Idle Rambling On A Saturday Morning -- Something To Take One's Mind Off The Crushing Government Shutdown -- January 20, 2018

Wow, I'm in a good mood. A reader told me that one of the things he likes about the blog: the links to other sites, found on the sidebar at the right. I don't know if he's talking about links to other Bakken-related sites; other shale oil sites in general; other energy sites;, or the sites that have nothing to do with the Bakken or energy.

I've always said one cannot fully understand the Bakken without putting it in perspective. I don't often go to all the other linked sites -- there is simply not enough time -- but last night I went through the links of "non-Bakken featured blogs." I continue to be impressed by all of them, including:

• not a lot of people know that
• wind energy watch
• Joanne Nova from down under
• deplorable climate science
• ice age now

At wind energy watch, I was particularly stuck by the situation in Hawaii. It turns out that the wind farms are killing bats. From the link:

Decades after the Hawaiian hoary bat was labeled an endangered species, its population remains a mystery to scientists – which is why Maui conservation groups are hesitant over one wind farm’s request to increase the number of bats it’s allowed to incidentally kill.

Kaheawa Wind Power II, a 21-megawatt wind energy facility on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains, wants to increase the number of permitted bat fatalities from 11 to 62 adults and nene fatalities from 30 to 48 adults over the next 15 years.

But this is how the wind developer responded to those concerned about the bats:

“Just because we’re killing more than we thought we would kill doesn’t mean we should get a permit to kill more,” Albert Perez, executive director of Maui Tomorrow, said during a public hearing Monday. “We may be undermining the recovery of the species. We have no idea because we don’t know the true population.”

“Just because we’re killing more than we thought we would kill doesn’t mean we should get a permit to kill more,” 

The other sites had similarly interesting articles that I would otherwise miss.

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Meme: Nuclear Energy Is Very Cheap

I plead guilty. I've always said nuclear energy, along with coal, is/are the least expensive forms of energy. Maybe not.

It's a long, long story, but bottom line is this: when one factors int he cost of cleaning up a nuclear plant mishap/accident/disaster, those cost savings/cheap energy arguments disappear fairly quickly.

A reader alerted me to an update on the clean-up costs of the Fukushima nuclear power plant:

The government has said that it expects total costs for decommissioning, decontamination and compensation to reach 21.5 trillion yen ($194 billion).

I don't know what "$194 billion" means to the Japanese. But this puts it in perspective: 

The national budget of Japan, a record-high, is somewhere north of $800 billion.  So, this cleanup will cost the equivalent of 1/4 of the nation's entire current budget. 

But it gets worse: the banker's "rule of 72":

According to Wiki, that number in 2012 was only $100 billion.  So, that number has doubled in 5 years. The bankers' convenient "Rule of 72" would work out to a 14 percent annual increase.  If I'm still around in 2022, I'll check, and will expect that cleanup number to be increased to $400 billion (roughly half of this year's budget for the entire nation of Japan)  What a crushing weight on that economy.

So, put that in your nuclear pipe and smoke it the next time someone, like me, tells you that nculear energy is inexpensive. Or better yet, tell it to the Japanese.

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Amazon HQ2 And United 

This is pretty cool. A couple of days ago I  posted my thoughts on where Jeff Bezos would site Amazon HQ2: Raleigh, NC. [Of course, running a close second would be northern Virginia due to the proximity of his Washington Post headquarters.] But I digress.

So, it was quite coincidental/timely that I came across United Van Lines annual "2017 United Movers Study"and the "North American Moving Services 2017 US Migration Report."

At the link to the United Van Lines, note the map is interactive.

The data appears very similar but I prefer the red/blue/grey map that North American has.

United survey - outbound:

• the list pretty much stays the same from the previous year
• two new stays have made the top ten list: Massachusetts and Wisconsin
• Illinois moved to the top of the list; it had been in the top five for the past nine years 
• notables on the outbound list: New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts (in the American survey below -- Maine and Rhode Island have both gone back and forth in inbound and outbound moves -- thus rounding out the New England states for the most part)

United survey - inbound:

• new to the list: Colorado and Alabama
• notables on the inbound list: South Dakota, Washington, and Oregon

American survey - outbound:

• top five: Illinois, CT, NJ, CA, and Michigan
• California made its first debut in the top 5 most outbound states
• Connecticut has consistently been in the top ten of outbound moves since 2013; it was #1 in 2013, and #2 last year (2017)

Much, much more at the two links.
American survey - inbound:

• top five: AZ, ID, NC, SC, TN -- and that's why I think Bezos will lean toward Raleigh, NC
• Tennessee made its first debut in the top 5 most inbound states 

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How's The Blog Doing?

Glad you asked. A screenshot of a google search earlier this morning: