Are the oil-and-gas exceptions statutory or regulatory? I.e., could a new presidential administration change things?
I'm confused, 'FM', (so no change there, then) but a few posts back you were keening about the high price of oil brought about by a huge increases in demand world-wide. Now you are complaining because your governemnt wants American oil companies to get more of it for you from inside America, thus, mitigating your reliance on foreign supplies. Even if the polar bears are under threat, a doubtful proposition, would it matter? I mean, the polar bears don't give a stuff about you except as a potential food source!
Actually David I think the price oil is too low. Yeah I complain about the price but the reality is that I think the price on the world market does not adequately reflect the value of this non renewable resource not does it reflect the cost of using it(pollution, CO2, etc.)
As to the polar bears...my problem is not with domestic exploration per se but with the fact that once more the oil companies are given a by on the endangered species act just because they are oil companies and big funders of our corrupt political system. They are already gifted with huge tax breaks and subsidies and inexpensive leases on public lands for which we get no value.
Finally, the polar bear is merely another symbol and early warning signal of what our own plight may be in the near future. Granted, the concern for me is as you said mostly food related but hopefully being a little more aware I realize that so goes the polar bear so goes me.
I slipped on the ice today hurrying to send you this cheering news - you've sounded a bit down since leaving "this scepter'd Isle" - so you canstop worrying about the polar bears:
"On a global basis, world sea ice in April 2008 reached levels that were “unprecedented” for the month of April in over 25 years. Levels are the third highest (for April) since the commencement of records in 1979, exceeded only by levels in 1979 and 1982. This continues a pattern established earlier in 2008, as global sea ice in March 2008 was also the third highest March on record, while January 2008 sea ice was the second highest January on record. It was also the second highest single month in the past 20 years (second only to Sept 1996).
The graph below shows the monthly anomaly (aggregating NH and SH), collating information from sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135."
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=3066
David, David, David you will have to do better than the crackpot Steve McIntyre for your sources. He is a known liar and has proven ties to the oil and gas industry.
The following is from Sourcewatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/
index...tephen_McIntyre
Stephen McIntyre is, according to the Wall Street Journal, a "semiretired Toronto minerals consultant" who has spent "two years and about $5,000 of his own money trying to double-check the influential graphic" known as the "hockey stick" that illustrates a reconstruction of average surface temperatures in the Northern hemisphere, created by University of Virginia climatologist Michael Mann. McIntyre claims Mann and his colleagues used "flawed methods that yield meaningless results," the Journal writes.[1]
McIntyre does not have an advanced degree and has published two articles in the journal Energy and Environment, which has become a venue for skeptics and is not carried in the ISI listing of peer-reviewed journals.[2] McIntyre was also exposed for having unreported ties to CGX Energy, Inc., an oil and gas exploration company, which listed McIntyre as a "strategic advisor." [3]
Here is a little better link...and the good news is they actually have satellite pictures and actual scientists working for them.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/
earth...e_meltdown.html
'FM', I know all of that, I have been reading McIntyre (and trusting him) for years but the point you miss is that he is not speaking for himself but quoting another source which which appears to be, er, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration! Are they shysters, too?
Perhaps we can agree that all these government employed scientists really should try and agree amongst themselves before selling us a dodgy bill of goods
Indefatigable as I am in my duty to cheer you up, i realise that Steve McIntyre is never going to be top of your Xmas card list, so if he is deemed unreliable, will the Canadian government do?
"The latest *government* survey of polar bears roaming the vast Arctic expanses of northern Quebec, Labrador and southern Baffin Island show the population of polar bears has jumped to 2,100 animals from around 800 in the mid-1980s." (my emphasis)
http://www.nationalpost.com/news...39-
b71a9e5df868
Now then, are you feeling better?
Thanks for all your efforts David. I am very engrossed with work now and don't have time to research all of this. Let's just agree to disagree on this subject for the time being. I think the polar bears are in trouble and you don't. Thanks for trying to cheer me up.
Hey i am a polar bear and i am over joyed for the protection that we have now that we are put onto the endangered species list. =] But the point that we are endangered is sad
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