The Weekly Standard is reporting:
Kathleen Sebelius had one final glitch on her way out the door. At her resignation celebration at the White House Rose Garden today, she was missing the final page from her prepared remarks. "Unfortunately, a page is missing," Sebelius said. The crowd laughed.Sure.
Pretty much explains everything in the administration. One fry short of a happy meal.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican from Sebelius' home
state of Kansas, called the resignation "a prudent decision" given what
she called the total failure of Obamacare implementation.
It's really too bad about the implementation of ObamaCare. It was such a good law.
It's really too bad about the implementation of ObamaCare. It was such a good law.
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But Back To The Bakken
Oil is overflowing along the gulf. Nowhere to go; can't be exported. And yet WTI surges over $104 for no obvious reason. What gives?
Bloomberg is reporting:
Houston and the rest of the U.S. Gulf Coast have more crude oil than the region can handle.
Stockpiles in the region centered on Houston and stretching to New Mexico in the west and Alabama in the east rose to 202 million barrels in the week ended April 4, the most on record, Energy Information Administration data released yesterday show.
Storage tanks are filling as new pipelines carry light, sweet oil found in shale formations to the coast and U.S. law keeps companies from moving it out. Most crude exports are banned and the 13 ships that can legally move oil between U.S. ports are booked solid. The federal Jones Act restricts domestic seaborne trade to vessels owned, flagged and built in the U.S. and crewed by citizens.
“You can’t get all that light, sweet crude out, it’s all kind of piling up,” said Jeff McGee, the founder of Makai Marine Advisors LLC in Dallas, who previously led research at two shipbrokers and worked as a refinery planner. “You couldn’t find a spot Jones Act ship to save your life right now.”Regular readers of the blog know (from RBN Energy) that there is a shortage of Jones Act ships. One of my regular readers was not able to understand the Jones Act issue, though she claimed to have taken a maritime law course "years ago." LOL.
The president, of course, is completely caught unawares of the Jones Act unintended consequences. He continues to show incredible ineptness. Where's the energy secretary? Oh, that's right. He is probably looking for the missing page of Ms Sebelius resignation speech; he may need it yet.
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In Ohio, Fracking Is Moving Tectonic Plates
CNBC is reporting:
State regulators for the first time have linked earthquake activity in eastern Ohio to hydraulic fracturing, confirming the suspicions of activists pushing unsuccessfully for a drilling ban.
State Oil & Gas Chief Rick Simmers told The Associated Press on Friday that the state has halted drilling indefinitely at the site near Youngstown where five minor tremors occurred in March following investigative findings of a probable link to fracking.
A deep-injection well for fracking wastewater was tied to earthquakes in the region in 2012.
Simmers says Ohio will require sensitive seismic monitoring as a condition of all new drilling permits within three miles of a known fault or existing seismic activity of 2.0 or greater. Drilling will pause for evaluation with any tremor of 1.0 magnitude and will be halted if a link is found.Makes the state of North Dakota look better and better every day.
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I assume banning fracking in some areas in Ohio will just about kill small operators in Ohio. Chesapeake, I assume, is in deep, deep do-do.