Only One Thing Growing Faster Than The National Debt: Devils Lake -- Not a Bakken Story

On a percentage basis, there may be only one thing growing faster than the national debt: Devils Lake, North Dakota.

For those who know about Devils Lake, no need to say anything more. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, click here.

For newbies, Devils Lake is a body of water in this case, not an urban center. Although there is an urban center there. [Devils Lake was probably an error in translation. It was probably supposed to be "Spirit Lake" but as I've noted before, Devils Lake seems more apropos.]

I may have posted this video before, but it's still worth looking at again:

Devils Lake

Aerial Photos of Devils Lake

EPA Is Coming To A Well Near You -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

This story focuses on the Barnett Shale in Texas because it comes from a Texas newspaper.

But note that the odds are good that the EPA will include a retrospective study of fracking in the Bakken as the agency goes forward with looking at whether to regulate fracking. Also here.
It's Just a Matter of Time, Brook Benton
Someday,
Some way
You'll realize that you've been blind.
Yes, darling, you're going to need me again;
It's just a matter of time

So long,
Hold on,
Until you reach the end of the line.
But I know
You wwill pass my way again;
It's just a  matter of time

After I gave you
Everything I had,
You laughed and called me a clown.
Remember in your search for fortune and fame,
What goes up must come down.

I know,
I know,
That one day you will wake up and find
That my love was a true love,
It's just a matter of time.

Here's the EPA timeline -- yup, just a matter of time.

Ten (10) New Permits -- North Dakota, USA

Producers: Tracker (3), Zenergy (3), Whiting, Marathon, Newfield, and Petro-Hunt.

Fields: Sanish, Murphy Creek, Deep Water Creek Bay, South Tobacco Garden, Little Knife, Four Bears, North Tobacco Garden, and a wildcat.

Zenergy has a 2-well pad in North Tobacco Garden. I'm not sure if this is a first for Zenergy; a multi-well pad. I will try to remember to check when I get home.

Tracker has the wildcat, 14-T149N-R101W. The wildcat is in a 2-section field called Antelope field about 8 miles southeast of Alexander (south of Williston; west of Watford City). Nothing remarkable except in a relatively inactive area. It extends a huge number of string of short-lateral wells, running northwest to southeast, west of Alexander. That group of wells have file numbers of "15XXX" so were drilled back in 2006 or so.

Tracker had a nice well, #19188, 1,460, Scanlan 17-1TH, Truax oil field. Truax oil field is east of Stockyard Creek, east of Williston, on the north side of the river, driving out east of Williston on 1804 . A Three Forks well in Williams County. 

North Dakota is on track to issue 1,923 new permits this calendar year.

37th Coldest January in 117 Years. Cooler Than The 20th Century Trend.

Link here.

The average temperature in January 2011 was 30.0 F. This was -0.8 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 37th coolest January in 117 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

One data point does not a trend make, but this is not first bit of data we've had regarding global warming.

Related stories:

• The state of Georgia faces coldest winter ever.
• Bartlesville, Oklahoma ties coldest temperature ever for the city.

Despite the facts, western economies, led by some in the US, will continue to hamper efforts to get our folks back to work, while they promote the hoax. Meanwhile the Chinese keep marching along.

*******

WSJ, editorial, February 10, 2011: The weather is not getting "weirder."

The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project is the latest attempt to find out [whether weather is getting weirder], using super-computers to generate a dataset of global atmospheric circulation from 1871 to the present.


As it happens, the project's initial findings, published last month [January, 2011], show no evidence of an intensifying weather trend. "In the climate models, the extremes get more extreme as we move into a doubled CO2 world in 100 years," atmospheric scientist Gilbert Compo, one of the researchers on the project, tells me from his office at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "So we were surprised that none of the three major indices of climate variability that we used show a trend of increased circulation going back to 1871."

In other words, researchers have yet to find evidence of more-extreme weather patterns over the period, contrary to what the models predict. "There's no data-driven answer yet to the question of how human activity has affected extreme weather," adds Roger Pielke Jr., another University of Colorado climate researcher. 

So there. 

WSJ: Oil Drilling Boom in the US -- Regular Readers Already Knew This

Link here.

Talk about a big news day. I believe this is about the fifth stand-alone posting I've done so far today. If this is the first one you happen to read, be sure to scroll down to see the others. When you get to Bull Butte field update, you will have reached the first posting of today.

According the WSJ today:

• Oil-drilling activity in the U.S. has accelerated to a pace not seen in a generation as energy companies, oilfield contractors and landowners rush to exploit newly profitable sources of crude.
• Data points:
• Number of oil rigs, highest since at least 1987
• 818 rigs today; nearly double last year's count; 10 x the number that were drilling in the late 1990s
• Not enough crude to alter global oil-supply picture, it could offset declining output in Alaska and Gulf of Mexico

The story focuses on the Eagle Ford in Texas.

I believe the word "Bakken" is mentioned only once in the article, but near the end:

Large, oil-focused companies such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., and ConocoPhillips are also ramping up their drilling programs from California to North Dakota to Texas.

OXY is now in North Dakota, and, of course, COP is here through its BR subsidiary.