Houston, We Have A Problem

I'm pretty proud of this -- memo to self: take a selfie of patting myself on the back -- I think I was the first non-industry observer who writes a blog on the Bakken to suggest that the biggest problem with flaring did not occur on private or state-controlled land, but in fact, the biggest problem with flaring in the North Dakota Bakken was on federal and BLM-controlled land, i.e., the reservation.

Today The Dickinson Press is reporting:

Sen. John Hoeven and two senators from Wyoming introduced federal legislation Wednesday that aims to reduce natural gas flaring.

The Natural Gas Gathering Enhancement Act seeks to expedite the permitting of natural gas gathering lines located on federal and Indian lands.

Hoeven, R-N.D., cited a recent report from the North Dakota Petroleum Council Flaring Task Force that said 40 percent of natural gas production is flared at oil wells on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, while 27 percent of natural gas production is flared at oil wells on state and private lands.

I came up with the same conclusion using minimal data. Knowing how folks like to round numbers ot make things not appear as bad as they really are, my hunch is that almost half of all natural gas production on the reservation is being flared. Almost half. Wow. Our federal government at work. Or not at work.

Here's the selfie next to a sign at the Dallas Arboretum:

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Malaysian Airways Flight MH370

July 30, 2018: final report in --

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was likely steered off course deliberately by someone and flew over the Southern Indian Ocean for over seven hours after communications were severed, according to a safety report into the disaster released Monday.

the dots connect --

• wiki link here
• pilot close friend and relative of Anwar Ibrahim
• Ibrahim initially denied even knowing the pilot; in fact, it turns out, they met many times
• Ibrahim found guilty of sodomy by an appellate court on March 7, 2014
• pilot of downed plane went home to hear news of the court's decision prior to going back to work
• MH370 disappears on March 8, 2014, after flying for seven hours over south Indian Ocean
• time for a psychological thriller on the big screen

March 14, 2014: it's all starting to come together. Reuters is reporting:

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast. 

This indicates that it was either being flown by the pilots or someone with knowledge of those waypoints, the sources said.

I said from the beginning the answer lies with the pilot. 


Posted March 13, 2014, 4:25 pm central time: US officials now believe that the missing 777 airliner crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean. To the best of my knowledge, there are only two facts with regard to Malaysian Airways Flight MH370:

• the plane is missing
• the transponders were turned off with no preceding "Mayday"

Sherlock Holmes says: "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

It is not improbably at all. It is equidistant from point of departure in Malaysia to Beijing to safe runways from which Al-Qaeda can operate. If it was a pilot or co-pilot suicide, there would be no reason for the plane to deviate that far off course, and if the American officials are to be believed, even less reason to wait until over the Indian Ocean.

If the plane crashed into the ocean, water-activated beacons should have gone off but would not be picked up if they were "out of range."

One expert suggests this plane was not hijacked because a) radar would have picked up the hijacked plane; and, b) no terrorist group has claimed responsibility.

I don't consider the "radar would have picked up the hijacked plane" as "reasonable." As it is, hijacked or not hijacked it was not picked up by radar. If the group that wanted the plane for future use, there would be no purpose of claiming credit for a hijacking.

It will be interesting to learn WHY the US thinks the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean.

By the way, a lot of ink has been used in reporting this story for the past several days, since the plane went missing. It is interesting that one aspect of the story has received absolutely no attention. None. Zilch. Nada. Nil. And that's where the answer lies.