2012 Presidential Campaign Issues : #5 : The Energy Killer
58Motivation: Due to both the passage of time and the sheer number of issues at stake during the 2012 Presidential election campaign, it's all too easy to "forget stuff". In this series, we hope to provide a set of reminder pages for handy reference in the runup to Election Day.
Those of us who worked the gasfield drilling boom in Colorado knew then-Senator Ken Salazar as the energy industry's most implacable enemy. Newly elected President Barack Obama nominated (fill in the blanks) ___ _______ for Secretary of the Interior.
Starting in the year 2006, long before campaign '08
Ken Salazar of Colorado had positions we loved to hate
He agitated to shut down drilling on the high-up Roan Plateau
Where he claimed the wildlife suffered from the traffic on the gas patch roads
He detested the possibility of an oil-related spill
And kept on proposing to shut us down so that we could never drill
Never mind that those of us who worked at that frozen altitude
Could see with our own roughnecking eyes he was merely being rude
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The animals hung out right with us; they clearly did not care
The 25 mph speed limit kept them dirt-road safe as anywhere
A drilling location footprint is relatively small
And the wildlife found it all interesting; they minded not at all
But when elections came around and Obama made his run
We knew if he was the winner, every one of us was done
And for his erstwhile Cabinet, the scariest pick by far
Was the Interior Secretary--you got it, good ol' Kenneth Lee Salazar
Y'all remember the BP oil spill, the Gulf moratorium
The courts ruled it unconstitutional, so Barack ran around 'em some
Repeated exactly what he'd done, just reworded things a bit
If you're wondering what the point might be, I reckon this is it
Obama's contempt for the entire system, of check-and-balance law
Is deep and down and dirty; you might could say it's raw
But though I'd never belittle the suffering he brought to Cajun country
Obama shuts down drilling everywhere he can from Monday clear through Sunday
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He's hammered hard at Wyoming, busted a boom on federal land
In fact, he's shut down every single thing he could find a way to ban
From up in North Dakota, I now get royalties
But he's tried to stop that too, as sneaky as you please
In 2010 he would have done a ban on Reservation soil
Except for one brave whistle blower who exposed his snaky coil
And then of course we all have heard about his veto on the pipeline
Keystone XL, a boon indeed, he nixed--the German word is "Nein!"
So when comes to jobs and his story that he wants companies to be hiring
Remember actions are louder than words, and he deserves a thorough firing
Remember in November!
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@ Danny. Have you ever been out in "the patch"?. You may be amazed at the interaction between workers and wildlife. I was amazed when I first experienced a big buck deer standing approx. 15 feet from where I was. He proceeded to hang out the better part of all day, didn't care one little bit that drilling was going on.
This is a terrific way to remind people of the issues. I'm sure I said this before, but well..it is! Up and awesome and useful too!
Fred - Beautifully done. I'm not a tree hugger but have respect for our environment. Somewhere along the line there has to be a decision made - man or beast. Sounds brutal but we can't have it all all of time.
The Frog
Amazing hub! I am all for tree hugging! Just as long as you know you do it when you are lost. Convinced that environmentalist don't know much about the science behind keeping our economy and environment healthy. Don't forget Anwar.
Voted Up. This is a brilliant way to break up the enormity of what is happening and offering it in bite size Hubs. It allows me as a reader to to digest the information without wanting to run and hide behind denial and blissful ignorance.
Another right-on-target Hub, Fred. I've experienced how wildlife will interact with folks and it's amazing to watch. I can understand the concern of those that haven't experienced this and realize some of it is due to lack of personal experience -- there's no substitute for it. Animals are very insightful and have huge survival instinct -- the folks who bought the ranch next to my brother's in West Texas were all gung ho, lots of money and much interest for about a year. They even brought in some exotics. No one's even visted the ranch after the first year -- not once. A couple of elk figured out the deal pretty quick when the drought hit and moved over to my brother's ranch where they could get fed regularly as there's absolutely not a blade of grass. The folks who own the elk haven't even missed them. Voted up! Best/Sis
Well done you!
Terrific Hub which allowed one woman whose only knowledge on this subject was two classes on Oil & Gas in the 1980's, to better understand this miasma of ulterior motives.
Danny: I can only go on my experience, having personally seen the following:
1. Jack rabbits literally jumping from brush on the side of the dirt road to race ahead of slow-moving, heavily laden tanker trucks laboring up steep mountain grades. Most of the time, they'd go hop-leaping for 100 yards or so (though sometimes triple that), then veer back off. It happened so often on the way up to Long Ridge that I had to conclude they were actually playing with us.
2. Some of the rig workers in remote areas have a mutual friendship and feeding program with a black bear here and there. True, it's against "all the rules", but the men on these locations aren't stupid, and neither is the bear. They don't do the "dumb people in Yellowstone" trick of years ago, where you saw people hand feeding Yogi through car windows. Instead, they "accidentally" leave food in one specific spot. Mr. Bear comes by on his rounds, maybe has a snack or maybe not (not ALWAYS food there), then meanders on his way. Happy workers, happy bear--but no "taming" or "begging" effect whatsoever, definitely wild.
3. One big old tom mountain lion up on Spring Creek had a thing for sleeping between frac tanks during warm summer days on a particular location. The drilling was done, but a man would check the location occasionally, sometimes to pull water from those tanks, and Mr. Cat was seen there more than once. Scared the spotters, but the cat was way cool about it.
There's more--a lot more--but we don't want to hijack the entire Hub for wildlife stories.
BigEd: Except for yours. Great buck deer vignette.
BPop: Thanks as always. Wish I could jam in more time to get over to your AWESOME pages more often, but until Election Day, it's going to have to be go-go-go. Three months ago, I was getting to bed (on average) at around 2;00 a.m. Now it's more like 5:00, and sometimes later than that. Really do appreciate your comments (and of course the Votes Up & Stuff).
Frog: True enough, Jim. Fortunately, the oilpatch is not a place where we have to make that choice. A series of well locations and their connecting dirt roads are NOT the habitat-killers of, say, an urban development project.
tirelesstraveler: Yeah, I should have worked ANWAR in there somewhere. Maybe a line or two about the Alaskan caribou that already appreciate the existing pipeline and work right with it.
LuxmiH: Thanks; that's exactly why I'm doing it this way. It always makes my day when a reader validates the format.
Sis: Elk are no dummies! I don't envy the Texas ranchers OR the wildlife that drought.
You've really touched on a key point about ranching here, too: Gung ho for "a year or so" doesn't cut it. It's more like, deal with the grind, day in day out, year after year after....
Outstanding lifestyle, nothing like it, but it IS all-consuming.
Patti: You're saying a few years of oilpatch work experience trumps a couple of classroom goodies? Who'd have thought? :)
Note: To all of you who've commented to let me know this series is functioning the way I'd hoped it would... THANKS!
LOL!!!
Yeah Fred, I am.
It's like when my DA told me not to pay attention to my cops 'cause " You're the lawyer - you're smarter than they are." WHAT?????
I did as my coppers suggested & then went back & told the boss. Wasn't much he could do at that point. We'd already been on at 6 & 11. Thirty seven arrests in 3 hours.
Huh. Gotta love those who think they're smarter than the rest of us. I once went with a friend, at his invitation, to a MENSA meeting in Spokane, WA. The best term I could find to describe those people was rather British; they were a bunch of insufferable prigs.
Obama must be with MENSA then, because he is(read your last comment). I like this format, I can't handle it in large doses either. I tend to hide under the bed, in serious depression.
Glad you like the format. Hope the couch potatoes will, too, when they go to Googling a day or two before the elections.
I don't get depressed, but the upper lip tends to rise to unbelievable levels on the right side. Believe it's called a snarl.
I'm sure Obama's MENSA.
I understand the snarl and will raise you an eyebrow that Katy says goes to my hairline.
Fred - my Mother was in MENSA! She went to a few meetings at the local Gin Mill and then just - STOPPED!
Why? "British Public School Prigs."
Ruth had a way of making a point! Never went back - although she always told people and I put it in her Obituary. Smart lady!
P.S. I sure never want to be at the other end of YOUR snarl!!! LOL!!
Becky: Hey, at least you've GOT a hairline!
Curiously enough (for whatever it's worth), it's the right-lipside up for a snarl, left eyebrow up for skepticism. Probably a whole science in there somewhere.
Patti: LOL for your Mother and me hitting on the same "Prigs" description! Great minds think alike. Maybe we could say great American minds think alike...and found the GAMTA organization. Or perhaps a simple APA: Anti-Prig Association.
I'm pretty sure you'd never need be concerned about being on the other end of my snarl. I tend to save that for uniquely deserving folks. :)
Oh, I also have the right side snarl but am ambidextrous with the eyebrows. Katy says that the arch and thinness of the eyebrow adds to the menace of it. I know that when it goes up, my kids stop doing what they are doing and sit on their hands and zip the lips. Even the ones that are bigger than me.
I am skeptical every time he opens his mouth. I am wondering how much of what he is saying, is an outright lie and how much is pure fabrication and imagination. He does have a wonderful imagination. He thinks he is doing what is good for us and that we want it.
As for the hairline, it is still a hairline even if there is no hair there anymore.
Understood on the Mom thing. Pam's son, Zach, would know EXACTLY what you're talking about.
Hm. Wouldn't that be a hairless line, then? (Still got some on the sides and back, but nothing on top.)
Beautiful,beautiful, beautiful
Vote up+
kay
Wow, Kay. "Beautiful x 3!" THANKS. Never got one of THOSE before! :)
The wildlife were out in Snowmass, Co. too in the construction sites, all day no matter what kind of noise.
I left off at #4 when my old laptop lost the wifi connection, had to rebuild the one with the good wifi....lol
I can picture with Snowmass wildlife (noise or no noise).
Know what you mean about laptop rebuilds. Got two of them sitting on a shelf a few feet from my work table, and they both need a bit of TLC.
I cheat my brother is an IT, if he can fix it remotely he does, he sends me parts for the hardware issues and no instructions...lol ..at least I am mechanically inclined and don't need them... never opened a laptop until this one..replaced the hard drive... the other one needs wifi and memory as I filled it up and that gave him gales of laughs as he'd never seen a full memory.. I have another project laptop that neither of us has had any luck fixing, just a matter of time
He'd never seen a full memory?
Your bro has led a sheltered life! :)
I think it was more he couldn't wrap his mind around the size of the full memory and that I had filled it and that was the root of some of my computer issues...he works with whole business/commercial systems, that may be why.
Danny@dijitul Level 1 Commenter 3 months ago
Very creative post, like most of yours that I've read...however how anyone can practically say that wildlife enjoy having their habitat drilled in, is beyond me...