Rep. Michele Bachmann, a lawyer now turned petroleum geologist, announced to a South Carolina crowd recently, “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. The day that President Obama became president,” she said, “gasoline was $1.79 a gallon. Look what it is today.”
Actually gasoline was $1.90 during President Obama’s inauguration week, a sharp drop from over $4 during the second Bush term. The drop was primarily caused by the major recession in the latter days of the Bush administration.
Bachmann also talked about U.S. oil reserves. “What Barack Obama has done is to lock up America’s energy reserves,” she said. “We’re the No. 1 energy-resource-rich nation in the world. We have more oil in three Western states in the form of shale oil than all the oil in Saudi Arabia.”
Oil companies have spent billions and several decades on the “vast shale oil deposits” in those three western states that she lists as exceeding Saudi Arabia’s reserves. So far that so-called shale oil has produced nothing because it isn’t oil. It’s a very low grade substance called kerogen which nature never got around to cooking into oil. All attempts to complete nature’s task have required lots of water and power. And the process for shale oil releases toxic material into ground water. As a minimum, any shale oil production would require oil prices well above $100/barrel. That oil price equates to $4 a gallon gas, not exactly Bachmann’s announced target for her presidency. Success with western shale oil has been five years away for the past 60 years.
She also touts the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, Alaska’s ANWR, and drilling off our coasts as sources that could bring down world oil prices. The Bakken is a substantial resource which requires expensive horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracking. It is not economic with oil at prices which would allow gas below $2 a gallon. The best estimates of economically recoverable oil from Alaska’s ANWR range up to about 6 billion barrels. That’s one year U.S. usage, not 30 years as Bachmann suggested in a recent Star Tribune editorial.
As to off-shore drilling, more leases have already been awarded than the industry is prepared to drill. You don’t take a $400,000/day drill ship out to sea to poke random holes in the ocean floor. Good seismic data will take years.
Her statement about Obama ‘locking up America’s energy reserves’ doesn’t jibe with recent production data. During Obama’s term, monthly U.S. oil production has risen from 157 million barrels to 175 million. Natural gas production has gone from 1.7 trillion cubic feet/month to 1.9 trillion during Obama’s term. Is the president responsible for this? No. Just as he is not responsible for fluctuations, up or down, in world oil and gasoline prices. Even with recent production increases, U.S. oil output is less than 7 percent of world output. The factors which affect the huge world oil market are beyond the control of even a President Bachmann.
There is one way she might bring down gasoline prices. That would be by implementing policies which repeat the severe recession of 2008/2009. Instead of that, I think she naively believes that she can affect world oil prices by flooding the market with American oil. This makes her just another politician who makes statements in an area where she has little knowledge.
ROLF E. WESTGARD is a professional member of the Geological Society of America who will teach the class this fall on Peak Oil and Peak Water for the University of Minnesota Lifelong Learning program. A supporter of the DFL Party, he has residences in Deerwood and St. Paul. He is a member of the Brainerd Dispatch Advisory Board.
Comments (35)
Add commentRolf
God you are a bore. Your anti-republican stance makes little of what you say worthwhile reading. You and that halfwit Ward can go skipping daown the raod together, just take the blinders off before you go!
Who are those people that
Who are those people that whine and snivel about name-calling, pdnet?
...that halfwit Ward ...
C'mon, buddy, you can do better than that. Ward's no dummy.
There is a great deal more to Rolf's piece than "anti-Republican". In fact, it might interest you to know that there is a significant portion of Republicanism that rolls their eyes at Bachmann, but generally says little for fear of lending legitimacy to her words.
Bachmann isn't that dumb, but plays to an element that wants to be. I'm sure she knows that she doesn't really stand a chance, but she does want the notoriety, and probably wants access to certain circles that is denied now. So she gets it by pretending to give voice to folks that don't want to have a sophisticated understanding of reality and the 21st century.
Can Bachmann deliver on that promise? Does it matter?
There's the real debate engendered by Westgaard's piece.
ey
I should apologise to rolf, for you truly are a bigger bore, but I just cannot seem to lower myself to level.
Bachmann; the oil dummy
Michele Bachmann is a smart lady. But she made the mistake of entering my ball park, and she struck out.
I think the Blessed Bachmann
I think the Blessed Bachmann is just ahead of her time. She should have waited until the GOP completely dismantles the public education system from K-12 to higher ed.
Then the only people that know she's a flake will be the ones who will benefit from her actions.
Good
Good article Rolf. The people that don't understand what you wrote are the ones that like Miss Spoke Bachmann and think she has a chance. The ones that understand you are the ones laughing about her chance.
Ironic
First of all Rolf, she talked about the economics and politics of energy, not geology. And, I find it ironic that its ok for you to think you know what you're talking about when you talk about politics, but you take offense when someone you disagree with talks about the economics of energy.
Getagrip
Good post but way over his head!!!
In this context, I don't
In this context, I don't think oil geology and oil economics CAN be separated. There isn't any way Bachmann can possibly cause the price of a gallon of gas to drop by $2.00/gallon, except perhaps by doing all she could to force the economy from recession into full-fledged depression.
Wouldn't be that hard; some in the Tea Party actually wanted that as part of their Debt-ceiling plan, but that isn't the topic of this thread.
Bachmann is banking on enough die-hard supporters to help her make a statement; while she probably can't win either the nomination or a national election, there seems to be sizeable number of people who feel that they can, through sheer political will, force this nation and the world back into the 18th century. Bachmann is probably smart enough that she doesn't actually belong to that group...but she sure wants the limelight!
Getagrip will save her
Finally, one champion knight rides to the defense of Michele Bachmann. Where are all her other supporters?
If I wanted to know about taxes, I would ask someone like Bachmann who is a tax attorney.
But if Bachmann wants to speak on oil resources, she doesn't ask questions; she just mouths off. IMO that is what makes her so dangerous.
I'm sure Bachmann has no
I'm sure Bachmann has no geologist advising her, you know Rolf kinda like Newt didnt
She
She won't take advice from anyone, she think she knows it all. That too is dangerous. She's dangerous.
Legislator learning progress
I testified at a committee hearing in St Paul on the nuclear ban bill. A fellow testifier was an expert from Cameco, the big Canadian company which mines and processes uranium for nuclear reactors.
A DFL legislator launched into a dissertation claiming that tritium(a radioactive hydrogen isotope) in nuclear plant discharge water made nuclear a no-no for energy generation. Instead of asking the Cameco person who was there to provide information, she gave a speech which made it clear that she didn't know tritium from table salt. Numerous tests have shown that tritium discharges are not a hazard to human health.
This year I have published quite a few articles on energy in papers like the Dispatch and the Star Tribune. The only legislators who have asked me for information on the subject have been Republicans. ALL calls from my fellow DFLers have been requests for money.
pdnet15.......
Some people are smart enough to address the message!
Some are not.
The more simple-minded people attack the messenger!!!!
pdnet15
Don't be too hard on pdnet. Drinking all that Tea does things to people.
rolf
Calling every democrat a liberal is the same thing as calling every republican a teapartier. While I agree with many of the things they say, I wouldn't call myself teaparty material. Kind of stupid on your part to pigeon hole people you don't even know. Let's hope you use more intelligence in the classroom.
Another
Rolf-fest.
Why is it every time this former DFL Chair and BDD Advisory Board member gets an opinion piece in this rag, over half the comments posted are from HIM?
C'mon, Rolf. You've had your spotlight.
What an utter and complete waste of time.
Just keep mouthing the phrase, "she's dangerous, she's dangerous, she's dangerous...."
Bleak times for Michele fans; not so dangerous now
The rise of Gov. Perry has sent Michele Bachmann to the showers, and the danger of her candidacy has passed.
So Illdrummer and other Bachmann worshippers now have to lash out at the nearest target and then find a way to drown their sorrows.
Pigeon holing people
From pdnet: "Kind of stupid on your part to pigeon hole people you don't even know. "
Since most of you hide behind an alias, I just have to go by the content of your posts. Your first one called me a 'bore' and Representative John Ward a 'halfwit'. Looks like pigeon holing to me. At least you know who we are.
Rolf W.
Perry vs Bachmann
Two of a kind...what a pair to draw to...both will be history by next fall. Neither will want to lose their current jobs knowing they would be unemployed come Nov. 2012.
kinda like you rolf
rolf says "the earth knew it needed more carbon when we had super continents"
Yup, thats your great education! As the hillbilly's down south would say...."well how do it know?"
Lildrummer
Lildrummer: I think its hilarious that Rolf has so many fans that want to engage him...and he's very generous to them, giving freely of himself.
Its all about eyeballs reading the ads. If teh website owner thought they could do OK with a Mkckey Mouse byline, it would certainly appear here. If you want Rolf to dissappear, ignore him and talk everybody else into that too.
Fake quote
rolf says "the earth knew it needed more carbon when we had super continents"
This one is new to me. Rolf
rolf says...
"rolf says "the earth knew it needed more carbon when we had super continents"
This one is new to me. Rolf"
You don't suppose the republiklans would make [filtered word] up , do you? Nah, couldn't be!!!
Tea party fakes
If they are to make up a fake quote, at least have it make sense. But then that would stretch their knowledge.
hypocrisy from southnet
Are you seriously schizophrenic?
You are breaking your own rule:
"Why not comment on the article instead of the poster?"
Get some meds.
Bachmann in Florida - unintelligent design
Bachmann's latest geologic nonsense is her support of drilling in the Everglades. The Everglades are not considered a promising location for a lot of oil, and they are very fragile.
I'll call this "unintelligent design".
Hadn't heard that one, Rolf.
Hadn't heard that one, Rolf. LOL
But don't worry...Most level headed folks know she's a goofball, and she won't be going anywhere up the chain of command.
Republican nomination and the loose cannon from MN
Wolf: I'm not that good at political predictions, but I think cooler heads will prevail with Romney or Perry getting the nod.
Very interesting New Yorker article on Michele this week.
I think she really needs a coach to get her off these screwball comments. Her latest is that God sent Irene to Washington to send a message to legislators and Obama.
Rolf
She's a dingbat!
She's a dingbat!