via Heritage:

The EPA’s new Tier 3 regulations require a reduction in the amount of sulfur in gasoline to an average of 10 parts per million (ppm) by January 2017, down 70 percent from the current average of 30ppm today. The new regulation is similar to those standards of California, Japan, and South Korea. 

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute found that reducing sulfur to 10ppm will increase gas prices 6 cents to 9 cents per gallon—although the study does not specifically analyze the newly proposed EPA regulation. The analysis also mentions that if the EPA proposes an additional vapor reduction regulation, that cost increase will skyrocket to 25 cents per gallon.

The environmental impact is expected to be negligible.

The best part:

Because refineries operate on such thin margins already, implementation of these regulations could result in a number of refinery closures. Such closures could squeeze supply chains and further increase the price of gas.

EPA unhinged.  Just in time for summer.

Governor Jindal Has Some National Energy Suggestions for Obama

In his weekly address, Obama attempted to perpetuate the myth that he is trying to bring down gas prices and make your life easier:

“I’m going to keep doing everything I can to help you save money on gas, both right now and in the future,” Obama said. “I hope politicians from both sides of the aisle join me.”

He myopically says "we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices," leaving the impression that his pet green energy projects are our only answer; that and to quit using so much oil.

If he is sincere in reaching across the aisle to lower energy prices he might take a look at Governor Jindal's suggestions for a clear national energy policy.

In Monday's Wall Street Journal, Jindal outlines an energy policy driven by opening drilling fields, a more rational tax code, and reversing "a series of cabinet-level decisions that are at odds with a strategy of affordable domestic energy production." 

Governor Jindal refers to Steven Chu, for example, who advocated raising gasoline prices to European levels.

Additionally, Jindal calls for Obama to approve the Keystone pipeline:

Finally, the president should announce today that he's going to reverse his decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline would produce 20,000 construction jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs, and it would provide a much-needed transportation line between oil refineries along our Gulf Coast and production facilities in Canada, not to mention the booming Bakken oil fields of Montana and North Dakota. Our friends to the north have been reliable and steadfast trading partners, and the president should be making this pipeline decision on policy grounds instead of cheap political appeals to his liberal base.

While Obama would like to have us believe he is trying to lower gas prices and claims that drilling is at an all time high, Jindal disagrees:

While the president is quick to tell anyone who will listen that domestic oil production is higher today than at any time since 2003, that's not the whole story. The truth is that today's production levels are not based on anything this president has done, but on the decisions made by private companies before he took office. And much of this production is taking place on private land.

Even Mary Landrieu understands this.  Obama's claim is disingenuous. 

Jindal spoke about this last month in attempting to explain the slow permitting process in the Gulf.   Permits are still lagging and people down south are hurting. 

It's clear there is much this president could do to lower energy prices and in turn boost the American economy yet instead he has opted to prop up failing green energy companies, threaten us with cap and trade, and use increasingly stringent EPA regulations to shut down coal power plants. 

That's not a national energy policy; that's an economy crippling plan sure to drive investors away and put the burden on the average American consumer.

How Long Before the EnviroWackos Come Out on This One?

Not long at all, actually, as indicated in the comments following the article.

Plans to construct a $220 million pipeline that will transport gasoline and diesel from the Valero St. Charles Refinery in Norco to a pipeline hub 139 miles away in Mississippi are on track to begin this summer, company officials said last week. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a Houston pipeline transportation and energy storage company that has about 550 employees in Louisiana, announced last September that it would build and operate the pipeline in a joint venture with Valero Energy Corp.

The proposed pipeline will cross Lake Pontchartrain which is making some people nervous. 

And anytime you say "wetlands" people get nervous:

The pipeline, expected to be in service by 2013, will have an initial capacity of 110,000 barrels per day, with the ability to expand to more than 200,000 barrels per day. The anticipated impact in the Louisiana coastal zone, a 5.3 million-acre area that includes 40 percent of the nation's coastal wetlands, involves the excavation of about 24 acres of wetlands and uplands and 38 acres of water bottoms.

I guess Darryl Hannah will appear any time now.

Maybe we'll get lucky and the libs won't hear about this one.

Gas Prices Are Rising and Obama is Sticking With Solar

In a speech last week at a New Hampshire community college, Obama called for an end to subsidies for oil companies:

“You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.” 

Wow.

I bet that makes folks down on the Gulf coast feel all nice and fuzzy.

While I've never been a big fan of Senator Mary Landrieu, she does at least understand the problems down on the Gulf with regard to drilling and the Obama moratorium (via Hot Air):

I want to say that, despite the Administration’s arguments that are laid out, that you all are all guns blaring and green lights for drilling, the facts that I checked, and if you disagree tell me, only 21 permits for offshore drilling have been issued by this date. In 2010 there were 32 permits. I just left the annual conference of LOGA, which is Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, Mr. Secretary, yesterday. They are beside themselves with not being able to get their permits processed and to answer you, Mr. Franken, let me just say Exxon and Shell may be making record profits but according to a study recently done by the Greater New Orleans, Inc., 41% of our oil and gas independent operators and service companies, I’m not talking about Exxon and Shell that have operations all over the world, I’m talking about companies in the Gulf Coast, in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Let me tell you what the studies show about their profits: 41% of them are not making a profit at all, 70% have lost significant cash reserves, 46 have moved operations away from the Gulf, and 82% of business owners have lost personal savings as a result of this slow down.

There's more at the link, including video, but suffice to say that the folks down south are hurting.   I guess it is their misfortune that they are sitting on millions of gallons of oil rather than having the foresight to open a solar panel company, get a loan from the government, and go broke that way.

Either way, they lose.

With an end to subsidies, your price at the pump will necessarily go up:

The CRS [Congressional Research Service] says there are two ways of looking at the impact of the tax increases: 1) They will increase gasoline prices and dependence on foreign oil; or 2) They will and should increase gasoline prices, because gasoline is “artificially inexpensive.”

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) gave the GOP response today with a focus on energy exploration:

“Though the president now claims to support ‘all-of-the-above,’ he has consistently blocked American energy production, most recently by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to that, he has restricted drilling in offshore areas while encouraging other countries, including Brazil, to expand their own exploration. And while the president says oil production alone can’t solve our problems, his administration has proposed costly regulations that would hurt the supply of other domestic sources. Instead of placing his bet on American-made energy and the workers who produce it, President Obama has wasted taxpayer dollars on Solyndra and other unproven technologies.

But, Obama's plan is to stick with solar.   We'll see how that works out for him.  I mean, the last time I checked, my car ran on gasoline.

I guess I could always get a Volt.  Or maybe not.

The Keystone Kops Would Run America's Energy Policy Better Than Obama

There's been much written in the past few days about Obama's disastrous Keystone decision.  There is little doubt that Obama is simply punting on this decision and attempting to appeal to his environmental base.  The thing you need to know about the Keystone decision is that the environmental threat doesn't exist and that Obama's own DOS cleared the way for it to go forward.

Jonah Goldberg:

The environmentalists to which Obama is pandering have an understandable, if at times irrational, fear of oil spills and a religious faith in the dangers of global warming. The only problem is that blocking the pipeline will, if anything, increase the likelihood of oil spills because Canada will still bring the oil to market.

The project has been studied for three years (much longer than the Solyndra bailout took) and to be sure would not be a project that creates new pipeline over virgin territory:

The Keystone pipeline had already been essentially cleared by environmental bureaucrats. Adding the pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf wouldn’t scar some pristine wilderness; it would be more like adding just one more string to a spider web, given how many pipelines already crisscross the region.

Take a good look at this map that shows all the pipelines running through the Ogallala Aquifer.

That's some 21,000 miles of pipeline there.  Jonah Goldberg again:

Opponents say it would threaten the groundwater in Nebraska, where some 21,000 miles of pipeline already exist. But, as the American Enterprise Institute’s Kenneth Green notes, any spilled oil would have to flow uphill to reach the Ogallala Aquifer.

So you've got three things going on here that are all now debunked.

The first is that the big evil Republicans imposed an arbitrary deadline on the president forcing him to decide prematurely.  Bunk:

The President’s claim that the State Department needs even more information before it can make a sound decision is equally ridiculous. State didn’t start reviewing the project last month when Congress set a sixty day deadline on making a decision. The review process has been going on for over three years now. The State Department has studied thousands of pages of detailed reports, data, maps and studies, and his issued thousands of pages of its own reports, including a massive eight volume environmental impact statement.

The President wants the public to believe that Congress imposed an arbitrary, impossibly short deadline on it. In fact, what Congress did was force the administration to end the years of dithering and an actual decision for a change. The President had more than enough information to make the right decision, but – sadly and all too predictably – he choose to appease the environmental fringe once more.

The second fallacy is that this pipeline would cross virgin territory and threaten previously unspoiled ground.  Bunk. Look at the maps.

The third fallacy is that the administration needs more time and information.  Bunk again.  Obama's own State Department has already cleared the way for the pipeline to go forward:

DOS studied a number of alternative routes to minimize or completely avoid the pipeline crossing over Sand Hills. The department worked with the Bureau of Land Management and state agencies where the pipeline passes through and made more than 340 minor realignments to the pipeline route.

There is absolutely no reason to delay the entire project when DOS explicitly signed off on additional route variations that could occur throughout the construction process.

Clearly it is Obama, and not the Republicans, who are making this decision a political one.  In fact, Obama phoned Prime Minister Stephen Harper to explain that the merits of the project were not the issue but that the evil Republicans are:

Obama called Prime Minister Stephen Harper to explain that the decision on Wednesday was not on the merits of the pipeline but rather on the “arbitrary nature” of a Feb. 21 deadline set by Republican legislators as part of a tax measure he signed, Harper’s office said.

Canada will grow weary of Obama's shenanigans and turn to China:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a telephone call yesterday, told Obama “Canada will continue to work to diversify its energy exports,” according to details provided by Harper’s office. Canadian Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver said relying less on the U.S. would help strengthen the country’s “financial security.”

The “decision by the Obama administration underlines the importance of diversifying and expanding our markets, including the growing Asian market,” Oliver told reporters in Ottawa.

Why not?  Brazil already has:

Less than a month after President Obama visited Brazil in March to make a pitch for oil, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was off to Beijing to sign oil contracts with two huge state-owned Chinese companies.

The deals are part of a growing oil relationship between the two countries that, thanks to a series of billion-dollar agreements, is giving China greater influence over Brazil’s oil frontier.

Obama has made it perfectly clear that he's not interested in developing United States energy reserves.

Mark Whittington:

Obama's policy in regard to oil and gas has been a study in incompetence driven by an ideological mania against hydrocarbon fuel in favor of more politically correct forms of energy production. This has not only led to what amounts to a campaign against oil and gas production in the U.S., but embarrassing scandals such as Solyndra, brought on by unwise federal loan guarantees to dubious green energy companies. 

This is occurring at a time when Iran is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the world's oil passes from Persian Gulf fields. The very threat has led to a spike in the price of oil and of gasoline. 

Between shutting down the industry in the Gulf of Mexico for months, killing hundreds of jobs and auxiliary small businesses that go along with that, and now the Keystone decision, it's clear that Obama would rather tilt at windmills and solar panels.

So now we don't get Canada's oil, we don't get Brazil's oil, and we're stymied at nearly every turn in trying to get to our own oil  (When's the last time you saw a rig in ANWR?).

Unbelievable.

(Photo/Map credit:  PennWell MAPSearch)

2012 Doesn't Look So Bright After All

As January 2012 rolls in the incandescent light bulb begins to fade away.

The Energy Independence and Security Act - signed into law under president George W. Bush in 2007 - requires light bulbs to use at least 25 percent less energy and that friend endangers the good old-fashioned incandescent bulb.

Here’s the good news: those bulbs don't disappear immediately because the law unfolds in phases.  But starting Sunday - the traditional 100-watt bulb will no longer be manufactured in this country.  The next to go is the 75 watt bulb next January... And in 2014 we'll be saying goodbye to the 40 and 60 watt versions.

It doesn't exactly speak well of the Republicans that they couldn't even save the light bulb.

The squirrely, curly CFL light bulbs, as we all know by now, practically require a hazmat team to come in when you break one:

• Have people and pets leave the room.
• Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment. 
• Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.
• Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb: 
  • stiff paper or cardboard;
  • sticky tape;
  • damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and
  • a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable plastic bag.

Once you've cleaned up the mess (don't use the vacuum!), sealed it and placed it outdoors, you should continue to air out the house for several hours and leave the heat or a/c off.

Look, incandescent bulbs are inexpensive, provide nice light, and can even be a heat source, thus potentially reducing heating bills.  But the bottom line is the total nanny-state-ness of the government, Republican or Democratic, telling me what kind of light bulb I can use, well, it's just intolerable.

And in case we're all too stupid to figure the light bulb situation out, some greenie has even developed an app to help us out:

View bulb images, cost, savings, and environmental impact.  Create shopping lists, and buy bulbs directly through the app or at local stores.

If you haven't planned ahead and stocked up on incandescent bulbs, there is still time.  Stores will be allowed to sell them until supplies run out.  Home Depot and Lowes are reported to have plenty at the moment, and there's always Amazon.

As for me, I've been stockpiling 100 watt bulbs for a couple of years. I'm not likely to ever run out unless I open a black market operation.  I hate the CFLs and am not a big fan of the LEDs.

I guess we could just go back to candles and do away with all of them.  But then, it wouldn't be too long before liberals found something wrong with that, too.

Obama to Oil Companies: Don't Bother!

In yet another move pandering to environmentalists, the Obama administration has delayed shale drilling in the Utica & Marcellus shale formation in the Ohio area.  This follows right behind his announcement to delay decision on the Keystone pipeline last week.  His new slogan, "We Can't Wait!" means only "We CAN Wait Until After Elections!" 

Shale drilling is booming around the Shreveport-Bossier area with the discovery of the Haynesville Shale a few years ago.  Take a drive down south from Shreveport on Highway 1 or Highway 71, among others, and you'll see gas production every where you turn.

Chesapeake Energy, one of the major Haynesville Shale developers, describes hydraulic fracturing:

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, is a proven technological advancement which allows producers to safely recover natural gas and oil from deep shale formations. This technology has the potential to not only dramatically reduce our reliance on foreign fuel imports, but also to significantly reduce our national carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and accelerate our transition to a carbon-light environment. Simply put, deep shale gas and oil formation development is critical to America's energy needs and economic renewal.

Chesapeake is also involved in working wells in the Marcellus shale area.

Here's a YouTube video on how fracking works.

The concern of environmentalists to fracking is the chemicals used in the process:

Shale gas production involves drilling deep wells and one or more horizontal shafts from each vertical well. By pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under pressure into the horizontal borings, producers fracture the shale, releasing the gas and oil, which is then produced through the vertical well. 

Environmentalists criticize the technology, arguing that the risk of methane infiltrating underground water reservoirs must be figured out before the big energy corporations run rough-shod through the state.  Ken Salazar's statement of concern is here.

One concern of environmentalists is that methane would leak into water wells.  Chesapeake disputes this claim in a Marcellus Hydraulic Fracturing Fact Sheet on their website:

The measures required by state regulatory agencies in the
exploration and production of deep shale natural gas and oil
formations have been very effective in protecting drinking
water aquifers from contamination attributable to fracking.
Based on reviews of state oil and gas agencies, there has not
been a documented case of drinking water aquifer
contamination related to the fracking of a deep shale natural
gas or oil well.

Chesapeake is not the only oil and gas company working the Marcellus shale, but they have gone to great lengths to reassure and inform on their process to the extent of even forming a GreenFrac program:

Despite being successfully used by the oil and natural gas industry since the 1940s, fracking continues to draw attention due to concerns over the contents of frack fluids and potential contamination of groundwater, despite the fact that there is virtually no risk that the mixture can escape from the targeted zone. Most of the chemicals used in fracking can be found in common, everyday household products such as laundry detergents, cleaners and beauty products. Some are even present in food and beverage items. While some additives have historically been classified as toxic, many, such as pH-adjusting agents and chlorine-based sanitization aides, are found in approximately the same concentration as in your backyard swimming pool.

The research abounds.

The bottom line is that fracking is a procedure that has been around for decades.  And it would not matter HOW the oil was collected, the environmentalists would not be pleased.  Most of them won't be pleased until we're back to horse and buggy transportation and using windmills to power our electric cars.

This latest move by Obama is simple pandering and should be seen for what it is.

Note:  It was reported that this delay would cost over 200,000 jobs but the actual number is actually up to 200 jobs, according to an "adjustment" by the USDA.  Even still, the point remains that it's a pandering move meant to appease a portion of his base and 200 jobs is still 200 jobs.

The bigger picture is that the message has been heard by future developers.  This administration will thwart you at every turn.  Don't bother trying to get your permits, your pipelines, your leases.

We Can't Wait!, Or.... Can We?

In caving to environmentalists and political appeasement, Obama not only lost an estimated 20,000 jobs but now the Prime Minister of Canada has a different plan for his oil:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Sunday that he was looking at exporting more oil to China after the United States delayed a decision on a controversial pipeline.

In a clearly political move, Obama has "kicked the can down the road," as they say, and hopes that he can at least get the green vote next year.

Apparently adding jobs and energy stability to America isn't part of his "We Can't Wait" campaign.

Coming Up: Rolling Blackouts

Drudge is all afire over the coming rolling blackouts that will likely happen as a result of Obama's pledge to bankrupt the coal fired power plants.

Man, he said out loud what he was going to do and people voted for him anyway.  Nobody that voted for Obama has the right to utter one single solitary complaint when their electricity cuts off for several hours.  When it's 108 outside and it's your turn for your power shut down, just sit there and chant "Yes, we can...." over and over.  Hope 'n change, baby.

Funny.  Wikipedia defines "rolling blackouts" this way:

Rolling blackouts are a common or even a normal daily event in many developing countries where electricity generation capacity is underfunded or infrastructure is poorly managed. Rolling blackouts in developed countries are rare because demand is accurately forecasted, adequate infrastructure investment is scheduled and networks are well managed; such events are considered an unacceptable failure to plan and can cause significant political damage to responsible governments. In well managed under-capacity systems blackouts are scheduled in advance and advertised to allow people to work around them but in most cases they happen without warning, typically whenever the transmission frequency falls below the 'safe' limit. Due to the shortage of electricity, load shedding is extremely common in India.

We are now a "developing country."

And when you do have power it will cost you more.

The state of Texas is not a bit happy about the impending blackouts (emphasis mine):

The critical importance of electric generation adequacy was brought home as the Texas PUC was finalizing these comments. On August 2 and 3, 2011, temperatures across most of Texas ranged from 105 to 111 degrees. Because of the unseasonably hot weather, the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) region of Texas set a new peak demand record of 68,294 MW, blowing through the 2010 record of 65,776 MW. Although ERCOT avoided the need for rolling outages because of its current electric reserves, the ERCOT grid operated very close to its capacity. It is clear that, had the EPA rules discussed in these comments been in effect, Texans would have experienced rolling outages and the risk of massive load curtailment. Our modern economy depends upon a reliable source of electricity, and outages, rolling or otherwise, cost Texans millions of dollars.

How are the elderly and infirm supposed to deal with rolling blackouts in 110 degree heat?

Hell, we had a transformer blow up in one of our suburbs recently and the repair time was initially estimated at 12 hours.  People began freaking out and demanding the the city open "cooling centers" and that they be allowed to take their pets along.

Ezra Klein links to a report which says this is all much ado about nothing.  Yes, he says, many coal power plants will shut down, but hey, they were archaic anyway!  No big deal!

The Congressional Research Service concedes that retrofitting these plants will be expensive and your energy bills will be higher but you'll benefit in the end with robust good health!

We are now living in a nanny-state third world country.  Stock up on generators and batteries.

Power Grids are Strained, Coal Plants Looking at Closure, Energy Costs to Soar, and Obama Wants Four More Years

Just because cap and trade never made it out of the Senate is no reason to think that Obama would drop his plans to bankrupt the coal industry and continue to push us toward green energy sources that don't yet exist.  We've got cap and trade by fiat now through the EPA.

The EPA came out a couple of weeks ago with the new guidelines and standards for coal fired power plants. 

As I noted at the time, Texas immediately recognized this for the problem that it is:

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, though, believes the rules "will result in significant increases in the cost of power as well as curtailment or shutdowns of existing coal-fired plants in Texas."   It said other sources of electricity will not compensate for that, especially given the January compliance date.

Jazz Shaw, writing at Hot Air, followed up on this with a post yesterday:

When these rules go into effect, a significant number of coal plants are either going to shut down – long term or permanently – and/or have to raise their utility rates dramatically to pay for these renovations which were sprung on them with virtually no notice. Other options include importing more electricity from out of state, but that again drives up costs and puts additional strain on the delivery infrastructure.

The mind jumps at first to all the jobs that will be "unexpectedly" lost when this all kicks in.  And then, if you live in Texas, you have to think about the exorbitant energy costs headed your way.

And what to make of the current heat wave?  Power grids are already strained across the country.  As Tina noted in the comments at my original post, Texas has its own power grid.  But, these new EPA rules, (i.e.: Cap and Trade by fiat) will strain that immeasurably.  Jazz Shaw points to this statement by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (emphasis is mine):

ERCOT’s May11 report to the Public Utility Commission on the impact of the proposed environmental regulations did not address the impact of SO2 restrictions on coal plants in ERCOT because these restrictions on Texas were not included as part of the EPA’s earlier rule proposal.  We have not had time to fully analyze the entire 1,323-page Cross-State Rule released July 7 or to communicate with the generation owners regarding what their intentions will be.  However, initial implications are that the SO2 requirements for Texas added at the last stage of the rule development will have a significant impact on coal generation, which provided 40 percent of the electricity consumed in ERCOT in 2010.

In other words, these regulations were not something Texas saw coming and nobody has had time to prepare for them.  These regulations take effect early next year:

Our concern is that the timing of the new requirements – effective Jan. 1, 2012 – is unreasonable because it does not allow enough time to implement operational responses to ensure reliability.  We fear that many of the coal plants in ERCOT will be forced to limit or shut down operations in order to maintain compliance with the new rule, possibly leading to inadequate operating reserve margins with insufficient time to reliably retrofit existing generation or build new, replacement generation.  

What are people in Texas supposed to do?  Install windmills?  Solar panels? 

Texas Governor Rick Perry issued the following statement following the announcement of the new EPA regulations on July 7:

Today's EPA announcement is another example of heavy-handed and misguided action from Washington, D.C., that threatens Texas jobs and families and puts at risk the reliable and affordable electricity our state needs to succeed. From the attack on Texas' successful clean air program, to threatening endangered species listings in West Texas oil fields, to banning offshore energy exploration, the Obama Administration seems intent on increasing energy costs for American consumers and making us even more dependent on foreign energy.

It does indeed seem as if the Obama Administration is trying to raise energy costs, not just in Texas, but on all Americans.  In Louisiana there are still many people suffering through the permitorium and are unable to work or have lost their small business due to team Obama's refusal to grant drilling permits in the Gulf.

Four more years of this administration will kill America.  Period.  We can not stand four more years.  As it is, it will take the next decade or more to get us out of the mess we're in.  Four more years of Obama and we might as well turn out the lights.

If there are any left.

Obama Keeps Promise to Bankrupt Coal Power Plants

"If somebody wants to build a coal power plant, they can.  It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

That was Barack Obama in 2008.

Today, the E.P.A. has issued new guidelines and standards for coal fired plants effective in in early 2012.

Texas is not happy:

Texas argues that the new rules would require massive improvements to old power plants, changes that would end up costing consumers more money. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's regulatory agency, also questions the science upon which the EPA has built its rules.

"Technically speaking, this rule is another example of EPA fabricating a scenario in order to justify its actions," TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw said on June 30 when he testified before Congress about this and other federal rules.

"This rule ... puts at risk the economic future of power generation and those dependent on affordable electricity in Texas," Shaw added, saying the expensive improvements he believes would be needed would hurt elderly and low-income residents whose "health and welfare" depend on reliable energy.

Texas has 19 coal fired plants.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity explains the problem, via the New York Times:

“The E.P.A. is ignoring the cumulative economic damage new regulations will cause,” said Steve Miller, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a group of coal-burning utilities. “America’s coal-fueled electric industry has been doing its part for the environment and the economy, but our industry needs adequate time to install clean coal technologies to comply with new regulations. Unfortunately, E.P.A. doesn’t seem to care.”

An industry-financed study found that new air pollution rules would cost tens of thousands of jobs and raise electricity rates by more than 20 percent in some parts of the country. 

I am hard pressed to recall a more jobs-killing-administration than this one.

Black Market Light Bulbs

You know, in the total scheme of things, a light bulb just isn't a big deal.  Right?  It's a light bulb.  In the big picture where people die of cancer from which there is no cure, where people like Casey Anthony or Susan Smith kill their children, in a world where tragedy strikes so suddenly and tornadoes wipe out whole towns or wildfires burn through massive acreage, a light bulb just isn't very important.

But it is.

Via The Corner, Andrew Stuffaford points to this Bloomberg article by Virginia Postrel about the upcoming banning of the bulb.  Well, of the incandescent bulb,  anyway.  Postrel points out that technically, it's not a ban or a mandate, but a "standard" with which we must comply.  Semantics.  She discusses the plethora of choices in the light bulb aisle at Target:

It seems to be a dazzling profusion of choice. But, at least in California, where I live, this plenitude no longer includes what most shoppers want: an inexpensive, plain-vanilla 100-watt incandescent bulb. Selling them is now illegal here. The rest of the country has until the end of the year to stock up before a federal ban kicks in. (I have a stash in storage.) Over the next two years, most lower-wattage incandescents will also disappear.

Illegal! Light bulbs are fixing to go black market.  Seriously.

I did a rant on this back in September and my position remains the same.  Why in the world, in our free market economy, is the government going to tell us what kind of light bulb to use?  It's so much more than just a light bulb.  It's all about over reach of government into the minute details of our lives.   In September I wrote:

It's not JUST a light bulb, of course.  It's the ruling class telling you how to live your life.  Krikorian is absolutely correct that before you know it, the government will be so big and so powerful they'll tell you what kind of car to drive (oh..wait....) or how much water you can use, how much gasoline you can consume, where you must buy that gasoline and the exact chemical makeup of that gasoline.  Heck, before long they'll even be telling you what doctor you can see and what you can see him for and whether or not you can have that prescription regardless of your own ability to pay for it.  They'll even be telling you we can't be innovative and search our own oil reserves.  Worse than that, they'll try to tell us we can't tap those reserves even though we know where they are because, you know, we might kill a caribou in Alaska or offshore drilling could possibly be *gasp* dangerous.

Yes, well, and here we are.  The deadline is looming. 

Stuttaford suggests:

...some stockpiling might be in order.

I'm way ahead of you on that one, buddy.  I've been stockpiling 100 watt incandescent bulbs for months.  My local Albertsons had a sale of 10 (four packs) for $10 and I wiped them out.   You can order a 24-pack for $14.21 here!

Black market light bulbs, indeed.

John Bryson is Unacceptable as Secretary of Commerce

Obama's pick for Secretary of Commerce is unacceptable.

John Bryson may have private sector business experience, but that may not be good enough.  Bryson is on record as saying that Waxman-Markey was "moderate, but acceptable."  You'll remember Waxman-Markey bill as the cap and trade legislation that attempted to regulate every aspect of your life with regard to energy and promised to make energy bills skyrocket.

If Bryson thought THAT bill was "moderate," I shudder to think what he would find more acceptable. 

As Mark Tapscott points out, there were quite a few Senate Democrats who were on record against cap and trade, so this ought to make for an interesting Senate confirmation.

Senator David Vitter issued a statement yesterday calling the nomination "deeply disturbing":

“Louisiana's greatest jobs challenge is restarting drilling in the Gulf. So President Obama nominates someone as his jobs secretary who co-founded the group that files more baseless lawsuits against drilling than any other. This is deeply, deeply disturbing,”

The company to which Vitter refers is The National Resources Defense Council founded in 1970 by John Bryson, John Adams, and Gus Speth, among other activists.  The group has, over the years, filed hundreds of lawsuits...

*  To stop a new coal-fired power plant in Michigan

*  Against the Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas to halt construction of a BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) intermodal facility because:

“The thousands of trucks expected to move in and out of that rail yard every day will produce toxic diesel fumes that could pose serious health problems for the surrounding communities, including increased rates of asthma, respiratory disease and cancer. The Army Corps has a responsibility to protect people from these health impacts.”

*   Against a Kentucky coal company for violations against the Clean Water Act.

*  Against the FDA for chemicals found in anti-bacterial soaps.

*  Against International Paper for violations of the Clean Water Act.

*  Against the EPA over pesticides that damage honeybees.

*  Against "backyard drilling" in Los Angeles

* Against MMS for the use of seismic surveys in the Gulf which "disrupts marine life."

*  The group has promised to file suit over new drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

*  Against Ken Salazar for approving permits for oil and gas activity in the Gulf that fails to protect whales and other mammals in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is Bryson himself advocating major reduction in carbon and applauding California's approach to carbon emissions. 



And here he, in 2009, discusses climate change and federal climate change legislation. 



The man is clearly anti-business and is a totally unacceptable candidate for Secretary of Commerce.  

Conserving Lizards or Oil?

Via Red State:

Specifically, the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. That’s the latest more-important-than-people critter being used to lock-up resources in the name of planet Earth. The drilling moratorium didn’t cause enough pain, so onto the Endangered Species Act - known at the Sierra Club as “Ol’ Reliable” - to make certain Texas has lizard-filled poverty.

Lizard or livelihood? That’s what’s at stake. And the pro-poverty Earth Firsters stratifying government can’t have both. If it determines that the lizard is indeed endangered, the Fish and Wildlife Service will shut down the most productive oil counties in Texas, ban roads, and slow farm activity, as it “studies the ecosystem” for up to five years.

Because the moratorium wasn't bad enough. 


The Reptile Channel explains:

According to USFWS, the dunes sagebrush lizard s in danger of extinction across its entire range due to ongoing significant threats of habitat loss and fragmentation. These threats include oil and gas activities, as well as herbicide treatments. The removal of shinnery oak and creation of roads and pads, pipelines, and power lines for oil and gas development is a measurable factor impacting the dunes sagebrush lizard, according to USFWS.

And you just thought gas prices were high.

Electric Car Owners Might Have to Pay Their "Fair Share" to Maintain Roads

Apparently one good thing about my 8-cylinder Crown Vic is that I'm paying my fair share to maintain the roads.  You slackers with your mini-Coopers and your Volts need to step up and pay up:

After years of urging residents to buy fuel-efficient cars and giving them tax breaks to do it, Washington state lawmakers are considering a measure to charge them a $100 annual fee -- what would be the nation's first electric car fee. 

And it's not just Washington:

In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a bill to charge drivers of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles based on the number of miles they drive. In Mississippi, lawmakers briefly considered a similar plan. In Texas, significant opposition scuttled an electric vehicle fee. 

Eventually this will get through the various state legislatures and so go the law of the land, no doubt.  

If you don't like the one time user fee, you could live in California where one group would rely on honest drivers to report their own use:

Plug In America, a California-based electric car advocacy group, has come out against the proposed flat fee and has urged the state to consider one based on odometer readings that owners would self-report each year. 

That'll work.  Sure.  

I think I'll keep my Crown Vic and my unleaded.

The Fork You Say!

Those dastardly, insidious Republicans on Capitol Hill are doing everything they can to undermine the Democrats, right down to taking away their compostable cups and utensils at the three House cafeterias.

Viva the return of plastic cups and forks!  Foam containers!

Under the tenure of Nancy Pelosi, the House food vendors began using "green" eating utensils and cups, but the Republicans complained that these biodegradable items didn't hold up, saying "the spoons would often dissolve in hot liquids, and forks and knives bent and snapped"  According to reports from Capitol Hill, the forks couldn't even penetrate lettuce.  Shocking!

And so, the Republicans have brought back the foam.  The plastic!

“Contrary to the objective of the program,” said Salley Wood, the spokeswoman for Representative Dan Lungren of California, chairman of the House Administration Committee, who moved to end the program, composting “failed to produce significant savings in carbon emissions.” On that score, she said, the total savings were equal to taking one car off the road per year. 

Yet again, proof that "green energy" is more expensive?   Miss Wood says the program was more expensive than the foam 'n plastic program:

The program took $475,000 each year from the fees that the House collected from the food vendor, Restaurant Associates, between the materials, labor and costs of hauling refuse out.

Pelosi's office is not pleased.

Advice to enviro-conscious libs in Congress?  Bring a baloney sandwich in a brown paper bag. 

An Update on the Obamatorium

I did many posts on the BP/Gulf situation this summer and the Obama imposed moratorium that followed. 

The Wall Street Journal posts an editorial that updates the current situaiton:

Today, 15 of the Gulf's 46 shallow-water rigs are idle, due to a lack of new permits. The industry estimates that, at this rate, by Halloween 70% of shallow-water drillers will be idle. The Administration did not include any of these figures in its analysis. 

The "jobs lost" figures provided by Team Obama are predictably lower than the analysis from most everyone else. Once you idle 70% of the shallow-water rigs, well, that's lots of jobs.

And there's the rub. The real fear is that the Administration is using the oil spill as an excuse to shut down the drilling that the enviro left finds so offensive. The President stacked his oil-spill commission with antidrilling environmentalists, who will be predisposed to recommend that any lifting of the ban be accompanied by a severe regulatory regime. The result would be a moratorium in everything but name. 

Oh ye dirty politics, you.  What was that Mike Spence said?

The president is not our teacher, our tutor, our guide or ruler. He does not command us, we command him. We serve neither him nor his vision. It is not his job or his prerogative to redefine custom, law and beliefs; to appropriate industries; to seize the country, as it were, by the shoulders or by the throat so as to impose by force of theatrical charisma his justice upon 300 million others. It is neither his job nor his prerogative to shift the power of decision away from them, and to him and the acolytes of his choosing.

Indeed.

Be sure to check out the Press-Register's series profiling victims of the oil spill.


So as we celebrate the long-awaiting killing of this particular well, let's also remember that Team Obama's political and arbitrary moratorium is costing the Gulf region some 20,000 jobs and the American oil supply some 30 million barrels in 2011 (NOT purchased from foreign sources).