[env-trinity] Energy officials downgrade Monterey Shale oil reserves by 95.6%!/A Better Water Solution/Former MLPA Science Co-Chair headed to federal prison
Dan Bacher
danielbacher at fishsniffer.com
Wed May 21 10:11:37 PDT 2014
Good Morning
Below are (1) my breaking news piece about the downgrading of Monterey
Shale oil reserves by 95.6 percent, (2) my piece about Restore the
Delta's better water resource solution alternative to Senator
Feinstein's bailout for agribusiness bill, and (3) A North Coastal
Journal piece on yesterday's sentencing of Ron Le Valley, former co-
chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Science
Advisory Team for the North Coast, on one count of conspiracy to
embezzle over $900,000 from the Yurok Tribe.
Thanks
Dan
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/21/1300935/-Energy-officials-downgrade-Monterey-Shale-oil-reserves-by-95-6
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/05/21/18756013.php
Photo of Governor Jerry Brown courtesy of Damien Luzzo.
no_more_fracking____1.jpg
Energy officials downgrade Monterey Shale oil reserves by 95.6%
by Dan Bacher
Oil industry representatives have continually claimed that the
expansion of fracking for oil in California will lead to the creation
of many thousands of jobs and the influx of billions of dollars to the
economy, but these claims were exposed as false when federal Energy
Information Administration (EIA) officials downgraded Monterey Shale
reserves by 95.6 percent on May 20.
In her recent blog, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western
States Petroleum Association and former Chair of the Marine Life
Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-
called "marine protected areas" in Southern California, touted the
jobs bonanza that would supposedly be created by expanded fracking. (http://www.wspa.org/blog/post/moratorium-legislation-does-not-make-sense-california
)
"Senate Bill 4 created a pathway to transparent environmental
protections while balancing the need to meet California’s energy
demands and create valuable, much-needed jobs in the San Joaquin
Valley," said Reheis-Boyd.
"A study produced by the California State University, Fresno found
that hydraulic fracturing in the San Joaquin Valley’s Monterey Shale
Formation could grow personal income by as much as $4 billion while
creating more than 195,000 new jobs. In addition to these localized
opportunities, the entire state will benefit from increased domestic
energy production," gushed Reheis-Boyd.
However, Reheis-Boyd's contention that the expansion of fracking in
California will create thousands of jobs and inject billions of
dollars into the economy was completely dispelled when the federal
Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirmed new estimates for US
shale oil reserves, reducing its previous estimate for technically
recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale from 13.7 billion barrels of oil
to just 0.6 billion barrels of oil. (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil-20140521-story.html
)
This amounts to a 95.6 percent reduction and "is illustrative of just
how much the Monterey Shale is misunderstood," according to a
statement from CAFrackFacts, a non profit organization. To put this
figure in perspective, the EIA’s latest estimate of 0.6 billion
barrels would only be enough to meet US oil consumption for 32 days. (http://www.cafrackfacts.org/resources/media/
)
"From the information we've been able to gather, we've not seen
evidence that oil extraction in this area is very productive using
techniques like fracking," said John Staub, a petroleum exploration
and production analyst who led the energy agency's research, told the
LA Times. "Our oil production estimates combined with a dearth of
knowledge about geological differences among the oil fields led to
erroneous predictions and estimates.
"This downgrade fundamentally changes the risk-reward calculation when
it comes to unconventional oil development in our state,” said Jayni
Foley Hein, Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Law, Energy
and the Environment and CAFrackFacts Advisor. “Given that the
industry's promised economic benefits are not likely to materialize,
the state should take a hard look at the impacts that oil development
has on public health, safety, and the environment."
For years, the Western States Petroleum Association and oil companies
have made extensive claims and invested heavily in attempting to
develop the Monterey Shale using unconventional development techniques
such as hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and acidization.
These controversial techniques were believed to be the "answer" to
tapping into the oil of the Monterey Shale and replicating the oil
boom that is occurring in other regions of the United States,
according to CAFrackFacts.
“With these new numbers from the EIA, it is clear that the Monterey
Shale will not be the panacea that will fuel our cars, jobs or the
California economy,” said Dr. Seth B. Shonkoff, Executive Director of
the scientific organization PSE Healthy Energy. “It is critical that
California turn its attention towards energy sources that will meet
our energy demands for the near- and long-term, facilitate the meeting
of our climate targets and create real jobs in this State.”
"As large-scale fracking of the Monterey Shale seems unlikely, other
forms of enhanced oil recovery throughout California continue to pose
not fully-understood risks to the health and safety of Californians,"
the group said.
CAFrackFacts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing
public understanding and scientific knowledge about unconventional
drilling and well stimulation techniques in California. For more
information, visit http://www.CAFrackFacts.org or follow them on
Twitter @CAFrackFacts.
The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) that is leading the
campaign to frack California spends more money every year on lobbying
in Sacramento than any other corporate group. This massive spending
enables the oil industry to effectively buy the votes of many State
Assembly Members and Senators.
The organization spent a total of $5,331,493 in 2009, $4,013,813 in
2010, $4,273,664 in 2011, $5,698,917 in 2012 and $4,670,010 in 2013 on
lobbying at the State Capitol - and spent $1,456,785 in just the first
3 months of 2014. (http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/23365-californias-big-oil-dirty-dozen
) You can bet that a good chunk of this money spent so far this year
was spent on stopping Senate Bill 1132, Senator Holly Mitchell and
Mark Leno's fracking moratorium bill.
A ground breaking report released on April 1, 2014 by the ACCE
Institute and Common Cause also reveals that Big Oil's combined
spending on lobbying and political campaigns in Sacramento amounts to
a stunning $266.9 million over the past 15 years. (http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/14/how-big-oil-bought-sacramento/
)
However, the oil industry's ability to effectively buy the Governor's
Office, legislators and environmental processes doesn't change the
fact that the Energy Information Administration's estimate for
technically recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale has been reduced
from 13.7 billion barrels of oil to just 0.6 billion barrels of oil.
Meanwhile, opposition to fracking is mushrooming throughout the state.
In the latest victory in the campaign to ban the environmentally
destructive oil extraction process, Santa Cruz County Board of
Supervisors voted 5-0 on May 20 to prohibit fracking and oil and gas
development in Santa Cruz County.
Food & Water Watch, 350.org, Environment California, Center for
Biological Diversity, Californians Against Fracking, Santa Cruz Sierra
Club, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and UC Santa
Cruz students rallied with Supervisor John Leopold after the vote to
celebrate the victory. (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/20/1300802/-Santa-Cruz-County-first-to-ban-fracking-in-Caliornia
)
"We congratulate the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for their
historic vote towards protecting California’s air and water, and for
setting a positive example for other counties and Governor Brown,”
said Adam Scow, California Director of Food & Water Watch.
2.
http://www.fishsniffer.com/blogs/details/delta-tunnels-opponents-offer-senator-feinstein-a-better-water-solution/
DELTA TUNNELS OPPONENTS OFFER SENATOR FEINSTEIN A BETTER WATER SOLUTION
Written By: Dan Bacher, May 21, 2014
In discussing her agribusiness-friendly drought relief legislation, S
2198, Senator Dianne Feinstein recently told the San Francisco
Chronicle that environmentalists have “never been helpful to me in
producing good water policy."
“I have not had a single constructive view from environmentalists of
how to provide water when there is no snowpack,” said Feinstein in her
interview. (http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Feinstein-Environmentalists-no-help-on-5481560.php
)
Restore the Delta (RTD), opponents of Governor Jerry Brown’s Bay Delta
Conservation Plan to build the peripheral tunnels, on Monday announced
the release of a new video in response to Feinstein’s false claim
that environmentalists have “never been helpful” to her in solving
California’s water resource challenges.
Restore the Delta’s storyboard video, http://youtu.be/Ml_pCr2uMaE,
describes what water efficiency would accomplish for the Delta and for
meeting California's water and jobs needs. RTD, along with the
Environmental Water Caucus in their Responsible Water Exports Plan,
has long proposed sustainable water water policies.
“Sen. Feinstein is carrying water in S 2198 for huge industrial mega-
growers who have planted thousands of additional acres of almonds on
dry lands in Westlands and Kern Water Districts in the midst of our
three-year dry spell,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive
director of RTD. “Sen. Feinstein’s response to this unsustainable
overplanting of permanent crops on unsustainable lands without their
own water supply is to strip sustainable farms and fisheries of
protections so these huge growers can water their unwise plantings.”
"During times of drought, people think about big water projects as
the solution because most people have seen large canals or dams that
hold and convey water,” she said. “We decided to create a storyboard
that shows what water efficiency looks like with easy to understand
facts so that people can learn why water efficiency is the better
value for each dollar spent on water infrastructure.”
“The water efficiency story will be turned into a feature video in
the months ahead -- and it will tell the story of how water
efficiency throughout California is the solution for the Delta and
the citizens of California,” Barrigan-Parrilla concluded. The video is
here:http://youtu.be/Ml_pCr2uMaE
3.
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/Blogthing/archives/2014/05/20/biologist-gets-10-months-for-yurok-griftCOURTS
/ CRIME / ENVIRONMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES
Biologist Gets 10 Months for Yurok Grift
POSTED BY THADEUS GREENSON ON TUE, MAY 20, 2014 AT 4:58 PM
click to enlarge
A judge today sentenced a local biologist to serve 10 months in prison
for his role in conspiring to embezzle nearly $1 million in federal
funds from the Yurok Tribe over a three-year period beginning in 2007,
according to Yurok Tribal Chairman Thomas O’Rourke.
Mad River Biologists founder Ron LeValley pleaded guilty in February
to a single count of conspiring to embezzle funds from an Indian
tribal organization and faced up to two and half years in federal
prison in the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the federal
probation department felt a one year prison sentence was appropriate
in the case, but U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ultimately
opted for the 10-month sentence, citing cooperation with a federal
investigation into the grift — cooperation that led directly to the
conviction of LeValley’s co-conspirator, former Yurok Tribe Forestry
Director Roland Raymond, who was sentenced to a three-year prison term
in January.
LeValley’s attorney, William Kimball, argued that his client’s
criminal conduct was a blip in an otherwise law-abiding life and that
he should be spared a prison confinement.
Reached after the sentencing, O’Rourke said he was very disappointed
in the sentence, and the system. “He’s considered a leader in the
community, and pillars of the community are held to higher standards,”
he said. “In my mind, and in the tribe’s mind, he’s a crook. And,
basically, he was slapped on the wrist with the sentence.”
According to court documents, LeValley and Raymond conspired to steal
the funds through a complex scheme of fake and inflated invoices and
payments for northern spotted owl survey work that Mad River
Biologists never performed. In court documents, LeValley claims
Raymond told him he was using the ill-gotten funds to pay for tribal
forestry and fire crews. LeValley said he thought he was helping the
tribe and its members, but concedes he knew what he was doing was, in
fact, illegal. Court documents also indicate that none of the stolen
funds paid for the work crews and that they were instead spent to
support Raymond’s drug and gambling addictions.
As a part of their sentences, both Raymond and LeValley have been
ordered to repay the $852,000 they stole from the tribe.
Mad River Biologists submitted more than 75 false invoices between
2007 and 2010, according to court documents. Under the scheme, Raymond
would then cut checks from the tribe and LeValley would funnel the
money back to him, less 20 percent taken off the top.
The survey work that was never done was primarily looking for habitats
for the federally endangered northern spotted owl to determine what
tribal properties could be logged without harming owl populations.
It’s unclear whether Raymond and LeValley’s conspiracy affected timber
harvest plans or led to the destruction of potential owl habitats.
In addition to having founded Mad River Biologists in Arcata, LeValley
is an acclaimed wildlife photographer and birder, and was a member of
the Marine Life Protection Act science advisory team for the North
Coast. He lives in Mendocino County and is due to surrender to
authorities in July to begin serving his sentence in a minimum
security prison.
In a memorandum urging Alsup to keep his client out of prison, Kimball
noted that the court received more than 80 letters in support of
LeValley, many lauding his many volunteer endeavors and charitable
acts. “These letters tell the story of a man who has consistently put
service to others and to his community before himself,” Kimball wrote.
“The profound, positive impact that Ron has had, and continues to
have, on so many lives should be a powerful mitigating factor as the
court weighs the appropriate sentence for his offense.”
O’Rourke said LeValley has never taken full responsibility for his
actions, or showed remorse for the damage he’s done to the Yurok
Tribe. “He said he was duped, that he was tricked,” the chairman said.
“He’s an intelligent man, a business man, and he didn’t get this far
in life being tricked … The Yurok Tribe is very disappointed in the
sentence, and in the system.”
For more information on the case, see past Journal coverage here, here
and here.
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