Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: isopatch who wrote (73121)	9/13/2000 12:42:44 AM
From: Douglas V. Fant	Respond to of 95453

isopatch, I work across the power and energy industries...which is kinda neat. It's like being a football scout and sitting in the booth up high and watching what is unfolding on the playing field. Coal-fired power plants are under attack by environmentalists due to air emissions- potentially sulfur dioxide and mercury; nuclear plants are simply "no-go's" in the US too. That leaves three true sources of electric power generation- oil, natural gas, and hydro power. Hydro power is under heavy attack from the environmentalists too- Known as the "dam breaching" movement environmentalists want dams removed from rivers so that "rivers run free" and habitat returns to original format. Well as goes the dams so goes the hydroelctric generation capability. Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell in Northern Az/Southern Utah is a good example of the problems of the hydro electric industry....Once a 1100 Megawatt major league swing power facility, the environmentalists won concessions from the Clinton Adminisitration to require a continual flow of water through the Dam in order to help some native species downstream. Well fine and dandy but you really need 100% of Glen Canyon Dam's hydro power in the peak usage hours of 11a.m. to 7p.m. and not spread out evenly on a 24 hour/day schedule.... Next there's a plan know as the "California 4.4 Plan" which the Clinton Admininstration is trying to rush through the Department of the Interior before the end of the Cinton term just in case George wins in November. It "forces" California to quit taking 5.2 million acre feet of water from the Colorado River and go back to its Supreme Court decreed 4.4 millin acre feet. Trouble is, the Clinton Admininstration is giving California 15 years to get back in line. The proposed 4.4 Plan will drain a good chunk of Lake Mead- That's where Hoover Dam is situated with a 2087 Megawatt hydro plant. And in the Pacific Northwest it's salmon concerns that lead to talks of removing or compromising dams/hydro ops. So the future of hydro power is not bright. Next is oil as a fuel source. Oil cannot be burned as fuel in areas where you have non-attainment air issues- i.e. near most major cities in the U.S. Problem is that these major cities are what need the electric power the most. And with grid constraints right now it's hard to ship power long distances to feed those major power consumers.... So for numerous reasons it all comes down to natural gas. The King, the Queen, the Saviour...Problem here though is over 100,000 oilfield workers lost their jobs in the 1998-1999 downturn and most have not returned to the industry (The "Wal-Mart or Home Depot Factor" as we call it in the oil industry. That is why risk your life on an oil rig to make $15/hour and then get laid off in six months n the next downturn when I can make $11 hour at Wal Mart or Home Depot and have job security?). Simply the infrastructure- rigs, service companies, and trained personnel are currently not available in North America in order to ramp up NG production to cover all of the demand that will likely be placed upon this fuel source. Finally most major oil companies are putting their dollars overseas and looking for oil fields, not natural gas fields in North America.... It's taken us a while to get to this point...But I wasn't kidding that we need some real leadership in this country to forge a national energy policy and not the "don't worry, be happy" energy policy approach of the last few years.....