19 Comments

  1. Interesting article! I’m from Naples, FL and I had no idea that there was an oil reserve in the area. I can see people also protesting against oil drilling because the everglades are a massive wildlife refuge area with many endangered species.

  2. A good follow-up by the proceeds of Pandora would be to invite reps of all top environmental groups to a single forum and have a live webcast of their qualms about PP and nuclear energy to get it out exactly where they stand and won’t waver. Have them publically outright endorse/excuse oil and gas production and use over nuclear’s record. That’s what the public’s really missing here. There’s no fire of outrage in the belly to change because they’re clueless of nuclear’s true record and the opposition’s — which green groups don’t hawk.

    James Greenidge
    Queens NY

  3. Oil from Florida’s approximately 52 existing wells (2005) in 11 fields is rapidly drying up. I have no doubt theyll go for it eventually. The two sites in Florida are also being considered for fracking that are roughly I believe in the same area(s) you mentioned. Sunniland field in southwest Florida and the Jay field in the Panhandle.

    Century Oil is considering Florida oil fracking. I think N gas is still on the table as well rod.

    After development, accidents and contamination issues I am also very worried about subsidence. I think the issue has been grossly glossed over but is critical, as in Louisiana, and beyond the Mississippi delta regions.

  4. It’s a pity that The Oil Drum is going inactive.  It would be fascinating to get an essay on Floridian petro-geology and how drilling is going in the second round.

    1. I have mixed feeling about the Oil Drum going inactive. On one hand I learned a lot from that site, but on the other hand there is way too much human hating going on in the comment section.

      1. Personally, I avoided the place the same way I avoid hanging out in lunatic asylums. Sure, you can learn a lot from the inmates, but you’re never sure which reality they’re talking about.

  5. If the oil companies are smart, they’ll “greenwash” the oil operation by building a few windmills to provide the power to pump the oil (and of course, diesel or methane backup generators for when the wind isn’t blowing, most of the time).

    I bet that would even pay them back – because, I may be wrong, but at current oil prices, I think even “expensive” wind power is considerably cheaper than oil? Why burn their product to pump the product, if they can use wind to do it part of the time, at least?

    1. Excellent point.  The same might work in the Athabasca area, if winds are strong there (they’re phenomenal in SK).  Excess electricity could be dumped to heaters to generate steam, displacing natural gas.

  6. On July 4th there was a protest in Naples for oil drilling that was about 1000 feet from homes ( http://www.fox4now.com/news/local/214340601.html )

    Im not sure if many of you are watching it but for a few days now the oil train story in Canada has been horrific if not all but ignored by the press. A train carrying oil (100 tons per car – 72 cars) broke free and derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec setting off explosions. 5 people are confirmed dead with 40 still missing. ( http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/08/lac_megantic_quebec_train_derailment_site_still_too_hot_to_search_for_40_missing.html ).

    1. I know that it’s had major news time here in Canada (Calgary, Alberta).

      It’s big news here as we are pretty much a close to Pipeline Central as you can get.

      1. I hope most of the missing are staying with relatives Curtis. I was looking at the area on google earth and the reports say there was a live performance at the Musi-Cafe ( 5078 Frontenac, Lac-Mégantic ) which looks to be only about 100 meters from the bend in the railroad. Above it its a straight shot into town. I can see how the cars could slide in that direction. I hope people were able to get out in the confusion and navigate to safety.

        1. It got quite some press in France. At start the Asiana flight had more, but it’s starting to get big.

          That Musi-Cafe has been leveled. I hope people had a warning and time to escape, but I’m not convinced.

          1. Exactly the same Australia. No coverage for the first couple of days, but it’s getting several minutes coverage on television news and from half a page or so in newspapers now there are some personal anecdotes and some ‘facts’ starting to emerge. Hope for the best for the ~40 missing people.

  7. Actually its just starting to get press. After a few days. Fukushima was front and center for months, with every nut and quack giving “expert” assessments, and it had no casualties. This has several and with oil still burning in the sewers and headed towards water is also likely to be much more environmentally destructive as well.

    1. Did you see the pictures of the town pretty much leveled by that train explosion? It looks like Dresden after the firebombing. The whole place was burned out. And Fukushima did nothing like that, yet the press beat it to death. Here is a real-life disaster and tragedy just across our border and it gets essentially no coverage, but something 15,000 miles away with no damage beyond the plant boundaries was covered like white on rice.

      1. Not just that, but any number of refinery and chemical-plant explosions and train accidents have had more and worse casualties than the Fukushima meltdowns.

        This totally irrational fear of harmless things must be called what it is:  a rampant phobia.

        1. In the telegraph today there is a “Former Fukushima nuclear plant boss dies of cancer ” headline. Its irritating to me that even I didn’t think it through and immediately thought about the accident. That would be highly unlikely given the timeframe, exposure and lack of other evidence/cases.

          The article didn’t mention any high risk behavior Yoshida might have engaged in, like smoking so I didn’t think it was an issue. Of course after quickly checking I found that wasn’t likely the case:

          He recalled in the interview often passing out cigarettes to workers in a heavily used smoking room beside the bunker during the disaster and once joked: “We don’t have the US army fire trucks we need but at least we have got smokes.”

          Its kinda ironic with current safety that the smoking room over time is probably the most proven dangerous part of a nuclear plant.

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