New York State, After Seven Years Of Study, Says "No" To Fracking; Shell Almost Ready To Drill Arctic Off Alaska -- June 29, 2015

See this post for explanation why blogging has slowed down (I'm on vacation). For the family I will post a journal of sorts here, but it is not intended for the general public. You won't miss anything by not going to that site.

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New Refinery Celebration

From a press release today:

June 29, 2015 - Several hundred business and government leaders today celebrated the success of the first greenfield fuels refinery built in the U.S. in nearly 40 years. The Dakota Prairie refinery, which began operating on May 4, 2015, is capable of processing 20,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude oil. It is supplying about 7,000 barrels per day (bpd) of diesel fuel to help offset North Dakota's need to import nearly two-thirds of its diesel supply.

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France New York Continues To Find Fracking Unsafe

Rigzone is reporting:

New York has formalized its ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas after a seven-year environmental and health review.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens announced the decision Monday, saying a ban was the "only reasonable alternative" after "years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts."

The agency concluded that existing safety precautions are inadequate to protect against harm to water, air, ecosystems, wildlife, community character and public health. 

Of course, this comes just a few weeks after the EPA says fracking is perfectly safe. 

The agency concluded that "existing safety precautions are inadequate to protect against harm to water, air, ecosystems, wildlife, community character and public health."

Sounds like a "personal problem." New York state did not say fracking was not safe. The state agency simply said the state did not have in place the necessary rules and regulations to ensure safe fracking. Meanwhile, the rest of the country was able to put in place "safety precautions" that met the high standards of the EPA.

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Arctic Exploration To Begin

Reuters via Rigzone is also reporting: Shell could begin Arctic oil exploration off Alaska as early as July.

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This Will Keep The Riff-Raff Out

The Atlantic was one of the first, if not the first, to proclaim that the Bakken boom was over some years ago and then the Bakken continued to boom. Apparently the editors over at The Atlantic were embarrassed because now the same editors say the Bakken boom is a bust.

This is the link to the article.  This is the response by Rob Port, Say Anything Blog. I'll trust Rob's analysis before The Atlantic's. As with "boom," I don't think we have a good definition for "bust." But the economic numbers for North Dakota hardly suggest a "bust." Be that as it may, The Atlantic story has a huge silver lining. If the word gets out that the boom is over, or that the boom has gone bust, it might help keep the riff-raff out of the state. Hopefully the riff-raff will hear the story that the boom is over in North Dakota and they won't come to North Dakota without a plan. Hopefully the drug dealers and those involved in human trafficking will avoid North Dakota.

The good news: the Bakken isn't going to go away.

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Miscellaneous News and Comments

Greece says they will sue if the EU kicks them out. Who exactly will they be suing, and who exactly will hear the case? And exactly what does it mean to be in the "eurozone" if you have no cash? This is going to be very interesting to watch.  But first things first; they have a huge $2 billion bill to pay tomorrow, to the IMF, which Greece has already blown off.

It is interesting to read some of the quotes being attributed to Chief Justice Roberts to his fellow Supremes, complaining they are not following rule of law. After his explanation of why he voted to save ObamaCare, he has no leg on which to stand. Not only has he lost all credibility, he is now just one of the nine; no longer worthy to be considered chief. Regardless of which side of the fence you are standing, Chief Justice Roberts' explanation of why he "voted" to allow the federal exchange was neither scholarly nor defensible.

It blew me away when I heard on the radio that the court ruled against the EPA with regard to new restrictions or new guidelines affecting coal plants.