MMS has recalculated the number of manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico since 23 manned platforms have been confirmed destroyed from Hurricane Ike. The new figure of 694 manned platforms was used to calculate today’s percentage of manned platforms evacuated. Based on data from offshore operator reports submitted as of 11:30 a.m. CDT today, personnel are evacuated from a total of 179 production platforms, equivalent to 25.8 % of the 694 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The total number of rigs currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico has been recalculated to allow for the number of rigs destroyed or severely damaged as a result of Hurricane Ike. The recalculated figure is 116 rigs. This number was used in calculating today's percentage of rigs evacuated. Personnel from 3 rigs are evacuated; this is equivalent to 2.6% of the 116 rigs currently operating in the Gulf.
From the operators' reports, it is estimated that approximately 59.3% of the oil production in the Gulf is shut-in. As of June 2008, estimated oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is 1.3 million barrels of oil per day. It is also estimated that approximately 56.4% of the natural gas production in the Gulf is shut-in. As of June 2008, estimated natural gas production from the Gulf of Mexico was 7.0 billion cubic feet of gas per day. Since that time, gas production from the Independence Hub facility has increased and current gas production from the Gulf is estimated at 7.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
For those that havne't heard yet, David Letterman is upset. John McCain cancelled on him. Then he finds out that McCain is doing an appearance on the CBS News next door. Not a good thing for McCain.
Afterward, Keith Olberman was called in to be a replacement. It was then that Dave found out that the good Senator was doing an appearance next door.
He may only have six weeks to go till the US Presidential election but Democrat candidate and Illinois Senator, Barack Obama, still found time las week to introduce legislation (S.3506) that would increase the tax credit for individuals that purchase natural gas vehicles and extend the credit through to the end of 2017. The Senator proposes increasing the incremental price eligible for a credit from 50/80 percent to 100 percent for all weight classes of vehicle, and a doubling of the tax credit for fleets that purchase more than 100 NGVs in a year. This last provision is identical to one proposed by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) in the Congressman’s NAT GAS Act (HR 6570). In addition, the Senator proposed increasing the amount the EPA can pay for alt fuel school bus from 25 and 50 percent to 50 and 75 percent (depending on the vehicle’s emissions), and reauthorizing the Clean School Bus Program at $110 million per year from 2010 through 2015. The program is currently authorized to be funded at “such sums as are necessary” until 2010.
The CNG fuelled Honda Civic GX, could soon have company on the OEM compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle list in the US with Toyota 'confirming interest' in CNG vehicles. Continuing down the popular Toyota hybrid path Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., will test the waters with a compressed natural gas (CNG) Camry Hybrid concept vehicle to go on show at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. “With the combination of plentiful long-term supplies in North America, improved and more efficient recovery methods, favorable pricing and clean-burn/low emissions characteristics, CNG has become a prime energy-source for the future,” said Irv Miller, group vice president, TMS Corporate Communications. “With this concept, we are confirming our interest in pursuing CNG within our broad and comprehensive R&D scope.”
In 1999 Toyota marketed a CNG-powered four-cylinder Camry to fleet customers in California. However, in an era of relatively cheap gasoline, customers were not attracted to a vehicle that required special refueling techniques and a limited refueling infrastructure and the program was discontinued a year later. Currently, there are only about 1,000 CNG refueling stations nationwide, with less than half open to the public.
The benefits of CNG are currently being amplified by rapidly changing market conditions and an increase in consumer environmental awareness. At the same time its drawbacks are being mitigated by a growing awareness that advanced technologies will require investment in appropriate infrastructure. The U.S. CNG pipeline system is an approximately 1.8 million mile network and expanding.
“Natural gas,” adds Miller, “and an expanded retail-friendly CNG infrastructure could be seen as a model for future hydrogen infrastructure.”
Some of you may recall my blogs in the past concerning the fact that the Russian activites in Georgia would result in problems with access to the International Space Station. Today brings news that the status quo is being maintained.
CBS NEWS Coverage of Breaking Space News Posted: 8:00 PM, 9/24/08
By William Harwood CBS News Space Consultant
House includes waiver extension to Iran-North Korea-Syria Nonproliferation Act in continuing resolution; would permit continued NASA purchases of Soyuz flights to space station
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The U.S. House of Representatives today, as part of a continuing resolution needed to fund government operations past the upcoming elections and into 2009, extended a waiver to the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act that would allow NASA to purchase seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft after the current waiver expires at the end of 2011.
"I'm thrilled! Couldn't be more pleased. Now, the Senate..." NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said in an email exchange with CBS News.
Because it takes three years to build a new Soyuz, an INKSNA waiver extension is required for NASA to avoid unmanning the station starting in 2012. If the Senate goes along and the extension becomes law, NASA would be able to maintain an uninterrupted presence on the lab complex and bridge the gap between the end of shuttle operations in 2010 and the debut of its replacement in 2014 or 2015.
The extension would go into effect Jan. 1, 2012, and run to July 1, 2016. It is intended to "allow NASA to continue to purchase needed ISS-related goods and services from the Russians and ensure that U.S. astronauts will continue to have access to the ISS after the current waiver expires," according to a statement released by the Committee on Science and Technology. "The House passed the CR by a vote of 370 to 58."
"While I regret that it is necessary, passage of the waiver helps ensure uninterrupted access for U.S. astronauts to the international space station until our new American crew transfer and rescue systems are developed, by allowing us to contract with Russia," committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) said in the statement.
The Iran, North Korea, Syria Nonproliferation Act forbids U.S. purchase of high technology goods from Russia, primarily because of Russia's past support of nuclear power initiatives in Iran. NASA has been able to buy Soyuz seats for U.S. and international astronauts under waivers granted by Congress.
NASA relies on the three-seat Russian spacecraft to occasionally carry U.S. and international astronauts to and from the space station and to provide emergency return capability between shuttle visits. NASA also is counting on using Soyuz seats to bridge the five-year gap between the end of shuttle operations in 2010 and the debut of the shuttle's replacement.
In recent weeks, an extension to the waiver appeared stalled, thanks in large part to Russia's conflict with Georgia. In an interview earlier this month, Griffin told CBS News he was not optimistic legislation could be passed before lawmakers adjourned for the fall elections.
Without a waiver, Griffin said "the first and most obvious possibility is there won't be any American or international partners on the space station after Dec. 31 of 2011. That's a possibility. Another possibility is that we will be told to continue flying shuttle and we would be given extra money to do so, in which case our Ares and Orion could be kept on track and we would no longer have a dependence on Russia.
"A third possibility is we could be told to keep flying shuttle, not be given any extra money, in which case we don't get Ares and Orion anytime soon and we still have a gap, it's just further out in time. And all of these things ignore the fact that flying shuttle does not ameliorate in truth our dependence upon the Russians because we still need them for crew rescue."
But in a statement today, Gordon said "the American taxpayers have made a significant investment in the ISS. It is important that we be able to use it productively once it is assembled, and for that we needed to have the INKSNA waiver extended."
THE LATEST REALITY GAME--WALL STREET BAILOUT -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2008)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, here is the latest reality game. Let's play Wall Street Bailout.
Rule one: Rush the decision. Time the game to fall in the week before Congress is set to adjourn and just 6 weeks before an historic election so your opponents will be preoccupied, pressured, distracted, and in a hurry.
Rule two: Disarm the public through fear. Warn that the entire global financial system will collapse and the world will fall into another Great Depression. Control the media enough to ensure that the public will not notice this.
Bailout will indebt them for generations, taking from them trillions of dollars they earned and deserve to keep.
Rule three: Control the playing field and set the rules. Hide from the public and most of the Congress just who is arranging this deal. Communicate with the public through leaks to media insiders. Limit any open congressional hearings. Communicate with Congress via private teleconferencing calls. Heighten political anxiety by contacting each political party separately. Treat Members of Congress condescendingly, telling them that the matter is so complex that they must rely on those few insiders who really do know what's going on.
Rule four: Divert attention and keep people confused. Manage the news cycle so Congress and the public have no time to examine who destroyed the prudent banking system that served America so well for 60 years after the financial meltdown of the 1920s.
Rule five: Always keep in mind the goal is to privatize gains to a few and socialize loss to the many. For 30 years in one financial scandal after another, Wall Street game masters have kept billions of dollars of their gain and shifted their losses to American taxpayers. Once this bailout is in place, the greed game will begin again.
But I have a counter-game. It's called Wall Street Reckoning. Congress shouldn't go home to campaign. It should put America's accounts in order.
To Wall Street insiders, it says ``no'' on behalf of the American people. You have perpetrated the greatest financial crimes ever on this American republic. You think you can get by with it because you are extraordinarily wealthy and the largest contributors to both Presidential and congressional campaigns in both major parties, but you are about to be brought under firm control.
First, America doesn't need to bail you out, it needs to secure the real assets and property, not your paper, that means the homes and properties of hardworking Americans who are about to lose their homes because of your mortgage greed. There should be a new job for regional Federal Reserve Banks. We want no home foreclosed if a serious work-out agreement can be put into place. And if you don't do it, we want a notarized statement by a Federal Reserve official that they tried and failed.
Second, taxpayers should directly gain any equity benefits that may flow from this historic bailout. We want the American people to get first priority in taking ownership of the institutions that want to pass their toxic paper onto the taxpayers.
Third, before any bailouts for Wall Street, America needs major job creation to rebuild our major infrastructure. America needs assets, not paper. We need working assets.
Fourth, the time for real financial regulatory change is now, not next year. A modernized Glass Eagle Act must be put in place. We need to reestablish locally-owned community savings banks across this country and create within the Justice Department a fully funded unit to prosecute every single high-flying thief whose fraud and criminal acts created this debacle and then forced their disgorgement of assets going back 15 years.
Fifth, any refinancing must return a major share of profits to a new Social Security and Medicare lockbox, where the monies can go to pay for a dignified and assured retirement for every American. This Member isn't voting for a penny of it. Those who created and profited from this game of games must be brought to justice. The assets they stole must be returned to the American taxpayers, right down to the tires on their Mercedes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring my bill to create an independent commission to investigate these well-heeled wrongdoers. Real reform now, or nothing.
I am interested in CNG vehicles because they are good for the environment and aren't powered by dead Marines. I still have a little hope for the world. Read the musings and enjoy.
USA, Portland