Arctic thaw could open vast oil and gas region

Here's irony for you - it's only thawing because of all our oil and gas we've been burning to begin with.

An accelerating thaw of the Arctic may open vast regions for oil and gas exploration but that brings worries of spills in the fragile environment, experts said on Thursday.

Scientists behind an-eight nation report saying the Arctic sea ice could almost vanish in summer by 2100 because of global warming said offshore oil and gas operations would be easier but melting permafrost could destabilise installations on land.

But oil companies are unconvinced. "We can't say for sure whether Arctic operations will become easier or more difficult," said Mark Akhurst, climate change manager for BP, an observer at a scientists' conference in Reykjavik reviewing the Arctic report released on Monday.
...
"As ice recedes, resources like oil and gas will generally be easier to reach," said Arne Instanes, a Norwegian scientist who wrote a chapter of the report on infrastructure in the region.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11266561.htm

right before every ecosystem on earth collapses. Brilliant plan. :eyes:

And as also happens often -- tragically, it's not.

Consider -- the wackier bushworld becomes, the more difficult it is to effectively parody reality. Soon, they may have to drop the pretense of fake reporting, and just work the actual news like Jon Stewart.

If we plan to get down the backside of the Hubbert resource curve on schedule, every last bit of it has to go. Otherwise, we'll be coming up short on the backside, and bottom out a little sooner.

once word gets around that Global warming actually, monetarily, benefits Halliburton - then, my friends, we are truly fucked.

I just got visions of halliburton getting help from the ailens from that movie contact with charlie shean to build a few co2 plants.
and all of them just staning there shakeing hands with smiles on there faces and no bid contracts in the other hand.
I could see the name for *'s plan for it now the no season left behind act, well except for fall winter and spring.yet another way he is trying to turn the world into texas.

and is excited to be there because he can pick the pockets of other addicts and go buy more cocaine.

This country is a sick parody.

For one thing, if the tundra is frozen, they don't really need to build any roads. Now, they are looking at having to drive through ripe, stinking mud a few feet deep, so they'll probably have to build roads now.

I suppose that once you get to the drilling site, you don't need to thaw the ground, but I'd think that was a minor consideration compared to having to get through the mud to get there.

I should've read your post before I posted below.

This will be a logistical nightmare to pull off.

...also I suppose there will be less land as the oceans rise and all of the coastal regions flood for miles inland, new waterfront real estate will boom. This could mean ocean front property in Arizona and Indiana.

P.S. Your timeshare resorts in Aruba could be on the line though.

Oh, the humanity!

from what i gather there is a lot of possible oil under the ice sheets at the south pole the problem is you would have to drill through what over a 1000 feet of ice and then down to the oil all on top of a moveing ice sheet.
leave it to the repukes to think that the only way to save the sinking boat is to drill more holes in it to let the watter out.

Well, he's doing a lousy job! The climate is changing much too rapidly.

Kinda makes me wonder if they aren't behind global warming, given everything else I know about this bunch of Robber Oil Barron's.

anybody else around here know that song?

another benefit!: with the permafrost gone, necessitating road building, why just think of all the developable land that will become available!!

All he heard was the "accelerating thaw of the Arctic may open vast regions for oil and gas exploration".

What bets W tries to take credit for this as being a cunning strategy of his, in the next SOTU address?

eh, what's the environment anyway, but another resource to be exploited and abused.

kind of like the Amerikkan public.....

I read (don't remember where) that a navigable water route along the north of Canada between the Pacific and the Atlantic would be in the near future a reality. Not to minimize the disastrous cause, but it would be interesting to research the implications to trade and travel.

Accelerating the decline in U.S. manufacturing capacity. But, it will help Wal-Mart's profits.

Canada considers the Northwest Passage an internal Canadian waterway - look at a map and judge for yourself. I suppose the U.S. Navy will do whatever it wants to, regardless of what international law rules on the matter, though.

What it means is that all that ice is make from fresh water.

With that fresh water melting the salinity of the atlantic decreases.

As the salinity decreases so does the density.

As the density decreases it will no longer sink to the botton as quickly.

If it doesn't sink as quickly the atlantic conveyor current will turn off.

If you think you've seen climate change now, just wait until that current no longer circulates.

At that point there will be just one thing to do:

Bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.

Without the atlantic conveyor to bring warm water up from the equatorial regions we won't have the gulf stream to moderate the weather in north america and europe. We will probably see a new ice age and it won't take centuries, more like a decade or two.

Folks, I'm not making jokes here. If this happens there will be very little habitable land areas in the world and you can figure it won't support but a small fraction of he current population.

Halliburton be damned! This could mean the real end of humanity.

The warming effects of the gulf stream on Europe are well documented, but the effect of its loss on North America is questionable. The effect may potentially be positive, such as greater rainfalls in the plains states. Any more certain guesses?

Plus the pacific conveyor will be effected in much the same way because the fresh water will infiltrate there too. The artic ocean feeds both.

Perhaps you can find a positive side of this. I find the prospect of a looming ice age to be entirely negative.

Wait....You're right. With much of humanity gone there will be much more land for each of us left. We'll just have to be sure to wear our crampons. And don't forget the ice axe.

Unless this is really the rapture they are waitning for. We wouldn't have to listen to their crap any more. And maybe it would take * too. That would be entirely positive.

At least the oil tankers will be able to traverse the Arctic Ocean, cutting the travel between the Pacific to the Atlantic.

At this rate, we should be able to go surfing on Hudson Bay.

Global warming is so serious, it could devastate us as a race...

yet the propaganda people come out with this spin instead
of screaming holy bloody murder about the chaos this implies.

What a world.