Category: Gulf oil production

Your land, my land – and we’re at risk of losing more than Louisiana

wearenotalone-us-map-of-loss-risk22This land is your land. This land is my land. From the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters, This land was made for you and me

Seventy miles south of New Orleans, on the eastern end of Grand Isle, a small tide gauge records the Gulf of Mexico rising against the surrounding land. The monthly increases are microscopic, narrower than a single strand of hair.

Climate scientists recording those results think they add up to something huge. The gauge, they say, may be quietly writing one of the first big stories in the age of global warming: the obituary for much of southeast Louisiana.

losing-la475-top1The Times Picayune is recording, too – and you don’t won’t to miss the series Losing Louisiana.  Read the rest of the lede story in Part 1 that published this past Saturday.

The series is exceptional in every way – so language rich that two paragraphs into Part 2 that it begins to feel like you’re watching a movie as you engage every sense while reading the story and that’s before you get to the equally remarkable graphics.

From atop the bridge soaring over Bayou Lafourche, a sweeping panorama of the southeast Louisiana coast unfolds. Scattered strings of green marsh break up wide expanses of open water. Pelicans swing on the breezes. Fish jump across the waves as crabbers and oyster harvesters pursue their livelihoods in a postcard scene of a rich life close to nature. Continue reading “Your land, my land – and we’re at risk of losing more than Louisiana”

96.9% of crude oil, 93.3% of natural gas production shuttered in Gulf

Brian Martin, Policy Director for Mississippi Congressman Gene Taylor, has been calling our attention to Ike’s impact on gulf oil rigs in comments today – and that told me it was time for a closer look.

The best-case scenario for Ike is that its damage is limited, allowing refineries in its path to open in short order after it passes. One encouraging sign: oil rigs in the Gulf, many of which have been strengthened after hurricane Rita in 2005, are not expected to be affected as drastically as they were in 2005.

Unfortunately, a worst-case scenario is more likely, says Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist at the Weather Underground, an online weather service with offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., and San Francisco. Though winds aren’t as strong as the devastating hurricane Carla in 1961, Ike’s storm surge is expected to exceed Carla’s, setting Texas records and rising perhaps 15 to 20 feet high. Texas officials have gone so far as to warn residents that staying in low-lying areas means “certain death.”

Ike’s potential for damage equals that of Katrina in 2005, says Mr. Masters, because its total kinetic pressure – the sum of wind speed plus size of the storm – is equal, or even greater, than that of Katrina. Continue reading “96.9% of crude oil, 93.3% of natural gas production shuttered in Gulf”