I suspect 5-10 miles would get er done.
South Carolina Ping
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Posted on 10/12/2008 8:42:33 AM PDT by Libloather
Pollution or prosperity: Which will offshore drilling bring to South Carolina?
By JIM FABER
Published Sunday, October 12, 2008
It's a thorny question: Can a state economy based largely on tourism afford to have oil and natural gas drilling offshore?
The answer, of course, depends on whom you ask.
Some say it could threaten the natural beauty of the beaches that bring so many people to South Carolina and Hilton Head Island.
Others say it could bring in thousands of high-paying jobs to a state struggling with a high unemployment rate and lessen dependence on foreign oil.
**SNIP**
THE CASE FOR
The need for lower fuel prices and less dependence on foreign oil are cited by the state's business community as part of the case for offshore drilling.
The more important issue for the state, though, is improving the job climate.
The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce is in favor of drilling because of the large number of high-paying jobs the industry could create, said Marcia Purday, vice president of communications for the chamber.
With an unemployment rate above the national average and an average wage below it, the state could use the jobs the drilling industry jobs would bring, Purday said.
Citizens for Sound Conservation, a business group seeking to balance industry with conservation, points to a study by the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association that shows extraction, refining and pipeline industries in Louisiana generate some $12.7 billion in household earnings and support more than 300,000 jobs each year.
"We believe it can be done safely and it can be a boon to the economy," said Denver Merrill, executive director of the group.
(Excerpt) Read more at islandpacket.com ...
The real battle will likely be the developers and NIMBYs versus the people who want to drill.
If we don’t do something about drilling our own oil, there will be no tourists in NC. Take your pick.
Horse before cart, where are the new oil refiners to be built.
I suspect 5-10 miles would get er done.
South Carolina Ping
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The majority of S. Carolinians would approve of drilling but enviro lawyers paid for by super wealthy beachfront owners will tie this up in courts for years and years. By then we may all be speaking Farsi.
I didn’t realize that was an either-or proposition.
The drilling rigs could be as close in as twelve miles from shore, and still below the line of sight for anybody in the top floor of a 10-story condominimum. So the objection that the drilling rigs would be “unsightly” fails quickly.
The proliferation of sports fishing, where the fish tend to congregate in the near area of the new “reef” formed by the drilling platforms, should more than offset any diminuation of the “recreational” aspects of South Carolina. In fact, the drilling platforms, in their approach to the undersea horizons, may have to go through a layer of Methane Hydrate, estimated in place to be several hundred feet in depth. This substance should be not considered an obstacle, but an additional resource to be developed. By simply scooping up the Methane Hydrate from its layer on the ocean floor, and transferring it to an expansion chamber, it may be possible to extract natural gas from the ocean floor without even the necessity to tap down into a reservoir of natural gas.
Under the conditions in the ocean depths greater than 1,500 feet, the water temperature is a steady 38º F. the ambient pressure is between six and ten times the stmospheric standard. Methane mixed with water forms a chalthrate, a physical state in which the methane molecule fits into the interstices in water, allowing something like 164 times the volume of the gaseous methane at normal atmospheric to fit into one volume of water. So long as the pressure is maintained, or the temperature remains below about 42º F at normal atmospheric pressure, the substance is stable, and may be handled just like normal ice formed by freezing water.
Once above that critical temperature, however, the substance goes through phase change, and the methane is released, leaving one volume of somewhat saline water, and methane gas under pressure.
There is GREAT potential for harvesting this Methane Hydrate from the ocean floor, along the Continental Shelf, and converting it into readily usable fuel to drive power generation stations, as a fuel for motor vehicles (as CNG, compressed natural gas), and as a way to heat homes and drive industry, cheaply, and with an inexhaustible supply, as the ocean continues to generate Methane Hydrate from decomposing organic material that drifts to the bottom of the sea, and is turned into methane as one of the decomposition products.
We are talking about SC, not NC. As a resident of Hilton Head I have no objection to drilling off the SC coast. When was there last a problem with a platform, especially the newer high tech type? The tourism industry uses a very small part of the coastline, so these platforms can be built so that no visual pollution occurs.
My mistake. Thanks for catching it.
Maybe somebody can tell me about all the oil spills that have fouled Galveston beaches...
Who has a back yard 25 miles off the coast?
Mostly none!!!
I have been to the beach at Grand Isle Louisiana lots of times, deep see fishing, etc., and have never seen an oil rig. Apparently the Louisiana Gulf Coast is lousy with them, but I have yet to see one. Before anyone votes, protests, or writes an article against offshore drilling, I suggest they take a trip to the Louisiana Gulf Coast, get some gulf shrimp, go deep see fishing, whatever, and see what there is to see.
So how would YOU know?.. Answer: You can't, don't, wouldn't..
Depends on observer height, etc. Here is a good link.
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/explain/atmos_refr/horizon.html
I posted links of what test drilling that has been taken.
See link, post #8
I read somewhere that offshore drilling relieves the pressure and slows natural seepage and makes cleaner beaches. Do people really think that oil rigs will be 100 yards off shore? Most would not be visible form shore. Put windmills on them and paint them green to make the wackos happy.
Will windmills beautify the beaches. Will these ridiculous wave machines that will litter the seashore with thousand of bobbing devices producing a teaspoon of energy - will they destroy enjoyment of the ocean. Damn right they will - but not a mention of that.
They just don’t want oil - its concentrates economic power and is pro-capitalist.
How do we harvest this?
Drilling is highly unlikely to cause any pollution.
Any cottage owner who can see 25 miles off his coast from his deck, which should be fairly easy to do, even if a 25 miles away doesn’t really spoil his view any more than 10 different water vehicles a mile away, 30 flabby women in bikinis 20 yards away, or a forest of wax myrtles 4 feet away (unless he hasn’t already clear cut them).
Harvesting Methane Hydrates?
Learning how to grab that big brass ring will make a huge difference in future energy production. We have a long ways to go on this one.
The National Methane Hydrates R&D Program
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/futuresupply/methanehydrates/maincontent.htm
Methane Hydrate - The Gas Resource of the Future
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/hydrates/
It's a thorny question: Can a state economy based largely on tourism afford to have oil and natural gas drilling offshore?An even thornier question is: Can an article based on the utterly fallacious idea that South Carolina has "a state economy based largely on tourism" be worth the electrons used to ship it to my computer?
For the record:
A look at the distribution of jobs by industry in 2000 shows 24 percent are in trade, 22 percent in services, 19 percent in manufacturing, 17 percent in government, 6 percent in construction and 10 percent in all other sectors. In fact, travel and tourism directly accounts for 6 percent of all jobs and 5 percent of gross state product in the state.
(The above quote is from here, and I believe that the actual 2000 report is this one.)
I have no idea how circuses are getting along with no clowns since it is evident that they have all gone into the newspaper industry.
They can drill in my back yard if it will help!
And I could use the extra income! ;^)
I was recently in the Netherlands and Germany and for miles and miles (right beside the Autobahn) you see these huge windmills. I was told each one covers energy for about 5000 homes. The cows graze right under them. When are American liberals going to get real??????
I don’t accept that data..
That is fine with me, I don't accept the drill here drill now BS either, since is funded by Exxon and they want Alaskan oil to refine in china.
A democrat(rino) eh!.. I figured as much.. There is zero logic to support NOT drilling..
Drilling for gas OR oil..
Also the largest find of Gold(silver), Copper, moly and a few other metals thats ever been found on this planet has been secured accross Cook inlet from Anchorage.. (Pebble Mine).. That resource should be tapped too..
I support drilling, I also support the requirement that all discovered oil has to be sold in the united states.
I’ll let ‘em know fer ya, Mr. Clampett. Jus the same, if you wanna offload some of yer acreage so you don’t have ta worry about the taxman and stuff, I reckon I might be willin ta buy it off ya if tha price is right.
This is SC we are talking about, not CA. We would see them at sunup, if at all.
A bit more than none.
3.8 Billion Barrels of Oil
37 Trillion Cubic Feet of Gas.
Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Assessment 2006
http://www.mms.gov/revaldiv/RedNatAssessment.htm
I would also enjoy using them as citing marks while swimming.
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