Thanx Mike..
I understand Oklahoma has held EPA at bay reasonably well too. Not too many weeks ago they were rated the #1 on the best place to invest in drilling oil. They have Senator Inhofe as well, he and EPA don’t mix well :~}. I’ve been monitoring activity up there for a while and have wondered the past few weeks if I’ve been seeing some ‘Wait and see how the election turns out.’ decrease.
I sometimes visit a friend, I call him ‘Jed’ now, who had a whole bunch of Eagle Ford activity around him the past 24 months. There has been some deterioration of the paved roads, but his county learned from others and contracted the repairs to be at oil company expense. They seem to get on top of issues pretty fast that way. The dirt roads improved from what they were.
Very interesting discussion going on here. I think I’ll eavesdrop for a while and see what I can learn.
Thanx y’all.
Mike said:
It indeed holds water like a 55 gallon drum. I personally believe that matters of climate change and global warming (which Sandy is supposedly to have been born of) and environmental issues, an effort at a cleaner, greener America is No. 3 on this administration’s agenda for the coming years and more, stricter regulations will be directed at the oil and gas industry. The EPA will be given more authority to implement those regulations, even on the state level. Here in Texas we have been able to hold off the EPA to large extent but I believe, have been told, that the rift between the Railroad Commission and the EPA is growing. I think in other states the EPA is pretty much dictating all oil and gas regulations, indirectly or directly, but I do not know that for a fact. I cannot answer the question of how fast and to what extent the EPA will grow, sir; I used to believe in the system of checks and balances in Washington but often now find myself astounded how easily new laws can be sneaked through the system by, as you say, executive order.
I think, Larry, we would be shocked how many Americans would favor nationalizing all oil and natural gas in our country, simply letting the government own and operate the whole kittenkabootle. They don’t understand finding and extracting costs, they think oil grows in the ground and is everywhere you poke a hole, they don’t like quarterly profits in the billions of dollars by major oil companies (never mind that they represent <8% returns on capital investment) and the hate messes like BP made.
If I sound pessimistic, forgive me; we’ll find a way. Maybe it’s the 480 point drop in the DOW since Wednesday. I guess I am not the only guy in the country feeling scared. Yes sir, bigger government means a bigger, stronger EPA. All of us want cleaner air and water and less blight on the landscape (you should see the mess in the Eagle Ford in S. Texas…pads and roads and broken highways everywhere), we must simply accept that it comes with a hefty price tag. Like gasoline in California.