# Arctic Offshore Oil & Gas Leases Rejected



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Native Americans are restless up in the Arctic:
http://www.audubon.org/newsroom/pre...-oil-leases-americas-arctic-rejected-us-court

The leases were sold in February 2008.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Interesting. Not that I'm in favor of arctic ocean drilling. I'm just wondering what kind of energy the Sierra Club is willing to at least allow, or perhaps even endorse. They oppose wind, solar, natural gas, oil, coal, bio-fuels, nuclear, hydro, tidal and geothermal. And then they turn around and oppose any pipeline, road, power line, or rail line to transport any kind of energy. I'm not sure anything is left to power the computers they use for all their law suits or power their electric cars. 

Any good recipes for walrus Goob?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> Interesting. Not that I'm in favor of arctic ocean drilling. I'm just wondering what kind of energy the Sierra Club is willing to at least allow, or perhaps even endorse. They oppose wind, solar, natural gas, oil, coal, bio-fuels, nuclear, hydro, tidal and geothermal. And then they turn around and oppose any pipeline, road, power line, or rail line to transport any kind of energy. I'm not sure anything is left to power the computers they use for all their law suits or power their electric cars.
> 
> Any good recipes for walrus Goob?


No, but I'll ask those toothless Indegenous guys up in Prudhoe Bay the next time I'm up there.

This is the coalition of Alaska Native and conservation groups in the lawsuit: the Native Village of Point Hope, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Oceana, Pacific Environment, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and World Wildlife Fund.

It's all about the Spectacled Eider, the poster child for all things us guys in gas and oil screw up. There's 33,000 of them up there molting, unable to fly, where they want to drill. Hey, I had Spectacled Eider training; so watch out buddy.

Anyway I know how you feel about the Sierra Club. Any thoughts on the other groups in the coalition?

I'm after the Audubon Society these days, those a-holes wouldn't accept the Chipping Sparrow sighting our bird-watching team sent in for the 2013 Audubon Christmas Bird Count. :neutral:

.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Yea, I know about the spectacled eider. Poor things. We set them up for 2-for-1s at America's Best and they are set up. Back when I was writing BLM drilling policy for the NPRA, we did a bunch of stuff to protect the flightless little things so they could get eaten by the foxes and wolves. It was a win-win. But that was all on-shore stuff. Around Teshekpuk Lake, on up to the Beaufort Sea, east of this area. Of course the easiest work around on the NPRA was to just drill in the winter when the little suckers are vacationing in Mexico and the big drill rigs can drive around on ice roads without getting stuck in the muck.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> Yea, I know about the spectacled eider. Poor things. We set them up for 2-for-1s at America's Best and they are set up. Back when I was writing BLM drilling policy for the NPRA, we did a bunch of stuff to protect the flightless little things so they could get eaten by the foxes and wolves. It was a win-win. But that was all on-shore stuff. Around Teshekpuk Lake, on up to the Beaufort Sea, east of this area. Of course the easiest work around on the NPRA was to just drill in the winter when the little suckers are vacationing in Mexico and the big drill rigs can drive around on ice roads without getting stuck in the muck.


Good job, I can never repay guys like you and our colleagues at the BLM for helping me save the planet.

Profit margin in the winter is not good.

Hey, in Wyoming we discontinue all drilling during the sage-grouse mating season and then run over the poor little bastards on the roads the rest of the year. A few birds escape the endless 24-hr barrage of gas and oil-related equipment driving the roads with reckless abandon only to be shot by road hunters.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm just waiting for some oil company to get fed up enough with the sage grouse hullabaloo to start suing BLM and USFWS over sage grouse issues. Not that I want to see the little suckers wiped out, but BLM has bent over backwards and now treats them like a listed species, which they are not. And as such, there is no legal foundation for the protections that they demand to protect them. In my opinion, there is absolutely no legal foundation for sage grouse protection stipulations to be made on any public lands. But that is just me. And until States close sage grouse hunting all together to protect the little boomers, there isn't a justification in the world to demand timing or placement stips to protect them. But again, that's just me. What do I know?

tra la la la la.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> I'm just waiting for some oil company to get fed up enough with the sage grouse hullabaloo to start suing BLM and USFWS over sage grouse issues. Not that I want to see the little suckers wiped out, but BLM has bent over backwards and now treats them like a listed species, which they are not. And as such, there is no legal foundation for the protections that they demand to protect them. In my opinion, there is absolutely no legal foundation for sage grouse protection stipulations to be made on any public lands. But that is just me. And until States close sage grouse hunting all together to protect the little boomers, there isn't a justification in the world to demand timing or placement stips to protect them. But again, that's just me. What do I know?
> 
> tra la la la la.


What? Are you nuts? pee in this cup. What you need is a good sage-grouse recipe.

Doesn't hurt them drilling guys any to take a few weeks off and fix something.

Hey, great timing. I'm in the middle of an API 4G derrick inspection and condition assessment right now.

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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I used to hunt sage grouse. Heck, its the only bird I have ever taken three birds - my daily limit back in the 80s, with 3 shots, from the same group. And all 3 tasted like puked up sage brush. I've never hunted them since. Stinky little boomers! 

Watch out on your derrick. I hear them bald and golden eagles like to perch on them and look for sage grouse to eat.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> I used to hunt sage grouse. Heck, its the only bird I have ever taken three birds - my daily limit back in the 80s, with 3 shots, from the same group. And all 3 tasted like puked up sage brush. I've never hunted them since. Stinky little boomers!
> 
> Watch out on your derrick. I hear them bald and golden eagles like to perch on them and look for sage grouse to eat.


Geeze Gary, I have recipes that will make them taste like chicken; better than that, taste like mallard breast.

The derrick is a work-over rig. It doesn't stay in one place long enough for the eagles, or enviromental watchdog groups, to sit on it, but my guess is it's ran over a few of the tasty grouse on the road though.

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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I don't know. I've seen some baldies perched on drill rigs that were just shut down for the day. Once the trucks were gone, the Eagles were there, looking for stupid sage grouse. Of course, a couple weeks later both Don Henley and Glen Fry decided to go it on their own and that was the end of that.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

And by the way, there's this thingie called "directional drilling". They can move off the sage-grouse lek a couple miles and drill from there.......uh, well...as long as there's no Indian arrowhead chips and Preble's mice.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Dang it goob! You got top of page!

I especially like it when BLM publishes the lek sites. Helps the hunters know where to look!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

So how is directional drilling better than bowling?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> Dang it goob! You got top of page!
> 
> I especially like it when BLM publishes the lek sites. Helps the hunters know where to look!


Yeah, you gotta love it. The BLM gets lek sites from the Game and Fish, who get it from the local birdwatchers.

It takes 3 napkin meetings to come full circle. A lot more complicated than Big Game.

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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

And before you know it, you can't drop a pipe in the ground within a mile of a napkin dot. Or is that a ketchup stain?


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