28 April 2001
Worse Than Described
Given that I've had a little bug, I thought perhaps I might have been a little harsh with regard to the events of Thursday's journal entry. But this morning, the web version of the newsletter was posted, so I reread the lead article in question. If anything, I've decided I underreacted to the nonsense. Here is the final paragraph from the lead article of a one-time industry-standard exploration newsletter:
The acute seriousness of the supply situation has been highlighted closer to home. Florida Governor Jeb Bush has been dealt an embarrassing blow by his elder brother, the President, as a plea to cancel a planned auction of oil and gas leases off the west coast of Florida, has been ignored. Citing the nation's needs and reserves potential of 370 million bbl oil and 3.2 TCF gas, Lease Sale 181, the first Eastern Gulf sale since 1988, is scheduled for December. Early indications suggest the sale area will comprise nearly 23,900 sq km offshore Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana and is likely to attract strong interest. The majority of the Eastern Gulf is closed to hydrocarbon exploration due to a moratorium signed by and extended to 2012 by former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, respectively. Given that it will be at least five-years between the award of a license and first production, the likelihood of this area playing an "important role in our national energy strategy" as the Interior Secretary claims, particularly in the short term, seems remote. So why now and why off Florida? Think back to the election and the embarrassing chain of events relating to the close margin of victory in Florida, since when relations between the two brothers has been reported as strained. Jeb Bush is seeking re-election in 2002, a cynic might suggest therefore that the decision has more to do with revenge than the nation's energy needs.
I don't need to elaborate on the substance of my earlier critique, although I hadn't really noticed what a clunker the thing is grammatically at the time. For example, I didn't realize that the last sentence contained a comma splice/run-on sentence. How fitting. I also didn't notice the awkward "since when" usage. Oh well. Thursday marked the last time I'll ever read the piece of sh!t.[Posted @ 09:40 AM CST]
