Something You Won't See In The Mainstream Media: Cool Temperatures Affecting Honeybees; Now It's Personal

I cannot make this stuff up.

Now it's honey.

The Rapid City Journal is reporting:

A month-long string of cooler temperatures in the Dakotas this summer has honey producers anticipating a drop in the states' honey crops.

North Dakota and South Dakota are the nation's top two honey producing states, with North Dakota churning out 34 million pounds in 2012 and South Dakota producing 17 million pounds.

Experts say those numbers will likely be down for 2013.

North Dakota is #1. I did not know South Dakota was #2, but it must be. I thought California was #2, but apparently property taxes on beehives got too expensive, and the bees downsized their hives. Joking. 

So, now it's too cool and honey production will be affected.

And so it goes.

Essay On The Bakken Boom From The Federal Reserve Bank Of Minneapolis

I haven't read this article yet, but it's going to be a good one. It was sent to me be a regular reader (thank you); it's an essay from The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis regarding the Bakken boom.

When I get time, I will come back to it and pick out some highlights for the archives.

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This, from The Minot Daily News: 

WATFORD CITY - Watford City is in the midst of a complete make-over.
The once quiet community on the edge of the scenic North Dakota Badlands used to welcome visitors to a bit of the old West. Now it is renowned for something else - the epicenter of the Bakken oil boom.

"We are kind of in the eye of the storm now," said Gene Veeder, McKenzie County Tourism and Job Development Authority.

Veeder. Veeder. The name sounds familiar. But I digress.

Rusty old pick-ups coated with a mixture of red scoria and gray dust with a rugged rancher behind the wheel were once common on Watford City's Main Street. Today the pick-ups are almost exclusively newer model "dualies," the trademark method of travel for workers maintaining the furious pace of progress in the Bakken. Unlike a mere year or two ago, the street is almost always crowded with vehicles. Pedestrians braving crosswalks do so with utmost caution.

Other changes are visible, too, in all parts of town. Change has come rapidly to Watford City. New hotels, housing developments, apartments and retail stores continue to be constructed at a break-neck pace. As the race for oil continues, so, too, does the unprecedented growth in the region.

"It feels better here now than it did last year," Veeder said. "A lot of construction is going on but we are kind of turning the corner now. Coming from a town of 1,600 we figure a population of 8,000 to 10,000 is a pretty fair statement. I'm being conservative. Everyone was crashed into a small space here."

And it continues at the linked article. A great piece of journalism.

Last year (2012), I opined that the Bakken action would move to McKenzie County.

Tell Me Again Why "We" Needed / Wanted ObamaCare

ObamaCare was sold to us because it was stated over and over again that somewhere between 10 million and 30 million Americans were without health insurance. The number was always in question, but most agreed that it was made up of three groups: a) the young and healthy males and non-pregnant females who did not want health insurance; b) the undocumented ("illegal"?) aliens; and, c) those in between jobs.

It appears that slowly and predictably, ObamaCare is unraveling one of the best health care systems in the world. The US health care systems had its problem but certainly whatever problems there were, they paled in comparison to what's coming down the track.

This site has regularly provided those updates and the train wreck (a democrat's description of O'BamaCare, not mine) is tracked here as well as at stand-alone posts tagged with ObamaCare or TrainWreck.

Now, today, one of the biggest wheels yet to fall off this train: UPS has just announced that it will drop 15,000 spouses from its health care plan. The reason: ObamaCare.

From the linked article:

United Parcel Service Inc. plans to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere. The Atlanta-based logistics company points to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as a big reason for the decision, reports Kaiser Health News.

The decision comes as many analysts are downplaying the Affordable Care Act's effect on companies such as UPS, noting that the move reflects a long-term trend of shrinking corporate medical benefits, Kaiser Health News reports. But UPS repeatedly cites Obamacare to explain the decision, adding fuel to the debate over whether it erodes traditional employer coverage, Kaiser says.

Rising medical costs, “combined with the costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, have made it increasingly difficult to continue providing the same level of health care benefits to our employees at an affordable cost,” UPS said in a memo to employees.

According to Kaiser, UPS told white-collar workers two months ago that 15,000 working spouses eligible for coverage by their own employers would be excluded from the UPS plan in 2014.

UPS expects the move, which applies to non-union U.S. workers only, to save about $60 million a year, company spokesman Andy McGowan said.

The health law requires large employers to cover employees and dependent children, but not spouses or domestic partners, Kaiser adds.

Note: this applies only to spouses who are eligible for health care through their own employers and does not include spouses of union employees. The headline makes this sound worse that it is: in fact, it gets rid of the practice of employees getting health care benefits from two different plans. Good, bad, indifferent -- I don't know -- but that's about all it does. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but technically it does mean that some spouses will now have to find a new health care provider. In other words, they will join the list of those who will not be able to keep their current health care provider. 

Six (6) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; OXY USA Has Another OXY USA Well; Liberty Resources Posts A Nice Well

Active rigs: 185

Six (6) new permits--

• Operators: Whiting (2), KOG (2), True Oil, CLR
• Fields: St Anthony (Dunn), Poe (McKenzie), Red Wing Creek (McKenzie), Leaf Mountain.
• Comments: Leaf Mountain is a relatively undeveloped field in Burke County, well north of Tioga; Oasis has a short lateral up there (#17476, Olson 11-20H, completed back in 2009; 47K to date)

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right. Oasis reported two nice wells.

And that was it; not much today.

Coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 23384, 270, OXY USA, Joseph Carter 1-13-12H-141-96, St Anthony, t2/13; cum 15K 6/13;
• 23651, 820, Liberty Resources, Helling 150-101-7-6-1H, Pronghorn, t3/13; cum 47K 6/13;
• 24006, 451, CLR, Columbia 5-5H, Dollar Joe, no production data,
• 24470, drl, Statoil, Viking 16-15 3H, Poe, no production data,

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OXY USA's Joseph Carter well in the St Anthony oil field has produced in 4 months, 6 days, what some operators produce in 15 days; 29 stages; 1.8 million lbs; Pronghorn member of the Bakken formation (I believe the "Pronghorn member" is similar to the Sanish Sand(s) in Sanish oil field.

OXY USA states that "four members of the Bakken Formation were drilled: the Upper Bakken Shale member; the Middle Bakken Member; the Lower Bakken Shale Member; and, the Pronghorn Member.

The first member: a shale.
The second member: siltstone with poor porosity
The third member: a shale, sounding by description almost identical to the first member
The fourth member: siltstone with poor porosity; deeper into the member it showed a greater percentage of dolomite than siltstone;

Drilling time: re-entered on November 5, 2012, and reached bottom hole on November 28, 2012.

The St Anthony oil field is tracked here. I updated the field this morning. Remember: the older OXY USA wells used to be Anschutz wells.

**************************************

23384, see above, OXY USA, Joseph Carter 1-13-12H-141-96, St Anthony:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
6-2013	3823	0
5-2013	2286	0
4-2013	2191	0
3-2013	4925	0
2-2013	1715	0

23651, see above, Liberty Resources, Helling 150-101-7-6-1H, Pronghorn:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
6-2013	5395	1982
5-2013	6190	0
4-2013	10928	0
3-2013	17007	0
2-2013	6724	0

File Under: "The Horse Is Already Out Of The Barn"

Although the article is dated August 19, 2013, I think this is pretty old news (like about a month or so) -- or maybe it's just an update to anticipated action by the county. I forget. Whatever. The horse is already out of the barn.

The StarTribune is reporting:

After issuing more frac sand mining permits than any other county in Minnesota or Wisconsin over the past 36 months, Trempealeau County will take a hiatus to consider possible adverse health effects on citizens.

The County Board, applauded by an overflow crowd, Monday night voted overwhelmingly in favor of a moratorium of up to a year on permitting new sand facilities or allowing existing sites to expand.

“I’m very pleased,” said Sally Miller, the board member who authored the resolution. “This is going to slow things down and give us a chance to catch our breath.”

Proponents of the plan had argued it would allow the scenic county that sits across the Mississippi River from Winona, MN, to evaluate whether sand mining has a human cost. Those types of questions have largely gone unanswered as the county has approved 26 companies mining and processing silica sand on a total of 4,733 acres — and counting. County officials say interest in forming new mines remains strong.

Check back in a year.  My hunch is they ran out of workforce. And trucks. And acres.