Mild Winter: Sharp Increase in Oil and Gas Production

Updates

January 29, 2013: problem in the Arctic -- too many polar bears. It looks like the smart polar bears are hanging around humans; the "mentally challenged" polar bears are getting stranded on shrinking ice floes. I can't make this stuff up.

Original Post

Still looking for the downside of global warming

Link here to Reuters:

Oil and gas companies like Denbury Resources Inc and Oasis Petroleum Inc said a mild winter in the Dakotas helped them produce more liquids in the first quarter, as they continued to shift away from dry gas.

Oil producers and explorers are increasingly directing their spending towards liquids-rich fields including the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas as low natural gas prices force companies to cut output.

By the way, speaking of "global warming," more than 1,300 new species of animals have been discovered in the past two decades:

• Conservation International is celebrating two decades of its successful Rapid Assessment Program (RAP), which has led to the discovery of over 1,300 new species, by releasing a list of its 20 "RAP Stars" -- the new species that have become international sensations with nicknames like "Yoda bat," "Dinospider," "Walking shark," and "Pinocchio frog."

In addition: 

• There are more than twice as many Emperor penguins than earlier estimates.  

• Canada's polar bear population has doubled in the past decade and are now considered "a problem" in some areas:

... and they claim the bear population is stable or on the rise in their own backyard. Polar bears may be on the decline in some areas, but during their frequent visits to Inuit towns and outposts they rarely decline an easy meal from the local dump or a poorly secured garbage can.

Harry Flaherty, chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board in the capital of Iqaluit, says the polar bear population in the region, along the Davis Strait, has doubled during the past 10 years. He questions the official figures, which are based to a large extent on helicopter surveys.

Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a biologist who has been researching polar bear populations in Canada's Nunavut Territory for 35 years, seems to agree.

And that rising ocean? 657 new islands discovered in 2011:

Conducted with state-of-the-art technology, a new global survey uncovered 657 more barrier islands around the world than previously thought.

As OurAmazingPlanet.com is reporting, researchers from Duke University and Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. identified a total of 2,149 barrier islands worldwide using satellite images, topographical maps and navigational charts. A similar survey, conducted without the aid satellite imagery, identified a mere 1,492 islands.