is the whole world going nuts

<$BlogMetaData$>Is the whole world going nuts?


Have you ever had the feeling that no matter what you said that it didn’t mean squat? Well, after over 350 people and companies submitted letters to the state of South Dakota DENR, they came out with a ruling this week that doesn’t surprise anyone. Hyperion is allowed an 18 month extension from the date of the awarding of the clean air permit. This means that construction doesn’t have to start until sometime in 2013 or possibly 2014, depending when the Board of Minerals makes its ruling. If ever there was a kangaroo court, this is the perfect example of how it works. Whatever Hyperion wants, Hyperion gets, and pretty baby little Hyperion wants you!. (Paraphrase of whatever Lola wants.) For the life of me, I do not understand what it is that Hyperion has over the state officials, but it must be a doozie. After the last batch of comments, there is no way the DENR should grant or even consider an extension to Hyperion. Why are we the only people in the state that is concerned about the dangers of what the heck is coming down the road? If this was good for the state and good for Union County, I’m sure we would not have the attitude that we have, but it isn’t and we are not giving in.

Guess what I have been seeing on TV commercials for the last week. Not one time, but at least 3 or 4 times a night for an entire week? EXXON MOBIL has been advertising the great advantages of refining tar sands! As far as I can determine, EXXON doesn’t even own any refineries that have anything to do with tar sands. This is really weird. What scares me about this is that this is a precursor to buying/partnering Hyperion. The sickening part of that whole deal is it is our money that is making this possible. $4 a gallon gas is just plain stupid.

There were 5 BIG oil CEO’s who testified before congress last week about the paltry bonuses they received last year. ($ millions) They deserved every penny they got. How crazy is that? It isn’t their fault that we are paying over $4 for each gallon of gas. It is the fault of speculators and investors in 401’s. Are you kidding me? Did they ever mention once; shortages - - no because there isn’t a shortage. They made these bonuses because they are astute businessmen.

TransCanada has a pump station fail last week and there was a 500 barrel oil spill. This is just one incident of 10 last year. The problem is that the pipeline has only been running one year. This is just ludicrous! Somebody needs a good dose of reality. How about castor oil? (Little play on words there)

North Dakota has started an official investigation into the Keystone pipeline. They say that the tar sands are too corrosive for the pipe and that it causes undue stress and premature failure. Guess what TransCanada’s response is? Not true! This is no more corrosive that anything else. What a load of crap. I cannot understand where common sense disappeared to in this whole rotten mess. How can anyone be so naive as to believe this system is safe? And this comes at a time when negotiations for the XL pipeline are crucial for them to ship tar sands across the international border.

This is total insanity. President Obama has borrowed a page from Sarah Palin. It is DRILL BABY DRILL! In his radio address last Saturday he is advocating offshore drilling in the Arctic, Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. There isn’t any place left. If there was a shortage of oil I could almost understand this, but there is no such thing.

The argument that Hyperion is using that this will be the greenest refinery because a refinery hasn’t been built in 35 years. Has anyone ever asked why no refineries have been built? It is because the refineries that we have now are either closed or operating at half capacity because there is a glut of oil on the market. Hello!

Well folks, I got all that off my chest for this week didn’t I? I still am unable to understand why people cry and poop in the corner about the high price of gas but continue to drive like there is no tomorrow. If you drive 65 on the interstate, people will pass you like you are going backwards. The oil companies must be paying lobbyists a ton of money to make sure oil keeps plugging along. I hate to show my age, but mandatory speed limits of 55 and rationing of gas isn’t pretty. They always say be careful what you ask for because you might get it. Well watch out America!