GasBuddy Blog -- I didn't know how people in Louisiana and Florida felt about the Gulf spill. Its something you can't feel until it happens close to you, and this time, it did.

The oil spill in Marshall, Michigan is just a couple hours from me- and more significantly- the spill could impact Lake Michigan. Although no one wants to think about it or says its possible, the breaches that have already taken place suggest that the pipeline owner, Enbridge, has very little control and isn't doing enough to stop the slick from moving down the Kalamazoo River.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, lessons have already been learned via the Gulf spill. Almost immediately, the State of Michigan got the EPA, Coast Guard, and other federal and state agencies...  (read more)

reuters.com -- It could be years before some Gulf of Mexico beaches recover fully from BP Plc's massive oil spill and are declared free of toxic pollutants, including heavy metals, that can make people sick, a leading environmental advocacy group said on Wednesday.

"This is an unprecedented tragedy and environmental disaster in the Gulf that is raising unprecedented questions about how to manage beaches and other parts of the environment," said David Beckman, Water Program director with the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

"We've never had to confront before the question of whether the toxicity in a wave wash is such that people should stay out of the water," Beckman told reporters on a conference call.

...group issued its 20th annual report on water quality at U.S. beaches.  (read more)

Edmonds.com -- "...An official statement released Wednesday said the company has received an "overwhelming response" from the public to the 918 Spyder concept. Earlier reports indicated Porsche had received expressions of interest from more than 900 buyers.

Porsche did not specify a production start-up date or a price tag, although widespread media reports in Europe have suggested the sticker could exceed $600,000.

Michael Macht, Porsche AG president and chairman of the board of management, said: "Production of the 918 Spyder in a limited series proves that we are taking the right approach with Porsche Intelligent Performance, featuring the combination of supreme performance and efficient drivetrain concepts....."  (read more)

youtube - MSNBC - video -- According to Hugh Kaufman, the public just can’t handle the truth when it comes to the poisoning of the Gulf Coast. Kaufman, who played a major role in exposing the EPA cover up of the air quality at ground zero, stated that dispersants mixed with oil in the water atomize the oil and prevent it from coming from the surface where it can be skimmed instead it is in small particles.

Dispersants do damage by causing bleeding from orifices in both sea mammals & humans. When the atomized oil and dispersant gets into the bloodstream it atomizes your cells, and that is why there is hemorrhaging.

Now we have hundreds of millions of gallons of oil mixed with 2 million gallons of dispersant spread out over thousands of miles. We have to be very careful of the seafood which we have now poisoned.  (read more)

Houston Chronicle -- "The (House) bill continues to exploit the Gulf oil spill tragedy by including page after page of provisions that are unrelated to the spill, will kill jobs, establish a new energy tax and increase our dependence on foreign oil," said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "Reforms are needed to make offshore drilling the safest in the world, but they need to be the right reforms and based on facts."

'Gift from heaven'
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, said Democrats viewed the oil spill as "a gift from heaven for their legislative agenda."

"I think they view this as an opportunity to push an agenda absolutely unrelated to the oil spill," Brady said, adding that fuel prices would rise as a result.

Democratic lawmakers who have championed parts of the spill-inspired legislation in the House  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- The Department of Energy released its weekly report on the condition of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

Crude oil inventories increased by 7.3 million barrels to a total of 360.8 million barrels. At 360.8 million barrels, inventories are 12.9 million barrels above last year (3.7%) and remain above average. Supply at NYMEX delivery point, Cushing, Oklahoma increased some 100,000 barrels to 37.2 million barrels this week. Supplies at Cushing have increased for the third time in a month, and are approaching record territory once again.

Gasoline inventories increased 0.1 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels. At 222.2 million barrels, inventories are now 9.2 million...  (read more)

nytimes.com -- The rapid growth of wind farms, whose output is hard to schedule reliably or even predict, has the nation’s electricity providers scrambling to develop energy storage to ensure stability and improve profits.

As the wind installations multiply, companies have found themselves dumping energy late at night, adjusting the blades so they do not catch the wind, because there is no demand for the power. And grid operators, accustomed to meeting demand by adjusting supplies, are now struggling to maintain stability as supplies fluctuate.

...But peak wind and peak demand times do not coincide, raising questions about how Hawaii can reach its 70 percent goal. For now, the best option seems to be storage batteries.

In New York and California, companies are exploring electrical storage that  (read more)

New York Times By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN -- It is pretty much a tossup for me: Who poses a greater long-term threat to America’s Gulf Coast ecosystem: the U.S. Senate or BP? Right now, from what I’ve seen flying over the Louisiana coast at the mouth of the Mississippi, my vote is the U.S. Senate. BP at least seems to have finally gotten its act together and is cleaning up the oil spill. The Senate, in failing to pass even the most modest bill to diminish our addiction to oil and begin to mitigate climate change, has not even begun to do its job.  (read more)

Helium -- It has become ridiculous just how much we as a nation (America) have come to depend on our cars. Look around you the next time you are on the road and see just how few automobiles have more than one person in them. No one wants to share a ride these days. It might be an inconvenience to their schedule. I must admit I am just as guilty as the next person. Lately though I have been questioning why this is.

When my siblings and I were growing up on farm in east Tennessee we never had more than one vehicle at a time. There were a total of eleven people in my family and we lived a long distance from towns and stores. We rarely rode in the car unless it was something important. The two mile hike to my grandmother's house seem like a breeze and we made the trip several times a day when necessa  (read more)

KEVIN McGILL, Associated Press Writer -- A barge slammed into an abandoned well in a coastal inlet early Tuesday, sending a shower of water, natural gas and oil spewing about 100 feet into the air.

Emergency officials said about 6,000 feet of containment boom was in place around the site in a lake just north of Barataria Bay, which has already been fouled by oil from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

While there was no estimate of how much oil was spewing Tuesday, officials said the mile-long slick it created was small compared with the Gulf spill.

The Coast Guard said the towboat Pere Ana C was pushing the barge on Mud Lake when it hit the wellhead about 1 a.m. No one was hurt.

The towboat captain told investigators the well was not lit as required, Coast Guard Capt. John Arenstam said.

 (read more)

Bloomberg -- July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Enbridge Energy Partners LP, the Houston-based pipeline company, has crews working to clean up an oil spill from a pipeline in southern Michigan that spread from a creek to the Kalamazoo River, affecting birds and fish.

The leak on line 6B, part of Enbridge’s Lakehead System, was detected at about 9:30 a.m. yesterday when pressure on the line dropped, the company said.

An estimated 19,500 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek near the company’s Marshall, Michigan, pump station before valves on either side of the leak were shut down, Enbridge Chief Executive Officer Patrick Daniel said on a conference call today.

“Oil entered the Tallmadge Creek and found its way to the Kalamazoo River,” Daniel said.  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- I ran across a story that Bloomberg picked up this morning about reliable old Goldman Sachs. If you're a frequent reader you know that I've already decided that anything they say publicly just reiterates their position in petroleum and tries to get investors to buy in to their theories which net them millions of dollars (while duping investors out of billions).

Bloomberg has Goldman Sachs as saying "Crude oil prices are significantly below the level warranted by fundamentals, offering hedging opportunities for this year and next, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said."

In English, Goldman Sachs is saying that fundamentals are strong (high demand, lower supply, low spare capacity, etc.) when in fact,

Lately- as in the...  (read more)

Battle Creek Enquirer -- A leaking pipeline spilled about 840,000 gallons of oil into a creek leading to the Kalamazoo River on Monday, according to estimates from Enbridge Energy Partners, the company taking responsibility for the spill.

The leak resulted from a pipeline malfunction that was still under investigation Monday, said Tom Fridel, general manager for Enbridge Liquids Pipelines in Chicago. The 30-inch pipeline carries about 8 million gallons of oil per day from Griffith, Indiana, to Sarnia, Ontario, according to Enbridge

The oil already has started to make its way west past the booms set up by workers in Marshall Township. The Emmett Township Department of Public Safety issued a warning on Monday evening telling people not to fish or swim in the river. The department said oil was leaking past barr  (read more)

-- HOUSTON July 27 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N: Quote) plans to restart its shut 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Aruba refinery in September after completing an overhaul currently underway and if the plant can operate at a profit, Chief Executive Bill Klesse said in a statement. "When complete in September, this work will provide us the option to resume operations at the Aruba refinery if conditions are profitable and will enhance strategic alternatives for the refinery," Klesse said.  (read more)

-- The very first electric car plant in the United States is coming to Iowa. Envision Motor Company, an Ames company, signs a deal with Webster City to put together electric cars. It's a much needed development in the town, which will lose more than 800 jobs when the washer dryer company Electrolux moves out next year. The new company is starting small, hiring just 50 people, but in the next few years they hope their cutting edge technology catches on and they can hire hundreds more. "It turned into a fantastic deal. This is a great opportunity for this community with the creation of jobs. We just to bring positive news them," says Webster City Economic Developer David Toyer. The town is in need of some good news. Next year Webster City's biggest employer is shutting its doors, taking with it 800 precious jobs.  (read more)

nationalpost.com --
The most fuel-efficient vehicles in Canada for 2010 include some of the usual suspects, plus some new additions.

Based on fuel consumption ratings garnered from Natural Resources Canada, in partnership with Transport Canada, following are the Top 10 green vehicles:

Note: All figures are based on fuel costing $1 a litre for regular gasoline, and $1.10 a litre for premium gasoline and diesel. Estimated annual fuel use is based on an annual driving distance of 20,000 kilometres, with a mix of 55% city and 45% highway driving.  (read more)

Detnews.com -- David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Excerpts

Washington -- In the home of "Car Talk," automakers and repair shops are squaring off over the future of fixing cars.

In a battle joined by dealers, unions, auto parts companies and repair shops, automakers are battling a bill that would require them to disclose all the diagnostic and software they provide to dealerships.

If approved, it would be the first of its kind in the United States. Since 2001, similar unsuccessful efforts have been made in at least eight states and Congress.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group representing Detroit's Big Three, Toyota Motor Corp. and seven other automakers, strongly opposes the measure, as does the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, a trade group  (read more)

GasBuddy Blog -- As Tropical Storm Bonnie fizzled, Gulf coast residents could breathe a sigh of relief. Ships, boats, platforms, equipment, and people are returning to the site of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP is quite close to finishing a relief well, and since TS Bonnie has completely dissipated, operations are getting back to full force. BP is working today to reconnect equipment to the drilled well, a step that company officials expect to take several days.

Most vessels evacuated the site last week after Bonnie developed, disrupting operations over concerns of large seas and winds that could make the chaotic area dangerous.

Meanwhile, pressure inside the temporary cap is approaching 7,000psi, increasing ever...  (read more)

Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle -- There's more than one offshore wind developer interested in West Michigan.

Bluewater is in various stages of development of offshore wind farms off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York, while exploring projects in the Great Lakes and Canada, company officials said. After Bluewater won a bid to produce power in Delaware, NRG purchased Bluewater, providing it with decades of energy experience and the financial strength of a Fortune 500 company.  (read more)

latimes.com -- Alarms and regulating devices were turned off, says a technician aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, and maintenance was long overdue.

..Key safety systems were bypassed or disabled on the doomed Deepwater Horizon drilling rig — some for months or years — a top technician on the vessel testified Friday

..a rig technician described an operation in which alarm systems and safety devices were turned off, computers didn't work and maintenance was long overdue.

At one point, Williams testified, he was chewed out by a superior who noticed Williams had activated a gas safety valve that had been placed in bypass mode.

"The damn thing has been in bypass for five years. Why did you even mess with it?"

..the pressure regulator valve.. was in bypass mode.. and exploded, killing 11 men
 (read more)

Toronto Times -- Europeans, short on land & facing a rapidly maturing onshore wind market, got into the offshore game in the early 1990s. Today, more than 830 offshore wind turbines operate in nine European countries, with thousands more being built.

North America, by comparison, is where Europe was more than 15 years ago. Not a single offshore turbine has been installed off its waters, let alone in the fresh waters of the Great Lakes.

Ontario, hungry for jobs & eager to kick-start its struggling manufacturing sector, is in a good position to change that.

But we’re not alone. New York, Ohio, Michigan & other northeast states are also in the race.
The stakes are huge. Estimates are more than 6,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy will be developed in North America by 2020, much in the Great Lakes. . .
 (read more)

theglobeandmail.com -- They are the scouts of a new frontier, slipping beneath the Lions Gate Bridge. Few notice, and even fewer understand their importance.

But the growing numbers of crude tankers steaming past Vancouver to the Pacific are quietly rewriting the politics and economics of Canadian energy. Their destination: China, land of mounting energy thirst and growing energy might.

The first vessel, loaded with Alberta crude, set sail roughly half-a-decade ago. Ever since, the numbers have steadily risen. In 2008, about four ships steamed across the Pacific. Last year, China-bound traffic doubled. This year, a vessel a month, each one carrying roughly 600,000 barrels of crude, will head out from Vancouver, en route to Asia.

..consider it the first dribble from a faucet that is set to turn wide open  (read more)

Bloomberg -- U.S. regulators, seeking to overturn a judge’s ruling throwing out a moratorium on deep-water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, said opponents of the ban should be required to file a new lawsuit to pursue their claims.

The shorter, less restrictive moratorium was imposed this month after U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans threw out a six-month ban on oil and gas drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet. In the lawsuit brought by offshore services companies, Feldman blocked the government from enforcing the ban, calling it overly broad and punitive to the regional economy.  (read more)

behindcurrentevents.com -- If Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has his way, $250 million worth of grants through the Department of Energy (DOE) will be available for states, cities, towns, counties and tribes to help expand or create solar power loan and incentive programs for homeowners, businesses, and schools. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Ten Million solar Roofs Act of 2010 (S. 3460), introduced by Sanders, on July 21, 2010 with a 13 to 10 vote. If enacted, the bill would take affect in 2012 and last through 2021.  (read more)

nytimes.com -- More than 1,000 people turned out for a hearing on hydraulic fracturing in Canonsburg, Pa.

...the meeting, which drew well over 1,000 attendees, was to solicit advice from stakeholders on how E.P.A. should focus and design a study of the impact of hydraulic fracturing on groundwater.

...more than 100 speakers used their two-minute turns at the microphone to unleash furious recriminations at the gas industry, hydraulic fracturing, and state and federal regulators for negligence in allowing it to continue.

One resident called the E.P.A.’s pending analysis the equivalent of studying the flammability of Rome while the city was burning, while others offered a litany of personal experiences with ponds, streams and wells — all contaminated, they believe, by nearby natural gas fracking  (read more)