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Archive for December, 2024

Jimmy Carter supported a strong national OCS oil and gas program

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , on December 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

In honor of President Carter:

Opinions on Jimmy Carter’s presidency vary, but he merits praise for his administration of the OCS program from 1/1977 to 1/1981. Carter oversaw an active leasing program in all OCS regions. On the operations side, he appointed Don Kash to head the Conservation Division of the US Geological Survey, the OCS regulator at the time. Dr. Kash was an outstanding leader and a gifted communicator and program manager.

Some of the Carter administration’s impressive accomplishments during his 4 year term:

  • 15 lease sales including 3 offshore Alaska, 3 in the Atlantic, and 1 offshore California
  • Drilling activity in all 4 regions: GoM, Pacific, Alaska, and Atlantic
  • Natural gas discovery in the Mid Atlantic (Hudson Canyon Unit)
  • North, Mid, and South Atlantic District offices for permitting and inspections
  • 5300 well starts including 97 in water depths > 1000′
  • 314 new platforms including Cognac, the world’s first platform in > 1000′ of water
  • Comprehensive amendments to the OCS Lands Act (1978)
  • Annual natural gas production reached nearly 5 tcf (approximately 6 times current OCS gas production)
  • Annual oil production was approximately 1/2 current levels which is impressive given that the deepwater era was just beginning and shelf wells had relatively low productivity.

Thank you Jimmy. RIP.

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ACK for Whales response in support of their petition to the Supreme Court

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , on December 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The response by the Nantucket group’s attorneys is attached. Key excerpt:

“NMFS absurdly argues that agency officials, in preparing a biological opinion for a project, must ignore information about impacts on endangered species from other offshore wind turbine projects that are planned and in various stages of development and governmental review. Perhaps even more bizarrely, NMFS contends that, in preparing a biological opinion for a project, it must consider the cumulative impacts of planned state and local projects but ignore the impacts of planned federal projects.“

Background:

20241220155455458_24-337 Reply BriefDownload

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S&P Global: “Growing exports of US LNG would have substantial economic benefits while domestic natural gas prices would remain among the lowest in the world.”

Posted in energy policy, natural gas, tagged , , , , on December 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

This important S&P Global study is particularly breathtaking for those of us who remember when Gulf of Mexico LNG import facilities were in the advanced planning stages. The shale gas pioneers completely reversed the scenario!

“The LNG industry is critical to serving the world’s energy needs and has rapidly become an integral contributor to the US economy.”

Let’s not repeat the harmful pause in the construction of LNG export facilities. Per S&P Global:

“The impact of an ‘extended halt’ in new US LNG development due to legal and regulatory risks is striking. In this scenario, more than $250 billion in lost contribution to GDP and an average of >100,000 US jobs are at risk. Gas price savings in an ‘extended halt’ are minimal for domestic consumers, with less than 1% gas cost impact per household. Furthermore, 85% of the energy gap from lost US LNG is expected to be filled by fossil fuels from non-US sources.”

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Is there hope for common sense energy policy in Germany?

Posted in energy policy, natural gas, tagged , , , , , on December 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

With the collapse of Bundeskanzler Scholz’s governing coalition, elections set for 23 Feb, and the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party gaining support, perhaps there is a chance for more rational German energy policy.

The AfD, led by Alice Weidel, supports coal, natural gas, and nuclear power generation. The AfD also argues that Germany should be compensated for the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines.

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Democracy vs. climate ultras in the State of Washington

Posted in climate, energy policy, natural gas, tagged , , , , on December 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Seattle Times: “Don’t block the will of voters on natural gas”

“Nearly 2 million residents voted to approve Initiative 2066, which aims to protect the use of natural gas as an energy source in state law and within Washington’s building codes. This month, climate advocates, joined by King County and the City of Seattle, filed suit in court to block the will of those voters.“

“While the courts will have final say, Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic legislative leaders support killing off what they see as a misguided and overly broad initiative. Their view brushes aside the concerns of the majority of state voters. Those leaders fail to see a genuine fear that, during the clean energy transition, the fundamental supply of energy to homes and businesses — the basic ability to stay warm, cook food and bathe — is under threat.” 

Kudos to the Seattle Times for their common sense editorial. In addition to noting the economic and social necessity of natural gas, it would have been nice if the editorial board had also acknowledged natural gas’s environmental benefits. However, that would have probably been a bridge too far in Seattle.

The reasons for transitioning to natural gas are arguably clearer and better substantiated than the reasons for transitioning from natural gas.

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Forbes: “Hidden Costs, Rusting Relics: Decommissioning Wind Turbines In The US”

Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged , , , , on December 26, 2024| 1 Comment »

Forbes (USGS map of active wind turbines): “The U.S. Wind Turbine Database contains more than 74,695 wind turbines built since 1980, spread between 1,699 wind power projects in 45 states. However, thousands of wind turbines are reaching the end of their operational lifespan and need to be either repowered to make way for updated (often larger) turbines or entirely decommissioned to allow for new uses of the land they occupy. Unfortunately, there is no uniform legal framework to regulate the steps involved, nor is there an accepted industry-wide set of best practices, and the environmental costs are considerable.”

Forbes: “As is often the case when new technologies come to market, unintended downstream consequences are not always immediately obvious to the players. Enthusiasm for clean energy initially pushed the first wind turbines into existence in the U.S. without considering the environmental and monetary costs that would be involved in either upgrading or bringing projects to a close later in their life cycle. “

Similarly, BOEM’s enthusiasm for offshore wind projects has increased decommissioning financial assurance risks for power customers and taxpayers. Their “Rule to Streamline and Modernize Offshore Renewable Energy Development” is intended to “make offshore renewable energy development more efficient, [and] save billions of dollars.” The savings associated with relaxed financial assurance requirements come at the expense of transferring decommissioning risks to those who have received little or no financial benefit from the projects.

Related story: “Osage Tribe Wins Again, Federal Judge Orders “Ejectment” Of 84 Wind Turbines By Next December”

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Offshore Wind Executive Order?

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , on December 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

From the Protect Our Coast – NJ Facebook page:

From the Protect Our Coast – NJ Facebook page: “During his interview with Radio Host Dom Giordano on Monday, December 23, NJ Congressman Jeff VanDrew (pictured), stated an executive order, to be signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025 will place a 6 months pause on further construction of Offshore Wind Turbines while our new administration reviews all aspects of these highly controversial structures in our ocean.“

We’ll see what transpires, and if this post is accurate, await clarification and reactions.

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Federal response to Nantucket group’s Supreme Court petition

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , on December 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has responded (attached) to the ACK for Whales petition (ACK is the FAA abbreviation for Nantucket) to the Supreme Court to review the First Circuit’s ruling on the Vineyard Wind project. (Also see the amicus brief filed by the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head).

The question before the Supreme Court:

Excerpt from the DOJ filing:

The petitioners’ “sole argument” is rather compelling to this non-attorney. Given that multiple offshore wind projects are planned for Right whale habitat, how do you fulfill your endangered species responsibilities by only considering the first project (I.e. Vineyard Wind 1)?

(In light of Vineyard Wind’s performance to date, one could also argue that the Right whale is jeopardized by the Vineyard Wind project alone.)

Keep in mind that the Federal govt wanted to block all oil and gas leasing in a huge swath of the Gulf of Mexico because of far more speculative concerns about potential impacts to Rice’s whales.
20241210171255515_24-337 NRATS_OppDownload

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The clock strikes midnight for new US offshore wind leases

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , on December 20, 2024| 1 Comment »

Per a provision in the “Inflation Reduction Act,” no offshore wind leases may be issued after 12/20/2024, the one year anniversary of the last oil and gas lease sale (no. 261).

Although the 4 leases receiving bids at the most recent wind sale (10/29/2024, Gulf of Maine) have presumably been issued, BOEM’s lease table does not reflect that. If those leases have not been issued, it’s too late now.

Assuming that the Gulf of Maine leases have in fact already been issued, the legislative restriction on issuing new leases should not be an issue. A qualifying oil and gas lease sale will likely be held in the Gulf of Mexico in the first half of 2025.

The bigger question is whether the new administration will hold any wind lease sales. Pre-election energy policy comments imply that new wind sales are unlikely.

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Government efficiency was, and should always be, a bipartisan issue

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

33 years before Elon and Vivek’s DOGE, there was the Clinton-Gore Government efficiency initiative known as the National Performance Review, aka the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR).

President Clinton (March 3, 1992): “Our goal is to make the entire federal government less expensive and more efficient, and to change the culture of our national bureaucracy away from complacency and entitlement toward initiative and empowerment.” 

Al Gore led this effort with gusto. While not revolutionary, the NPR was quite successful in streamlining government programs. VP Gore presented symbolic and prestigious “Hammer Awards” (image above) to initiatives that were judged to have accomplished the NPR objectives:

  • put customers first
  • cut red tape
  • empower employees
  • get back to basics

My Division in the Minerals Management was one of the few government offices to be honored with two hammers. Kudos to Bill Hauser and Kumkum Ray for leading these two efforts:

  • reducing the pressure test frequency for blowout preventers after completing a detailed statistical analysis demonstrating that there would be no increase in failure risk.
  • simplifying the operating regulations and rewriting the text in plain, easy-to-understand English.

Who would have thought Al Gore, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy had so much in common? 😉

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