ARIZONA TO ALASKA

Ah, Arbie! There you are at last. I found you at the bottom of a very deep well of commentary.

I agree with you about Alaskan Pioneer. I followed him for about a week and quit mostly because I had better things to do. I suspect that the goat died of boredom so he and dog had to eat it before it smelled up the place and attracted bears.

In all, I think it is just his idea of a publicity stunt upon which he hopes for future revenues. Of course he just may be right. H.L. Mencken famously observed:

No one ever lost a nickel by underestimating the taste of the American public.

This line from beell's post - "If production slows down too much, the pipeline can become unsafe—or at least uneconomical—to run" - reminded me of Shell's problems with pipelines on the other side of the world. The accusations, counter-accusations, litigation and general messiness of events in Niger's delta have been pretty amazing to follow.

Some say vandalism led to the problems. Others say the cause was aging pipe, bad welds, etc. I can't say at all, but it's been a nightmare for the people living in the Delta and for Shell, albeit in different ways. It's a side story to all this Alaska business, but the connection with Shell makes it interesting.

Thanks for this blog, joealaska, and best wishes for all your creative endeavors.

With whatever respect due Robert Burns and John Steinbeck, mice and oil companies, and at high risk of beating an overfed dead horse...

For those following the Kulluk incident who are interested in the background of the Shell Arctic drilling here's an excellent New York Times article from May, 23, 2012 that sets the stage. Shell finally got to drilling by September 9, 2012. NY Times May 23, 2012. (Sorry, the link was hidden. Fixed it. :)) Please don't miss the photos there, especially the one captioned "Peter Slaiby, a Shell executive, met with locals in Savoonga, Alaska, in 2011 to inform them of plans to drill oil wells." Interesting the energy Shell has put into wooing support on St. Lawrence Island, far removed from the Beaufort and Chukchi drilling sites - MAP Showing Savoonga location related to Fed lease and drilling areas.

Mewonders, "Do the oil companies have a backup plan in mind, like drilling on (or offshore of?)
St. Lawrence Island, explored and thought to be oil-rich in the 1980s - as 'rumor had it' back then?" The island is owned by Siberian Yupik Eskimos. The Fed gave it to them as part of the 1971 Alaska Native Land Claims Act.

Also, this is not the first offshore Arctic drilling in Alaska. WSJ August 19, 2012...
Drilling in the U.S. Arctic Ocean proved challenging the last time companies made a concerted try, in the 1980s. A more than $2 billion project called Mukluk backed by companies including Shell and an affiliate of BP PLC attempted drilling from a man-made gravel island 14 miles off the coast in the Beaufort Sea. It was a costly failure: The expected oil reservoir had moved because of natural oil migration.

We drilled in the right place," Richard Bray, the head of project partner Sohio Production Co., told author Daniel Yergin for his book "The Prize." "We were simply 30 million years too late."

shore,
The first public concerns I noticed for the viability of the TransAlaskaPipelineSystem (TAPS) arose during the 2008 presidential campaign. Then the debate raged about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, as mentioned in earlier comments here)and then TAPS was running at 30% capacity, according to news reports - Anchorage Daily News I think is where I saw it. A contributing factor to future viability of TAPS is the oil has to be heated in transit. One reason the pipeline was built elevated - so it would not melt the tundra. Another reason was to allow for the great caribou migration.


Caribou and TransAlaskaPipeline, July 1998
image credit: Stan Shebs, wikicommons

I found a picture of our friend in her new temporary home. She is definitely listing a bit to the side.

At least it is pretty there. This picture is from the Kodiak Daily Mirror. You have to pay for a subscription to get a closer look.

The Kulluk news is being followed fairly closely in Houston, being home to much of Shell, but most of it is from AP and other sources.

And, yes, they really ATE THE GOAT! And for some reason I bust out laughing at the thought. Poor little goat; I should be ashamed. He didn't say how it died, but he was always talking about all the trouble it kept getting into. The dog is getting quite a taste for fresh meat and bone marrow, although I think it is mostly scavenging.

Arbie, perhaps there are things better not known. Perhaps shame suffuses the entire affair. The whole sordid affair keeps reminding of a very old, very filthy, very funny joke about three guys and a blonde stranded on a tiny desert island. That's as far as I'll go: if you've already heard it, I don't need to retell it; if you've never heard it, I don't care to explain it. :>D

All in all, it definitely lacks the drama of Amundsen eating his sled dogs at the "Butcher Shop" on his way to the South Pole. If you haven't read The Last Place on Earth or seen the movie, do so. It's about real reality polar exploration and why the British hate Amundsen to this day.

Scott was such a twit! He brought ponies and gasoline powered vehicles to the Antarctic; Amundsen brought the meanest, toughest sled dogs on Earth plus a lifetime of arctic culture and lore. It was no contest,

YW, Arbie. My pleasure.

I was/am most interested in the Kulluk story and thought about dumping all the stuff in my own blog-but, the story was well underway here. Onward and upward!

I must confess I don't watch TV so I'm ignorant of the latest "Into the Wild" saga. I do spend more time than i care to admit with my face buried in a computer.

One of the funniest stories from around these parts (SE TX) involved two chronically feuding neighbors. One of them owned a little pot-bellied pig. Pig came up missing. The other neighbor hosted a block party/BBQ shortly after the pig became MIA.

Pork was on the menu...oink.

Dave, it looks like YOUR post was cut. I've noticed that on my own blog MY posts have gotten suddenly cut even though they first show up in their entirety.


Has anyone else noticed something along those lines?

ROTTY3, I haven't noticed anything having been cut. Of course, when blog commentaries get this huge, it's pretty hard to tell or remember. Tell me what you are seeing.

Joe needs to push the reset button and launch another rocket.

Come on Joe! Muriel wants to see more foxes!

Dave, your last sentence is cut. Take a look:

" Scott was such a twit! He brought ponies and gasoline powered vehicles to the Antarctic; Amundsen brought the meanest, toughest sled dogs on Earth plus a lifetime of arctic culture and lore. It was no contest, "

Unless it's not showing up on not one, but TWO of my computers... I just wonder, if it's WU that hates me again lol. (or you meant to use a period and typed a colon. I.e. the sentence is complete, but the punctuation makes it appear incomplete.)

Rotty, my computer shows that last short sentence. No idea what is happening.

Actually, I do see what is happening. That last sentence should have ended with a period, not a comma. That's why it seems that the thought had not been completed.

WOW, CBS and credits, I'm impressed Joe!!!

That sentence of Dave's is cut off for me also. I see that all the time with photos, but I have never noticed it in blog posts before. Either that, or I am just not very observant. :(