The Hypocrisy In Minnesota .. But Who Cares ... North Dakota + Texas Produce More Oil Than Canada; Cold War II

Several story lines in this otherwise typical story coming out of Minnesota and being reported by The Dickinson Press:

A group of Minnesota residents drove to the state Capitol on Tuesday to deliver a petition calling for a ban on silica sand mining in southeast Minnesota, but Gov. Mark Dayton said he wouldn’t act without the Legislature.

More correctly:

A group of Minnesota residents drove to the state Capitol in their gas-guzzling SUVs to deliver a petition calling for a ban on silica sand mining in southeast Minnesota, but Gov. Mark Dayton said he wouldn’t act without the Legislature.

The hypocrisy.

For newbies, let your hearts be still. If Minnesota bans sand mining, it only affects Minnesota. There's plenty of sand in Wisconsin and elsewhere. And if Mr Obama bans sand mining across the entire US, there's plenty of ceramic proppant from Russia and China. The cost will be passed on to consumers at the pump. What is gasoline now, $3.75/gallon in the Twin Cities and rising?

Regardless of how it plays out, Mr Dayton is correct: let local communities decide. My hunch is that the majority of communities will let the sand mining continue.

What should happen is folks opposing oil drilling should be forced to ride bicycles until they come to their senses.

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Texas and North Dakota Produce More Oil Than Canada

I guess this is why President Obama really isn't all that concerned about the western Canadian oil sands ( he apparently doesn't understand the difference, and the importance, of heavy vs light oil, based on his non-decisions): Texas and North Dakota are now producing more oil than Canada. That's pretty impressive. North Dakota, #2 in the US, and Texas, #1 in the US, for oil production, together produce more oil than all of Canada.

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The Cold War II

I don't watch television as a rule except NASCAR, "Cosmos," and perhaps a few other occasional offerings but certainly not much, and certainly not news. Tonight my wife had the television on for some reason -- oh, that's right -- to see the story about the Supreme Court and the affirmative action case coming out of Wisconson. I happened to go in to the bedroom and saw John Kerry talking about the Cold War. I guess that's it: Cold War II has begun on/about April 22, 2014 -- President Obama and President Putin.

Interestingly, there appears to be another Cold War developing: this one between Texas and the Feds with regard to BLM land.