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Page added on August 4, 2016
America’s Fracking King on Environmentalists and Donald Trump’s Appeal
The following is a condensed and edited interview with Harold Hamm, CEO, Continental Resources.
Domestic crude supplies have almost doubled. Do you feel Americans appreciate what your industry has done?
It’s hard to miss the benefits of what’s happened as a result of the oil and gas renaissance. A lot of people didn’t expect it—particularly those environmentalists that would stop all fossil fuel production.
The industry has been forced to reckon with efficiencies in the face of lower prices. How much more efficient are Continental and its competitors today?
When horizontal drilling began in the 1980s, one well would take the place of 18. So one surface location would take the place of 18 locations on the surface—a tremendously more efficient situation.
What has given us this energy renaissance in America is the horizontal drilling techniques that the small independent operators like my company developed.
Do you think that your industry is going to come out of this price cycle stronger in any way?
As far as processes, yes. As far as financial, no. I mean, it’s hurt our industry greatly. But … it made OPEC irrelevant. They’re no longer going to be able to control America and the consumer prices here. You know, that’s probably the biggest patriotic gain that we’ll ever see in our lifetime. For 50 years, they’ve controlled consumer prices at the pump in this country—50 years.
Dealing with a diminished OPEC, you think, is a good thing for the U.S.?
Absolutely. I mean, what are you paying for gasoline out there today? Two dollars?
I paid two bucks last week.
There you go, man. They had it at $4 or $5. So it’s a huge thing. We can’t even measure that. Has it helped our economy? Absolutely. You know, the last eight years were pretty miserable, but they would have been real bad without what we’ve done—without this energy renaissance. It’s been tremendous.
As it relates to energy policy, what do you want to see from the next president?
Well, somebody’s going to have to change the rhetoric on the fossil fuel industry and not have a target on everybody’s back in this industry and trying to put us out of business.
Do you see Hillary Clinton as Obama 2.0? What does she mean for the oil and gas industry?
Well, just listen to what she said, that she’s going to stop pressure treatment of wells. That pretty much would put an end to everything [for shale development]. And for what? I mean, it’s been proven, you know, there hasn’t been any [environmental] damage from that.
For the Republican Party, what happened during the past four years that fed the rise of Mr. Trump?
It’s not just in the Republican Party; I think it’s basically across the country. Call it the Washington disconnect. While working there to lift the crude-oil export ban, I got a real feeling that there was a huge disconnect between the everyday American worker, the average American, and Washington. There wasn’t any attention being paid to it. And I think that’s played out with this entire process. The people that weren’t insiders necessarily have fared very well. And yes, Donald Trump is not a politician.
Is that good or bad?
I think it’s good. He basically has his thumb on exactly what concerns the American people. It’s like immigration: We ought to know who comes here, you know, like any other country. That’s what Brexit was about. They were being overrun by people who basically were there to kill the masses.
You think that’s a similar situation here?
Certainly. Orlando’s an awful good example. Will it get worse? Yes. It’ll get worse unless we get a handle on it real quick.
There’s a line in the GOP platform that refers to: “Some of the hundreds of millions of dollars that we pay for foreign oil ends up in the hands of terrorists.” With the amount of reductions that we’ve seen in, say, OPEC oil coming into the United States, Canada is now our biggest supplier. Is that point—that by buying foreign oil, we’re giving money to potential terrorists—is that still applicable?
Well, absolutely. I mean, when you look at what’s going on, you know, we don’t have terrorism come from Canada. Let’s look at where it’s coming from. The Middle East, right? Islamic terrorism. I mean, that’s what it is, 100 percent. And is it being funded? Yes. I mean, we’ve got 50 percent of, as I said, the population being under 20 over there, nothing to do. They’d about as soon go fight jihad somewhere as lay around and do nothing, right? And particularly, particularly, if their families are being enriched. And with all of the oil that was smuggled out of Iran during the sanctions, with all the oil —I mean, gosh, you can just watch them all up in Iraq, not to mention the fact that now all of the oil in Libya is controlled by ISIS, 100 percent.
There was a Bloomberg breakfast entitled “The Future of Climate Change Conversation in the Republican Party.” Where do you think the conversation is among Mr. Trump and his advisers—and people like you—about climate?
I think we have some basic rule-of-law issues that’s going on today that have to be addressed. This immigration problem has to be addressed. It’s dire. We have to get a handle on people coming into this country we don’t know anything about that’s going to be killing masses, OK? That’s what they’re doing. I mean, they’re soft targets. And we have folks that—they’re not like we are; they’re not living for life today. They’re living for the afterlife. And they enjoy—they’re going to paradise if they kill enough folks. And I think that we need to be aware of the environment around us, absolutely. But emissions are down, CO2 emissions are down over 20 percent, the lowest level they’ve been since the ’90s, early ’90s. So progress—huge progress—has been made, you know, so continue that conversation in the future, after you get some of these basic things done.
9 Comments on "America’s Fracking King on Environmentalists and Donald Trump’s Appeal"
Apneaman on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 11:21 am
emissions are down? debatable and only in regards to the last couple of years (not since the 90’s lying asshole), but the keeling curve (atmospheric CO2) is rising and will continue to. Positive self reinforcing feedback loops – unstoppable. How high will it get? The humans will not be around to see how high it gets.
Permafrost Thaw Triggers Anthrax Outbreak, Wrecks Roads, Generates Carbon-Spewing Peat Primed to Burn in the Heat of Human Warming
“Due to human-forced climate change, this permafrost zone is starting to thaw. At about 2 C worth of warming, a majority of this region will be under thaw pressure. Thawing permafrost releases carbon dioxide and methane, unearths ancient diseases, and causes the ground overlaying the permafrost to collapse.”
“The Permafrost Tomb Opens to Release Undead Microbes
Permafrost, when boiled down to its basics, is primarily composed of frozen dead things. Much of the material is leaf litter, grass, wood, bark, flowers, or other frozen plant matter. But interspersed among what amounts to a many-meters-thick pile of frozen peat stretching for thousands of miles around the northern continental boundaries of our world, are millions and millions of entombed animal carcasses. Many of these are thousands of years old. Some have been there for almost two million years. And each of them may carry latent viruses or infectious bacteria.”
“About 1,800 Billion Tons of Flammable Carbon in the Thawing Permafrost
As if thawing, unearthing of disease-carrying carcasses, and sagging lands causing infrastructure to buckle and collapse weren’t enough, the permafrost itself contains enough carbon to significantly amplify human-forced warming. Some of this carbon will be released due to the process of warming-induced decay. In other cases, since much of that thawed permafrost is flammable peat-like material, direct burning becomes an even more rapid carbon-release mechanism. The vicious cycle can be summed up like this: warming = permafrost thaw = more fires = warming.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/08/03/permafrost-thaw-generates-anthrax-outbreak-wrecks-roads-generates-carbon-spewing-peat-primed-to-burn-in-the-heat-of-human-warming/
Daily CO2
August 3, 2016: 403.20 ppm
August 3, 2015: 396.81 ppm
June CO2
June 2016: 406.81 ppm
June 2015: 402.80 ppm
https://www.co2.earth/
jjhman on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 4:41 pm
He didn’t have the balls to say it but I’d bet this fool is a Trump supporter.
He cares absolutely nothing about the climate or anything else except making money pumping oil.
The thing I keep coming back to, tho, is that when people talk about Trump there is a huge, ugly truth. Trump has tapped into legitimate anger about the disconnect between Washington and the populace. The federal govt (both parties) have been focused on the values and expectations of the upper middle and upper classes. There simply hasn’t been a concern for the folks who simply aren’t ever going to improve their lives with a college degree. that is at least half of the population.
Apneaman on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 5:43 pm
Watch scribby get pissed at the lack of concern from scientists. Scribby knows his science, but he is political and full of hopium – he don’t get human nature and thus will always be disappointed right to the bitter end.
It’s Not Just Subtropical Cornwall — Climate Zones Everywhere are on the March Poleward
“A few weeks ago, the University of Exeter found that parts of Cornwall, England had become subtropical. The study stated that since average temperatures had risen to above 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) for periods of time longer than seven months, this part of England situated on a latitude line north of most of Newfoundland has become part of a climate zone that during the early 20th century extended as far south as the southern tip of Florida.
Seemingly oblivious to the new oddity and possible peril implied by such a significant climate shift, the study went on to cheerfully observe that:
Parts of Cornwall have become subtropical since 2000 and this could create opportunities to grow new, unusual plants. Sunflowers, maize, grapevines and tea are already grown in the Duchy.”
“Subtropical Cornwall — Sahara Desert Marches North as Coastal Zones Flood
Unmentioned, however, was how bizarre the notion of a subtropical Cornwall actually is and what such a major climate shift may mean for the globe, Europe, and Cornwall itself — a shift that may put the odd notion of ‘capitalising on the opportunities’ practically out of reach.
Unfortunately, big climate-zone movements of the kind shown in the Exeter study risk an amazing range of ecological and geophysical damage. A short and incomplete list includes melting glaciers, shrinking sea ice, rising sea levels (a very real worry for the numerous coastal cities in Cornwall, including Exeter itself), stratifying and increasingly anoxic oceans, mass coral bleaching, and habitat loss for species on a global scale risking mass extinction. Any such mention of this appropriately worrying context was notably and oddly absent from the Exeter study.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/08/04/its-not-just-subtropical-cornwall-climate-zones-everywhere-are-on-the-march-poleward/
No matter where one runs to AGW and it’s consequences will get everyone in the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcflDSUMvc
makati1 on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 6:05 pm
You might find these maps interesting:
They show the world temperatures today.
http://eldoradocountyweather.com/forecast/world-forecasts/world-temperatures.html
Whew! It’s hot out there!
Apneaman on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 8:34 pm
Nifty
“A look at 2016’s Arctic sea ice extent (to-date) in comparison to the record minimum year of 2012 (JAXA)…”
http://imgur.com/a/6zzcP
Apneaman on Thu, 4th Aug 2016 9:19 pm
Toxic blue-green algae adapt to rising CO2
“In both the lab and the lake, cyanobacteria’s genetic makeup changed in response to increasing CO2 concentrations. ‘It’s a textbook example of natural selection’, says lead author Giovanni Sandrini. ‘Cyanobacteria absorb CO2 during photosynthesis to produce their biomass, and we observed that the strain best equipped to absorb dissolved CO2 eventually gains the upper hand.’”
“Ji personally experienced just how harmful these bacteria have already proved to be in 2007, when he was living in eastern China, where cyanobacteria covered the entire surface of Lake Taihu, a 2000-km2 lake, and led to a drinking water crisis affecting five million people. ‘I watched my mother arguing with other supermarket shoppers who all had their sights set on the last bottles of drinking water.”
http://www.uva.nl/en/news-events/news/uva-news/content/press-releases/2016/08/toxic-blue-green-algae-adapt-to-rising-co2.html
Fucking humans – changed the atmospheric chemistry to a degree that hasn’t been seen in 15 million years. Whadda think was gonna happen? Cause and effect not going in favor of the humans.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 5th Aug 2016 8:30 am
Drumpf and Fence woooo
ghung on Fri, 5th Aug 2016 10:58 am
jjhman said; He didn’t have the balls to say it but I’d bet this fool is a Trump supporter.”
Donald Trump reveals his economic advisers
“.,..The list has some big Wall Street names, such as Steven Feinberg and John Paulson, and billionaires, including Harold Hamm and Andy Beal.”
Seems you’re right.
MikeX11.2 on Fri, 5th Aug 2016 4:53 pm
Dumb people have dumb advisors! Shock!
Funny, right on top of this article.
http://peakoil.com/enviroment/salmon-die-off-in-canada