Can Cenk really handle the truth?
If, like @CenkUygur, you celebrated #HurricaneHarvey's impact on the O&G industry, you should probably know:
1. 42% of the jet fuel used in the US comes from Texas.
Those red-eyes from NYC to LA are going to get much more expensive.
Cenk can probably afford it. You, on the other hand, not so much.
2. Texas accounts for 29% of total US refining capacity. More than one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity has been shuttered and it will be weeks or longer to fully come back on line.
Have you noticed the spike in gas prices?
Consider: Gas prices in cities across the US soared by as much as 40% after Hurricane Katrina due to supply interruptions.
Gas up? Everything else up.
3. Renewable energy accounts for only 10% of the nation's consumption so, whether you like it or not, you are an oil and gas consumer.
Harvey will probably cost you more to, say, charge your electric car, iPhone or laptop.
How can you tweet your anger about the O&G industry with a dead device???
4. Texas produces 36.5% of the nation's crude oil supply, which makes it the country's number one supplier. Currently, 22% of the oil produced in the Gulf, 379,000 bpd is offline.
Use anything with plastic? Use cosmetics, film, ink, ballpoint pens, nail polish, antiseptics, vitamin capsules, deodorant, antihistamines, refrigeration, tape, eyeglasses, anesthetics, golf balls, heart valves, artificial limbs, paint, tires?
Yep, petroleum is looking at you...and, Houston alone accounts for over 40% of the nation's base petrochemical capacity.
5. 34% of the nation's energy comes from natural gas. Texas produces 29% of that.
How will you help poor families pay for the increase in prices that will result from the decrease in supply that you cheered?
6. Dreaming of a white Christmas in New England? 60% of the region's energy comes from NG...and, NE has no natural supply.
52% of New England's NG supply comes from the Gulf Coast.
7. No, wind and solar can't power the Northeast. Wind produces only 1.9% of the region's power and a mere 1.5% comes from solar.
Massachusetts is consistently ranked as the nation's 'most energy efficient state'; yet, since 2000, it has doubled its reliance on NG, which now accounts for 50% of power generation. The state's NG power generators have nearly 20 times more capacity than wind and solar capacity combined.
A winter powered by wind and solar will give a whole new meaning to 'Baby, it's cold outside!'
8. Are you against pipelines? Well, consider this: New England already pays the highest prices for electricity in the continental US and the region's pipeline capacity is maxed out.
Remember the polar vortex of 2014? The lack of pipeline capacity for the region's NG supply resulted in PRICES MORE THAN DOUBLING.
During the 2013-2015 winters, residents of the Northeast paid a ridiculous $7 BILLION more than neighbouring regions for electricity.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom of many, your protests do not hurt the O&G industry. It makes more money as an increase in demand is coupled with stagnant or reduced supply.
You only hurt the ones you claim to love...because they are the ones footing the bill.
9. The nation's second largest refinery (25 miles east of Houston) processes 584,000 B/D & employs 7,000 people, who make on average more than $95,000 a year, plus excellent benefits.
Remember when you loved the poor and blue-collar workers and their families? What happened?
10. Presently, energy from renewable sources accounts for only 12-15% of the nation's energy supply and is insufficiently reliable causing power plants to often have to switch to fossil fuel sources.
If you cheered the damage to the O&G industry, you lack foresight. If you want to see what happens to a country when it's O&G production is severely curtailed, then look at the country that you used to loudly praise as a model for all to follow. Of course, I'm talking about VENEZUELA.
* 1998 oil production: 3.5 million barrels per day (BBL/D/1K); 2017 oil production: 2.2 BBL/D/1K. That's a reduction of 37%...and Venezuela has the world's largest proven reserves
* Venezuela is ranked as one of the most miserable economies in the world on the 2017 Global Misery Index
* According to Freedom House's 2017 Freedom in the World index, the country is 'not free' and has a freedom ranking of 30/100
* Infant mortality increased 30% last year
* One-third of the nation’s citizens are now only eating two or fewer meals per day
* Maternal mortality shot up 65% last year
* Malaria cases soared an astonishing 76% last year
* Food inflation is 315%
* The consumer price index is 2,146%, an increase of 782% since last year alone
* 75% of the population lost an average of 19 pounds in weight last year
* The Consumer Price Index for transportation is 1,995%
* Public sector employees can only work 2 days per week. This was done to SAVE ELECTRICITY EVEN THOUGH VENEZUELA IS SITTING ON ALL OF THE OIL THAT IT COULD NEED. It just can't produce it because of its Socialist corruptocrats.
* After averaging 32.42% between 1973 and 2017, inflation is 741%
* The Bolivar was devalued by 64% in May and now is worth .099 of $1 USD
* Unemployment is 25%
* Rolling blackouts lasting at least 4 hours have been imposed to save electricity
* The country scored 17 points out of 100 on the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International
* Reporters Without Borders scored press freedom in the country at 42.94, which translates to a ranking of 137 out of 180 countries in 2017 and violations continue to increase
* The country's murder rate is the second highest in the world. In the last two years, the homicide rate has risen to an average of 60 a day, up from about 45 a day in 2015
* Child prostitution and sex trafficking have soared
* Education, healthcare, and infrastructure are gravely underfunded
And, no, Venezuela didn't get to this point because of the fall in oil prices. Norway's economy is also based, in large part, on oil and gas. How many protesters are in the street or starving at home?
11. If Climate Change caused Hurricane Harvey, please explain:
* The Cat 3 of 23 August 1851
* The Cat 3 of 26 August 1852
* The Cat 4 of 11 August 1856
* The Cat 3 of 8 September 1854
* The Cat 3 of 16 August 1855
* The Cat 3 of 11 August 1860
* The Cat 3 of 7 October 1873
* The Cat 3 of 12 August 1860
* The Cat 3 of 8 September 1869
* The Cat 3 of 16 August 1871
* The Cat 3 of 10 September 1882
* The Cat 3 of 16 September 1875
* The Cat 3 of 3 October 1877
* The Cat 3 of 1 September 1879
* The Cat 3 of 25 August 1885
* The Cat 4 of 20 August 1886
* The Cat 3 of 16 August 1888
* The Cat 3 of 28 August 1893
* The Cat 4 of 2 October 1893
* The Cat 3 of 13 October 1893
* The Cat 3 of 9 October 1894
* The Cat 3 of 29 September 1896
* The Cat 4 of 2 October 1898
* The Cat 3 of 18 August 1899
* The Cat 4 of 9 September 1900
* The Cat 3 of 21 July 1909
* The Cat 3 of 20 September 1909
* The Cat 3 of 11 October 1909
* The Cat 3 of 18 October 1909
* The Cat 4 of 17 August 1915
* The Cat 4 of 18 August 1915
* The Cat 3 of 6 July 1916
* The Cat 4 of 18 August 1916
* The Cat 3 of 29 September 1917
* The Cat 3 of 7 August 1918
* The Cat 4 of 10 September 1919
* The Cat 3 of 14 September 1919
* The Cat 3 of 25 October 1921
* The Cat 3 of 21 August 1926
* The Cat 3 of 26 August 1926
* The Cat 4 of 18 September 1926
* The Cat 4 of 17 September 1928
* The Cat 3 of 28 September 1929
* The Cat 4 of 14 August 1932
* The Cat 3 of 5 September 1933
* The Cat 5 of 3 September 1935
* The Cat 3 of 21 September 1938
* The Cat 3 of 23 September 1941
* The Cat 3 of 30 August 1942
* The Cat 3 of 19 October 1944
* The Cat 3 of 15 September 1945
* The Cat 4 of 17 September 1947
* The Cat 4 of 21 September 1948
* The Cat 4 of 26 August 1949
Did the United States or, indeed, the world have more or less emissions between 1851 and 1949 or from 1950 until today?
12. If Climate Change caused Hurricane Harvey, please explain the following keeping in mind carbon emissions were much lower:
* The 1880s were the most active decade for the United States, with a total of 25 hurricanes affecting the nation.
* The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, a Cat 5, was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the US on record, as well as the 3rd most intense Atlantic hurricane ever. It had sustained winds of 185 mph, a 20 ft storm surge, barometric pressure at landfall of 892 mbar, and killed 408 people.
* The least active decade was the 1970s, with a total of only 12 hurricanes affecting the American coastline
* The Great Galveston Hurricane, a Cat 4 that made landfall on 8 September 1900, remains to the present day the deadliest natural disaster in US history. It had sustained winds of 145 mph, a 25 ft storm surge, barometric pressure at landfall of 936 mbar, and killed between 6,000 to 12,000 people.
* The Okeechobee hurricane, a Cat 4, which made landfall on 6 September 1928. It had sustained winds of 160 mph, a storm surge of 20 feet, barometric pressure at landfall of 929 mbar, and killed more than 4,000 people
* In the 1850s, there were 17 hurricanes making landfall in the US; in the 1860s, there were 15; in the 1870s, there were 19; in the 1880s, there were 25; in the 1890s, there were 20; between 1900 and 1909, there were 17; in the 1910s, there were 21; in the 1920s, there were 15; in the 1930s, there were 18; in the 1940s, there were 23; in the 1950s, there were 20; in the 1960s, there were 15; in the 1970s, there were 12; in the 1980s, there were 17; in the 1990s, there were 15; between 2000 and 2009, there were 19; and there have been 7 so far in the 2010s.
Did we use more oil and gas in the 1880s or 1970s?
If you answered the 1970s, then explain why there were more hurricanes in the former than the latter. I mean, if climate change due to fossil fuels is driving more and larger storms, one would expect that the 1970s would have dwarfed the 1880s. Why didn't it?
13. If the oil industry in Texas is responsible for Hurricane Harvey, answer this question:
Question: Which came first: The greatest natural and deadliest disaster in American history, i.e., the Galveston hurricane, or Spindletop, which marks that start of the modern petroleum industry and was the first successful well drilled in Texas?
Answer: The hurricane (8 September 1900) hit Texas 125 days before Spindletop (10 January 1901).
If the oil industry is responsible for killer hurricanes, why did the nation's most deadly storm precede the modern oil industry?
