Hurricane Ike wreaks havoc; up to 4.5 million face power outages
Scroll for updates and breaking news…
Map via Wunderground
Thoughts and prayers go out to the residents of Houston, Galveston, and other parts of Texas getting slammed by Hurricane Ike. The Weather Nerd is calling it the “Great Galveston Hurricane of 2008.” He’s also got a live Storm Surge page.
The adjective everyone is using: “Monstrous.”
The Houston Chronicle is liveblogging and reports power outages spreading.
Galveston Daily News is on the scene.
So is blogger Dr. Melissa Clouthier, who I met in Texas at the Americans For Prosperity summit. Stay safe, Melissa! Also in that pic is blogger Robbie Cooper, who has family in Houston, and blogger Rightwingsparkle, who is north of Houston and starting to feel winds. You take care, too, girl.
Blogger Jason Smith is also liveblogging as he rides out the storm.
And so is the staff of the Lone Star Times, with folks stationed all around the Houston area.
Troy Burwell has an excellent Flickr photostream.
Shelters are filling up in Tyler.
Another good resource: Stormlook.
And Glenn Reynolds has a huge link round-up.
PJTV is running a Disaster Watch initiative.
***
This is not good:
GALVESTON — Despite a mandatory evacuation and ominous forecasts of a killer storm, police, firefighters and the Galveston Beach Patrol rescued dozens of residents Friday from the rising tides brought on by Hurricane Ike as it bears down on Galveston Island.
Many had stayed on the island through numerous other hurricanes and were surprised by the height of the tidal surge. Others were mentally impaired, homeless or decrepit.
Police used a boat to rescue Ken Rygaard, 65, and his wife Jesse, 52, after the tide flooded the second story of the house on 67th Street near Stewart Road.
Rygaard said he has ridden out every storm over the last 43 years. “During (1983 Hurricane) Alicia, we only had a little bit of water,” Rygaard said “but nothing up to the second level.”
The Rygaards and others were taken to Ball High School on 43rd Street, which became a shelter of last resort. The city warned residents that there would be no shelters because all residents were expected to leave the island.
But city officials estimated that as many as 40 percent of the island’s about 60,000 residents remained in their homes.
***
Watch the refineries. Melissa spells it out: “We have many friends and contacts within the oil industry and they feed me information every so often. I think people need to understand how profoundly the refining being down is going to affect the nation. Even if the refineries could get back going the minute the storm passes, it will take at least a week to get going again. And, it should be noted, the refineries will not get going the minute the storm passes. America needs to build more.”
Update: More than 1.3 million are now without power.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Live Blogging Hurricane Ike From The Woodlands, Texas « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier
- Weather Nerd » The Great Galveston Hurricane of 2008
- Drama Queen Gets His Blow Job » Robrrt's Mullet & Cheese Grits Cafe
- Christian bloggers on Hurricane Ike - reports and relief links | blogs4God
- The Wide Awake Cafe » Yikes! Ike!
- ‘Okie’ on the Lam » Blog Archive » Saturday Musings — Hurricane Ike, Metrolink Disaster & POTUS Race 2008
- Jules Crittenden » Ike
- Peoples Press Collective » COLOSSAL IKE STRIKES TEXAS COAST
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Louisiana will be hit by a high surge also, as well as Mississippi.
This thing is gigantic.
While this is clearly no cakewalk, I”m a Baton Rouge resident who is still without power from Gustav. The most ridiculous part of this is that governments across the country are creating “Gas panics”, thereby artificially driving up the price of something that has yet to be affected. While we don’t know the impact it will have on Houston’s refining areas, the fact is that 87% of the nation’s refining capacity lies OUTSIDE the Houston area.
There is no need to panic about non-existent gas shortages… outside of those caused by panic-stricken residents of North Carolina who don’t want to get stranded at the mall.
Insane. Good luck Texas. It will be hard, but you’ll pull through.
Why tempt fate?
Our prayers are with the good people of Texas.
That spitting moron is on the scene near Galveston. He is so sickening. I hope he remains safe, but he is sickening.
defying direct instructions from authorities.
Did the city have police canvas the neighborhoods during the last 2 days? They did have more than a few days warning.
Bush’s fault. Obviously.
I feel your pain, bayou. My family isn’t far from BR and we just got power back this afternoon, thank God. I keep you in my prayers that you get yours back soon, too.
Got guys in Lake Charles and we’re waiting for word from them, but from what I’m seeing of Fox, this thing is just a behemoth. Prayers to Texas and the rest of the gulf coast.
I’ve heard dire warnings of “certain death” that supposedly come from the NOAA, but I can’t find the source statement.
Not that I doubt the severity of this storm and the extreme vulnerability of the Texas coastline, but I’ve never heard such dire warnings in an official statement before.
I hope that those who chose to stay can remain safe. Hurricanes’ mercies are capricious at best, terrifyingly cruel at worst.
Didn’t these fools learn anything from Katrina? This storm is as big and powerful as Katrina.
Godspeed Texans.
Actually, about 65% of the nation’s refining capacity is within 70 miles of the gulf coast, most of them were still within the cone of uncertainty at 3 days prior to landfall. Refineries take 3 days or so to shut down and once the shutdown begins, you have to follow it through to the end. It then takes 5-7 days (or more)to come back online. Therefore refineries have to make a go/no-go decision before they know where the storm is going to go. most will chose to shut down for safety’s sake. refineries from Corpus Christie to NOLA all started shutdowns as a result. Not only do we need more refining capacity we need them inland from the gulf coast even more importantly.
From what FoxNews says it appears that Ike has spit on Geraldo Rivero.
Good Luck Galveston.
Every cloud has a silver lining….=D
#7 single stack, you took the words right out of my fingers.
Did they not learn anything from Katrina?
As Jim White on KMOX radio used to say “You can’t fix stupid”
I hope the sea wall stays up. They’re not so easy to design.
Yes, Rorshach, that is correct, but there is still a 20 day supply available. While that may draw down, there is still no cause for the panic, which I think is being driven by the news and responded to by independent marketers who are typically the ones who gouge. BTW, I got Exxon tonight (93 octane – all they had left) for $.03 more than others were selling regular for.
One other thing… the shutdown time frames of the refineries illustrates the need for a NATIONAL standard for gasoline so that refineries can produce gas and not be up and down refining 150 different blends for insane state standards…and I echo your point on inland facilities.
The rain just hit here…sustained winds are about 40 to 45 with gusts into the mid 50s. It will get worse but I think we should be just fine.
I’m about 60 miles inland so wind is really the main issue for us here. Storm surge is not a factor from here (although Galveston looks ruined).
At 11:25 the local news is saying that the surge is over. There has been remarkably little rain but the wind has been somewhat strong in west central Houston. We are expecting a few more strong gusts over the next few hours but everything is going to be okay.
I am terribly afraid that the huge number of people who stayed in the storm surge put may feel vindicated and that this may be a big prelude for a much larger disaster in the next big hurricane.
“Didn’t these fools learn anything from Katrina? This storm is as big and powerful as Katrina.”
After the last Hurricane 110 people died from the evacuation not the hurricane which just one person died. This time around the authorities told people to stay.
Secondly, what happened in New Orleans (some parts 16 feet below sea level) from Katrina was 60 years of corruption. Not fixing levees and keeping the money pocketed.
If the levees never had broken, you wouldn’t have state and local governments hastily sending people off to their deaths via a mass stampede.
Prayers and Godspeed to those in Texas and Louisiana and adjoining states.
Guys, you’ve got to understand that a lot of people got burned (both figuratively and literally) during the mass exodus from Rita. People were stuck in massive traffic jams for more than a day without ever leaving the metro area. A lot of people decided that they’d rather take their chances. Granted a number of them are not using good sense in staying. But had you been stuck in that mass exodus, you’d have been thinking seriously about staying too. I stayed through Rita and got nothing more than loss of power for about 12 hours. In The Woodlands near Dr. Clouthier, power never even flickered. My mom who was in Livingston was stuck in a house with no power for two days with downed trees surrounding the house. Some people really SHOULD leave, but a lot of people are in hurricane burnout.
King,
Glad you are safe!
We didn’t leave Baton Rouge specifically for the reasons people didn’t leave Texas. We didn’t want to sit idle on I-10/I-12 waiting to run out of gas.
Part of me thinks that since Gustav didn’t give the media any real fodder for a level of misery provided by Katrina, they’ve ditched it in favor of Ike. I think the same thing will happen with Ike. Not going to be quite the story they want (although it is still serious).
Isn’t the Weather Underground Bill Ayres’ group?
A friend of mine is from Baton Rouge. He’s a TV reporter at the local FOX affiliate in here in Houston now but he started out in Baton Rouge (Bayou probably knows who I am talking about.). He was telling me last week that when he was in red stick covering Gustav, one of the other reporters (who will remain nameless) was raising 9 kinds of hell wanting to go to NOLA and hoping the storm destroyed NOLA so that she could get the coverage. Everyone else in the crew was looking at her like she was evil incarnate.
Uh yes, that was what they were called, the choice of that name for Dr. Jeff Masters’ website/blog is (hopefully) an unfortunate coincidence.
My uncle who was living in Katy at the time hunkered down during Rita. They came out okay. The reason the death toll was so high was in part due to that bus – which wasn’t properly licensed to operate in Texas, as I recall – caught fire and many didn’t escape. Wasn’t it full of elderly and/or infirmed individuals?
The “certain death” statement did come from the National Hurricane Center, I think. O’Reilly talked to that guy Bastardi (from NHC?) asking if it was being overhyped, and he said no, not for the people on Galveston Island. That seawall there – which doesn’t run the length of the island – was built in 1904. In the past 104 years, it’s “gotten shorter” as sand has gotten washed up at the base of it. And, there is another high tide coming in a few hours. And that to the storm surge, and single family homes are going to get swamped. I have a cousin who started med school in Galveston this fall. It is my understanding that he’s gone to San Antonio to stay with his brother (who is now a 2nd year med student there).
I’m in Austin. We picked up the small things from the back yard and put them in the garage, and got the gas grill and extra propane tank up out of any potential wind as best we could. We’ll get rain, but likely less than we would have if Ike hadn’t drifted east toward Houston/Galveston from an earlier projected hit at Corpus Christi.
Texas is 801 miles from the northwest corner of the panhandle down to the southern tip at Brownsville. Fox is saying Ike is 600 miles across. It’s just a monster.
And, Fox just reported that the storm surge and high tide are going to be hitting at pretty much the same time, which will only make things worse: 15-20+ feet…
oh, by the way, The reporter from red stick I mentioned earlier was sharing a story of Geraldo trying to get his camera man killed by climbing up on top of a levee in NOLA that waves were breaking over. And he was doing it while they were broadcasting live and putting him on the spot. The cameraman finally told him no freaking way was he going to do that. It was choice.
Goldwater Knight~
That was uncalled for, and I am stauchly anti-illegal immigration… Show some class.
If anyone wants to see the wiki entry on the Galveston Seawall click here. IMHO they look very likely to hold up.
When we were stationed in Typhoon Alley, Okinawa, we lived in a really ugly house. Cinder block and cement. We had really ugly shutters and X’s of tape on all the windows. The first typhoon that came thru changed my point of view, from then on, it was all beautiful !! If you are going to live in hurricane areas, at least build for the elements.
When we were stationed in Virginia, I headed for Richmond no matter what catagory storm was headed for Newport News. Stick built houses just don’t cut it.
Now I live in Illinois and get no warning when ‘killer’ storms are coming my way.
Exactly. Comment deleted. Don’t do it again.
Geraldo is an idiot.
Oh, and the Austin area has shelters, too. The high school where my dad teaches was to be one for about 400 people, and while out and about today, I saw some of those highway information signs telling evacuees what exit to take off of Highway 183. Hotels across the state are full. I think a lot of people started clearing out early. They’ve been evacuating special needs people for days already.
Historical trivia, the seawall in Galveston was designed and built under the direction of Alfred Nobel, of Nobel prize fame.
He was hired by the Galveston city government to make recommendations on how to better protect the city from another hurricane like the one that hit in 1900, which killed 6000 people on the island.
They jacked up every building that survived by as much as 15 feet, built the seawall to protect the city center and they pumped dredge fill from the bottom of galveston bay to fill in under the buildings. The Island was only 8 feet above sea level at it’s highest, they raised the whole city to a maximum of 15 feet. This is what SHOULD have been done in NOLA instead of more levees to fail.
Do they evacuate the animals from Moody Gardens? I don’t know protocol for aquariums and zoos in these situations. I know in the big scheme they aren’t as importants as the people who want to leave Galveston and could not. I’m just wondering how that works.
We visited Galveston last summer (’07) and walked along the sea wall. My kids had read the book Isaac’s Storm before we went there. They loved Moody Gardens and asked about the animals this evening.
We also made a trip through the Blade Runner like landscape where the refineries are located. The scope of the refinery capacity has to be seen and experienced to be truly understood. To imagine that something so grand could be vulnerable to this storm is incredible. Scary.
Geraldo keeps getting smacked in the head by what looks like palm leaves.
On September 12th, 2008 at 11:59 pm, fred5676 said:
Hah!
You beat me to it.
Reminds me of when a co-worker and close friend drove me to lunch the other day. My friend is a conservative, but was temporarily driving his ultra-liberal (I mean foaming at the mouth BDS) father’s car. The car had an anti-Bush sticker on the back (am surprised the car wasn’t covered in propaganda). I’m telling you… it was very embarrassing. I knew before I got into the car that I was annoyed, but found myself slinking down in the seat while being driven… weird.
Michelle Malkin said:
I hit a lot of home runs but sometimes I just plain ground out. I apologize if I offended you Michelle.
On September 13th, 2008 at 12:23 am, Goldwater Knight said:
…
I don’t get the connection, but I don’t dare comment on that sea wall.
I worked with the Dr. who investigated the failures of the levees during hurricane Katrina and submitted his report to the Senate. This seawall is 100 times stronger than the levees in New Orleans.
Goldwater’s classless comment was deleted by Michelle. I won’t repeat what he said, and he’s apologized.
I don’t think it’s a problem with the seawall failing. It’s just that the seawall has “gotten shorter” with sand accumulation, and it will be overtopped, especially considering the combination of the storm surge and high tide.
Steve Harrigan is outside the hotel that Galveston city officials are using as the command center. It is the high ground in Galveston, and Harrigan reports the water is not much below where he is reporting from. If that’s the high ground… They asked him where the seawall was, and he said something about “100 yards” and pointed. I can only assume he was pointing out into the waves behind him (I wasn’t actually looking at the TV). If that is the case, the seawall was overtopped a long time ago…
On September 13th, 2008 at 1:28 am, Miss Ladybug said:
Amen to that. Good for you, Goldwater. By your apology, you’ve shown yourself to be a person of integrity and virtue… of principle and humility …a lover of truth despite the personal cost.
Michelle, please keep him/her on your “good-guy” list.
I swear, if I didn’t go to church on a regular basis I’d be in jail. Praise God.
My Aunt and Uncle are just outside of Houston in Spring, TX. I received the last e-mail from them about an hour ago. Nothing since.
Sure hope they are ok. They decided not to evacuate to Dallas. Keep them and all Texans in your prayers.
Yes that’s true but it can also protect the base of the structure from scour.
Let me be the first (here at least) to predict some Dem arsehole will remind everyone that “Ike” was the nickname of a Republican President.
Well, it’s noisy, windy and a little rainy. That’s the strange part – very little rain. Interestingly, we still have power and last I heard, over 600,000 were in the dark.
They’re also calling for tornadoes after the eyewall passes. I hate those things.
We’re in Clear Lake, close to Ellington Field. Originally from Newport Beach, CA.
Keep us in your prayers, folks.
I’m “hunkered down” in Houston. Power has been out for a couple of hours now. I’m taking a sip of wine each time I hear “hunker down” on the radio. I’m almost through the entire bottle and feel no pain.
Bless you, av8tr. Please stay safe and keep us posted when you can.
NC is running out of gasoline. Panic buying , gas has gone from 3.50ish yesterday to $5.00 today and most gas stations are out of gas. from reports it is happening all over the southeast. Hopefully IKe will bring little loss of life and little loss of property and little loss of our energy infrastructure. This could very well be the thing that tips the economy into a painful recession if gas becomes a shortage…
You too, alwaysright43. I don’t envy the wine headache you’re going to have in the morning.
We still had 40% of the required evacuation cities/counties staying there. It is unbelievable to watch Darwinism in action. We are waiting up north outside of Plantersville for it to hit me. My manufactured home is boarded up and hoping it survives while my dog and myself take refuge at a neighbors.
Animals are a priority, although second to people, and are being rescued as well. I have my concerns with my horses, but they have survived a tornado before and I pray they will be okay through this. Some don’t expect this to be so bad this far north, but this is a large storm even compared to Alicia that I went through years ago. So far still have power, but fully expect to lose it in the night as I am in a heavily wooded area.
As for the fuel issue, local news is reporting 13 of the 26 refineries here have shut down and it can cause problems for a few days to come. Houston produces, I believe, 1/5th of the nations fuel supply.
I don’t recall anything about Nobel having anything to do with the seawall.
(Quote found on a website devoted to the 1900 storm in Galveston.)
This is nothing new. People decide to continue living there anyway. The benefits must outweigh the detriments.
Been reading Dr. Clouthier’s blog. I like this entry:
At least some people are still able to laugh in the midst of the storm.
Stay safe down there, y’all.
Our friend Geraldo is reporting from the eye of storm.
Am I the only one who thinks he’s a grandstander.
I’m rooting for the palm tree.
Much more noise now as the eyewall approaches. Much more noise. A lot more noise. Did I mention the noise?
Looking forward to that eye, though. Sure could use a little sleep.
Why did Fox News decide to put him on the air. He cheapens the network. When he comes on the tube I come back to our Michelle. We have business friends in Galveston and are concerned.
Ike sure sounds angry.
Over 1,000,000 without power now. Light flickering here.
That’s lights flickering here.
Oh, and Brennen’s, a fabulous local eatery, burned to the ground tonight in Houston. Too bad, it was a great place.
I have a close friend and his family too, that live north of Houston, in the country. They’re “prepared”, but I’m still concerned. They’re sheltering 2 people from Houston. It will be a long night for them.
Gray, it’s already been a long night.
On September 13th, 2008 at 1:54 am, av8tr said: Keep us in your prayers, folks.
We will, I live on the west bank and it is still a litle windy (feels good tho), you should have come to NOLA and got the Nagin special.
The cookies?
Hang in there all. And tomorrow watch for downed power lines please…
Hang in there, av8tr. Prayers are with you. Hopefully, not too much damage. Been through 1 hurricane that blew trees down all over the neighborhood, and started fires,once. Next time one comes, I’m outta here. Take an unplanned vacation.
I woke (about 4am) to strong wind gusts and pine cones hitting the roof. We are starting to get some of the more serious effects of the storm’s northern edge, but not anything like what Galveston and south Houston has experienced so far.
It’s time for all of us Louisianans and Texans to band together and demand that Karl Rove quit using his weather machine to pummel us with hurricanes.
Enough is enough Karl!
My prayers are with those most impacted by the storm.
That said, I’d really like more R&D done on making cities much more resilient against these storms so it won’t necessitate evacuating whole cities every time one comes around, which is an absurdity to me especially since — ironically in Ike-battered Houston — there are NASA project groups hard at work designing tough lunar cities. Also we should get the lead out regarding weather modification, especially since insurance companies in the Midwest have enough faith in the technology to subsidize cloud seeding to weaken destructive hail storms. WE DON’T have to just always “hunker down” and take it on the chin from Mom Nature.
James Greenidge
Queens New York
It won’t be long before the news will blame the storm on Bush and his failure in not signing the Kyoto treaty. They’ll state that all you gulf coasters are being punished now and that God doesn’t want off-shore drilling. With Obama as President, there will be no more “Ikes”. He’ll just fly to the area and extend his arms, calming the waters. Then pass out tire pressure gauges, to relieve us of oil dependency and, thus, end global warming.
Some parks are starting to charge people who need saving after ignoring warnings – for instance, the “extreme sportsmen” who climb up a mountain in a snowstorm, get lost and then need a chopper to get them down.
Hearing about how these firemen and coast guardies have to risk their lives in a hurricane because a bunch of idiots refused to evacuate – well, I’m all in favor of charging those evacuees a hefty fine.
It’s especially inexcusable when the government is willing to give them free evacuations.
Looks like 4 million without power at this point.
jamesgreenidge:
Not sure about the whole “weather modification” thing.
But in regards to building structures impervious to hurricanes, the problem is expense, not research. Any architect in the region, given enough of a construction budget, can design an impervious structure.
There are three elements you have to be concerned about with these things: water, wind, and flying debris, all of which can generate levels of destruction that’s hard to imagine. Unlike tornadoes which can pass over an area within seconds, hurricanes can wreak destruction for hours and hours.
But yes, we already know how to build to withstand cat 5 winds, 25 foot storm surges, and two hundred year old flying oak trees.
Research won’t make it any cheaper to build armor-plated concrete bunkers.
For all the chest-pounding, big speeches, new bills and money spent to control the Earth, Mother Nature stops by occasionally and lets us know that she’s still in charge. She reminds us that we are just life forms existing on a not-so-friendly planet sometimes, in a not-so-friendly universe, no matter how much our heads swell with ego.
I’m north of Lake Charles, and usually lose power during any type of heavy weather due to the trees in the area falling on power lines. Our power flickered *once* last night, and the worst part of Ike has passed us. ‘Bout time we dodged a bullet.
Sending prayers for the folks in SE Texas…
As the sun rises on a new day, I hope that all of our friends and loved ones are safe and have come through last night’s storm without any harm or extensive damage to their properties. I have an elderly aunt in Houston and a good friend in Conroe. Wating to hear from them.
I’ve been evacuated from my home in Seabrook, Texas since Thursday, hiding out in Austin.
How bad may it be in my town? These pictures, taken 12 hours before the storm arrived, say it all.
http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/273329.php
“Others[who stayed behind] were mentally impaired…”
True dat.
Newsflash: Algore has landed in Houston with his crack team of trackers and they are hot on the trail of ‘manbearpig’. Algore has been carrying the
waterer… message for years of how ‘manbearpig’ is the evil beast that will destroy our environment, even our world, unless we purchase ‘carbon offsets’ through the “Algore Carbon Energy Offset Company That Is Not About Making Me Wealthier, But Is Chartered To Save The Planet, And If I Make A Few Billion, What The Heck, After All It Is A Free Market Economy As Long As You Follow My Rules”, LLC.Remember the Algore motto kids: “Do as I say, not as I do, when it comes to manbearpig’s effects on our climate.”
‘Algore’ and ‘manbearpig’ are registered trademarks of the A.C.E.O.C.T.I.N.A.M.M.W.B.I.C.T.S.T.P.A.I.I.M.A.F.B.W.T.H.A.A.I.I.A.F.M.E.A.L.A.Y.F.M.R., LLC and is protected by
the rulings of the World Courter… copyright laws of the USA. Any attempt to infringe upon or impede my progress in world dominion and a financial stranglehold on the free citizens of the world will be dealt with severely and surely.“I’m Algore and I approve this message. I’m serial!”
We’ll bring you more news later on Algore’s efforts to find and to destroy the elusive ‘manbearpig’ before it is too late for him to
make any more money fromer… to save our planet through his efforts.Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcasts…
I am in a western suburb of New Orleans, and the wind gust here are still over 40 mph. This thing is huge!
I am watching live coverage on Directv channel 361 which is broadcasting KHOU in Houston. The rep from Centerpoint Energy was just on and said basically that all of their customers from overhead power lines are out of power…over 2 million.
I’m stuck on a rig offshore Angola & just talked to my wife & daughter in Tomball. They’re without power, but it looks like they missed the worst of the wind. I’m halfway around the world and I think I was more worried than she was.
That’s nuts. The price has barely moved here around San Antonio, and we’re getting thousands of evacuees. It’s still selling in the $3.50-3.60 range around the city.
Build more refineries.
Drill everywhere.
It’s getting tougher to evacuate these mega cities. Rita caused a 22 hour gridlock in Houston. People were in more danger stuck in their cars on the freeway than in the shelters or solidly built homes.
Glenn Campbell pretty much ruined anything to do with Galveston, for me. But I pray for their safety.
Hey, I can only run one rig at a time…
It’s just the libertarian in me, but IMO, once the government gives you fair warning and the opportunity to evacuate, the rest is up to you. If you elect to stay, it’s your choice and your head. No USCG swabbie should get killed trying to save your ignorant butt. Same for people who climb mountains or raft rivers, invest money in Bear Stearns or buy a house they know they can’t afford. We’ve gotten too soft and used to having the government play babysitter. If people want to right to “choice”, they should have the obligation to deal with the consequences.
One of the never mentioned glitches in the whole “Drill now” scenario is the lack of adequate equipment and experienced manpower to do all of that drilling.
And don’t forget, dayrate for the rigs that can drill in those waters run about $500K/day.
TX,
I got gas for 3.28 in PA yesterday.
as far as the equipment and humans required that is all doable so hardly a stumbling block. there is not a damn thing America can’t do…
when we get the dems slacks and media hacks out of our way!!!!
wait a sec here what is going on? am I seeing some angst by some in the drilling biz now worried about a wider playing field?
COUNTRY FIRST!! darlings
Regarding the need for a diversified refining industry… I’m certain that there’s a bunch of folks that wouldn’t mind seeing some in North Dakota, it’d go well with the Bakken Oil Field.
The southern bunch has the hurricanes which we don’t…OTOH we get the blizzards, which they don’t…seems it could be a win, win situation
ret,
totally agree. what are these skills anyway some are waxing on about? I am a 47 year old woman am sure could do all of them and look a better doing so
It’s always been one of the mysteries of life to me that gas is more expensive around here practically in sight of the refineries, than it is in other areas where it has to be hauled 500 miles.
It isn’t necessarily a shortage of manpower – it’s finding someone to show them how, and where to drill. Roughnecking isn’t unskilled labor. And building an offshore drilling rig takes time and a bunch of money, which won’t be spent unless the very few companies who do it are pretty sure they’ll be able to use the rigs. Right now, there isn’t any certainty of that, with the current bans. So far as I know, there are only two deepwater rigs even in existence in the Gulf of Mexico, and they’re already employed full time.
I haven’t checked lately, but the last I knew, practically every available land rig was also under contract. They punched something like 15000 holes in the last year just in the CONUS.
Folks who chose to stay, in spite of the dire warnings, non-stop TV coverage, streamlined evacuation plans, etc. — these folks are fools.
As a taxpayer, I should not have to pay for their rescue or sustenance. The Coast Guard and other agencies should not have to risk their lives for these self-centered folks.
Insurance companies ought to be permitted to (1) deny payment for anyone who stayed and died which should be treated the same as the suicide exclusion, and (2) should not be required to pay for injuries to the stupid folks who stayed.
I have no mercy for fools. Let Darwinism take over.
Ret,
come to think of it when was the last time a nat gas or oil hole or coal mine was shut down for a wee bit of weather up north?
being puckish so dont get cranky gulfers!!
Of course, my thoughts and prayers go out to the folks there in Texas. Be safe, everyone.
It is very important to keep in mind that even the current Republican “All of the Above” energy policy initiative will be of little help IF there is not accompanying relief from the frivolous environmentalist-wacko lawsuits. Not only must we allow exploration and drilling where it is currently banned based on “old” history, we must prevent a “tyranny by minority” where selfish special interests can unnecessarily delay the expansion of exploration and drilling as well as building/expanding refining capacity.
This should not mean the “throwing out” of legitimate environmental protection regulations. The environment is still worth protecting. It does, however, mean not allowing some individual or group to sue because of some alleged future effect on polar bears.
Tx,
understand it is not unskilled labor only point was even I at 47 could learn
and do. Hire me, I’ll stop my fun filled nom workerbee life and do it for a year just to prove my point.
Yes Sarah raised that same issue why the hell are Alaskans paying top $ for gas.
If I had my way states like TX,PA,WV etc who also are sitting on such piles
would have similar hmm not sure what to call it payouts will work for citizens.
let the states who refuse to have infrastructure etc pony up the NIMBYs.
Do you or anyone recall he abject arrogance of the CA legislature dictating HOW other states generate the power that is provided them when they refuse to do so for themselves?
PONY UP INK THE CHECK SCREW YOU!!
hmm that spellcheck didnt go so well
tis what it is
Pray for my parents. They live in Houston, and my dad has so many health problems, I don’t know if he’ll make it without air condition (if the electricity goes out for long), which if why they weren’t able to evacuate in the first place (they might get stuck in traffic, etc.). And it sounds like the electricity is down throughout most of the city. I hope it is restored quickly. I have been unable to get my parents on their phone and cell phone so far.