Republicans and our Constitution

@AverageJoe1

The funniest thing is, you think I am lying that the United States is a deeply crony-capitalist country. 😆

I am not. I find lying annoying, so I don't do it. 😆

As you launch your business, begin by collecting subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives from the government to guarantee you can pump oil and gas profitably. Globally, fossil fuel subsidies total in the trillions each year, according to organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.

Next, start pumping and profiting.

As you set up your business, create layers of shell companies. Down the road, they’ll provide a firewall between you and your liabilities — key among them, cleanup costs.

Once oil and gas production slows, sell low-producing wells. Smaller drillers operating on thinner margins, known in the business as “scavenger companies,” will be happy to take them off your hands.

Rinse and repeat by selling wells as their profits slow to a trickle. They’ll be sold again to ever-smaller companies that teeter on the edge of insolvency. Maintenance and environmental stewardship will usually fall by the wayside as companies eke out a profit. Studies show that the number of environmental violations rises as wells pass to less-capitalized drillers. But these wells aren’t your problem any longer.

Pull any remaining profits before regulators hit you with violations and fines for your remaining wells that aren’t pumping and may be leaking.

Then, idle the wells — pausing production, but not plugging them or cleaning up — and walk away. Regulators are typically tasked with ensuring that as much oil as possible is pumped out of the ground, so rules allow wells to sit idle, instead of being plugged, in case prices surge and it becomes profitable to restart them. However, a study in California found that, after wells are inactive for only 10 months, there’s a 50-50 chance they will never produce again.

Regulators will likely grow tired of asking you to clean up your wells, but you can make the case for leaving them unplugged for now. Pitch grand plans, as other drillers have — maybe repurposing the wells for bitcoin mining, carbon sequestration or the synthesis of hydrogen fuel — that require the wells to remain open.

When regulators’ patience has reached its limit, remind them what will happen if they come down hard on you. Fines or other extra costs could force your business into bankruptcy, leaving your unplugged wells as orphans and taxpayers on the hook. Ask them if they want to be responsible for that catastrophe.

“The root of the problem is there’s no regulator of the oil industry across North America,” Boychuk said, adding that “the rule of law has never applied to oil and gas.”

When regulators finally act, declare bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Code is meant to protect businesspeople like you who took risks. More than 250 oil and gas operators in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection between 2015 and 2021, according to law firm Haynes Boone. (Industry groups estimate there are several thousand oil companies in the country.)

Regulators only require oil and gas companies to set aside tiny bonds that act like a security deposit on an apartment. Because you didn’t clean up your wells, you’ll lose that money, but it’s a fraction of the profits you’ve banked or the cost of the cleanup work. ProPublica and Capital & Main found that bonds typically equal less than 2% of actual cleanup costs.

And as you finalize your exit, the labyrinth of shell corporations you set up should act as corporate law intends, protecting you from future responsibility. Such companies, little more than stacks of paper, will be responsible for your liabilities, not you. Even if regulators know who is behind a company, it becomes increasingly difficult to penetrate each layer of a business to go after individual executives.

“It’s the essence of corporate law,” Williams-Derry said.

Now that you’ve offloaded your wells, you’re free to start fresh — launch a new oil company and buy some of your old wells for pennies on the dollar, a proven option. Maybe you leave oil entirely — that’s also tried-and-true. Or become a vintner and open a winery just down the road from the wells you left as orphans — you wouldn’t be the first.

Etc.

https://www.propublica.org/article/oil-orphan-wells-cleanup-playbook-siana-tom-ragsdale?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-bsky

@spruce112358 said
@AverageJoe1

The funniest thing is, you think I am lying that the United States is a deeply crony-capitalist country. 😆

I am not. I find lying annoying, so I don't do it. 😆

[quote]As you launch your business, begin by collecting subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives from the government to guarantee you can pump oil and gas profitably. Globally, fossil fue ...[text shortened]... leanup-playbook-siana-tom-ragsdale?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-bsky

This is along the lines of my mentioning months ago that I bought a business with intent to file bankruptcy of the business. For the faint of heart, you might say ‘that seems awfully shady’, or some such. But it is legal, Spruce.
I cannot spend time on all of your post, but suffice that if it is all legal and above-board, do it, if there is success and profit down the road.
So for the sake of time, what is your point, in plain English. Please don’t Go Link on me. (Like Marauder) Whachoo talkin bout? I assume all you sent is legal. If it is practicing fraud or unfair biz practices or monopoly or what-have-you, there is no future in talking about it. Throw them in jail !! If your issues are all legal, well, the sky is blue and Pope is Catholic and bear poops in woods.

@AverageJoe1 said
This is along the lines of my mentioning months ago that I bought a business with intent to file bankruptcy of the business. For the faint of heart, you might say ‘that seems awfully shady’, or some such. But it is legal, Spruce.
I cannot spend time on all of your post, but suffice that if it is all legal and above-board, do it, if there is success and profit down the ...[text shortened]... If your issues are all legal, well, the sky is blue and Pope is Catholic and bear poops in woods.

Laws have been written such that things which are wrong are legal (e.g. polluting without being forced to clean up.) 😆

That's the problem when you elect businessmen. They do that sort of thing.

Never vote Republican. Ever. It's a very bad idea.

@spruce112358 said
Laws have been written such that things which are wrong are legal (e.g. polluting without being forced to clean up.) 😆

That's the problem when you elect businessmen. They do that sort of thing.

Never vote Republican. Ever. It's a very bad idea.

Let’s look at your first paragraph. If it is a law to not mess something up, like Monsanto, if they break the law, they should be punished. you and I and everyone all agree with that, all 340 million of us.
You seem to be suggesting that no authority ever does the punishing. Well I disagree with that. I think they should be punished, maybe Trump needs to get someone in there that will kick ass.. Surely you must love it that he is an ass kicker in all genres.
Anyway, your post does nothing but state the obvious. Don’t worry, I am not gonna go over to sun house.
As to your last paragraph, problems in electing people, we elected Joe Biden, and look what has happened in these last four years.Or maybe you liberals don’t see any negative results on the Landscape. Am I seeing that right?

I gotta ask… Do you think it would be better if Kamala become the president of the United States? Do you have any idea how much Trump has already gotten done and is not even there yet? Would she have gotten anything done? Help me Rhonda.

@AverageJoe1 said
Let’s look at your first paragraph. If it is a law to not mess something up, like Monsanto, if they break the law, they should be punished. you and I and everyone all agree with that, all 340 million of us.
You seem to be suggesting that no authority ever does the punishing. Well I disagree with that. I think they should be punished, maybe Trump needs to get someone i ...[text shortened]... already gotten done and is not even there yet? Would she have gotten anything done? Help me Rhonda.

Do I think 'Drill baby drill' is going to go after environmental polluters? 😆

No. 😆

But the problem is much worse than that. Industry (including Koch et al) has been on a 50 year bender since the EPA was created to make Americans believe that environmentalism is wrong and trivial, worried only about minnows and puddles and stomping on property rights.

The truth is that with 10 billion people on the Earth, environmentalism rises to be one of the MOST IMPORTANT topics, for all of us. And most Americas agree - willing to recycle and compost, wanting to use solar power and drive electric cars, wanting to clean up lakes and streams, wanting to reforest, caring about butterflies, etc. etc.

Koch and Murdoch and others don't care. They want MORE oil and gas, MORE plastic microparticles because that makes them money. And they are going to die soon, so they need to make sure YOU don't care.

So they've been spewing endless propaganda (Citizen's United helps hugely with this) and now YOU believe the EPA, which has cleaned up our air and water beautifully since the disasters of the 1970's is 'the enemy.' You also believe climate change is a 'hoax.'

You've been conned, so that a bunch of con artists could make money. And you sweat through and drink the carcinogenic results. But don't worry. If you can't drink from the tap, Nestle will sell you a bottle of water FULL of plastic microparticles! Yum. 😆

@spruce112358 said
Do I think 'Drill baby drill' is going to go after environmental polluters? 😆

No. 😆

But the problem is much worse than that. Industry (including Koch et al) has been on a 50 year bender since the EPA was created to make Americans believe that environmentalism is wrong and trivial, worried only about minnows and puddles and stomping on property rights.

The trut ...[text shortened]... t drink from the tap, Nestle will sell you a bottle of water FULL of plastic microparticles! Yum. 😆

Drill, baby drill is not an entity. So I don’t get that sentence. If you are saying should polluters be punished, yes, they should. The law will take care of that. It would not if Biden were president.

Then you mention me personally here:


they've been spewing endless propaganda (Citizen's United helps hugely with this) and now YOU believe the EPA, which has cleaned up our air and water beautifully since the disasters of the 1970's is 'the enemy.' You also believe climate change is a 'hoax.'

Who , me? Where do you get that? And why go on and on about the importance of taking care of our environment. I myself am involved with two different Land Trusts. So please don’t write about me in that way. Although it would be refreshing to see Shouse write about the environment rather than Donald Trump. You see, we have Donald Trump and that is the end of that. Why write about him. We have a blue sky today. Why write about the blue sky.

I go to board meetings of the Trust, mainly dealing with environment matters. I pick up road trash. Do you do the meetings? Donate? Trash pickup?
Libs are big into unfounded accusations. I do not say climate change is a hoax. What I do question is the thought that we little people on this planet are causing climate change. Probably the climate is is doing its own changing, is that possible?

@AverageJoe1 said
Drill, baby drill is not an entity. So I don’t get that sentence. If you are saying should polluters be punished, yes, they should. The law will take care of that. It would not if Biden were president.

Then you mention me personally here:


they've been spewing endless propaganda (Citizen's United helps hugely with this) and now YOU believe the EPA, which has cleane ...[text shortened]... net are causing climate change. Probably the climate is is doing its own changing, is that possible?

We all know who 'Drill baby drill' is. Same guy who told WVa coal companies to start dumping in the rivers again. Same guy who wants to 'negotiate'? ownership Greenland so he can drill for oil there. 😆

The polluter-in-chief is back for Round 2, and if you don't know that, I guess you voted for the wrong guy.

Kudos for picking up trash. I plant trees. 🙂

@AverageJoe1 said
I do not say climate change is a hoax. What I do question is the thought that we little people on this planet are causing climate change. Probably the climate is is doing its own changing, is that possible?

Have you ever seen humans move a huge apartment building? It's amazing. They are puny little critters compared to the building which is SO big and looks SO immobile. You know how they do it? Inch by inch. 😆

If you persistently pour large amounts of CO2 into an atmosphere for 100 years guess what? Something happens.

Billions of humans, day after day, waking up and starting their fires, cooking their breakfasts. Then driving to work. Turning on their computers. Then running the AC. Hour after hour. Going to the fridge, pulling out their cold sandwiches. Power plants puffing and fuming, day and night. Light! Heat! More light! Now cool! More power! Then they drive home. Puff-puff-puff-puff. Billions and billions of humans all over the planet. Day in and day out. Year after year after year. Sucking oil out of the ground, burning it. Mining coal out of the ground - burning it. Clear cutting forests in Eastern NC, making wood pellets. Shipping them on diesel ships to the Netherlands where they burn the pellets for heat.

Puny little people? Causing climate change?

Yep. Inch by inch. 😆

All those fossil fuels were put in the ground over millions of years. Carbon was stored, year after year, in the ground. Personally, I think that may be why we started to get Ice Ages - too LITTLE carbon around.

But right now, the Milankovitch cycle says things should be getting colder. Which makes sense and fits with the pattern of glaciation we have seen over the past 100,000 years. But we aren't getting colder. We are getting hotter.

We've reset the global thermostat in a very short period of time. Is that all bad? Well, a glacier that covered New York under a mile of ice would be worse. It happens very slowly though.

What we are headed for VERY RAPIDLY is a thing the Earth has never experienced before. And no one (not even the 'experts' ) knows what that is going to look like. 😆

@spruce112358 said
We all know who 'Drill baby drill' is. Same guy who told WVa coal companies to start dumping in the rivers again. Same guy who wants to 'negotiate'? ownership Greenland so he can drill for oil there. 😆

The polluter-in-chief is back for Round 2, and if you don't know that, I guess you voted for the wrong guy.

Kudos for picking up trash. I plant trees. 🙂

I am good with buying Greenland. Maybe we can sweeten the pot by giving each of the 57,000 inhabitants I checked for $100,000, and buying it from Denmark. The inhabitant won’t leave because they will have it much better being under Trump.
Why do you make such an outlandish remark that Trump tells corps to dump pollution, you will have to back that up with some concrete. But don’t put the concrete in the water

@spruce112358 said
Have you ever seen humans move a huge apartment building? It's amazing. They are puny little critters compared to the building which is SO big and looks SO immobile. You know how they do it? Inch by inch. 😆

If you persistently pour large amounts of CO2 into an atmosphere for 100 years guess what? Something happens.

Billions of humans, day after day, waking up and ...[text shortened]... r experienced before. And no one (not even the 'experts' ) knows what that is going to look like. 😆

I absolutely, personally, know nothing about such science. Seriously, such science. I do picture the big lake near me where I guess somebody every year could dump two buckets of oil or phosphate into the water, but I think it would not affect the water, which would overcome that by pure… Science?

That is just my casual take, but there are a lot of scientists that say that our driving cars around and doing everything you say is but just a drop of a bucket in a lake.
And then there is the economic consideration, which is that China does nothing about the environment, burning coal, like crazy. Well, if we stop burning cold and they keep burning coal, they will get ahead of us in the production world. So what is your general observation about that pesky problem.

@AverageJoe1 said
I am good with buying Greenland. Maybe we can sweeten the pot by giving each of the 57,000 inhabitants I checked for $100,000, and buying it from Denmark. The inhabitant won’t leave because they will have it much better being under Trump.
Why do you make such an outlandish remark that Trump tells corps to dump pollution, you will have to back that up with some concrete. But don’t put the concrete in the water

Are you insane?

@AverageJoe1 said
I absolutely, personally, know nothing about such science. Seriously, such science. I do picture the big lake near me where I guess somebody every year could dump two buckets of oil or phosphate into the water, but I think it would not affect the water, which would overcome that by pure… Science?

That is just my casual take, but there are a lot of scientists that say ...[text shortened]... t ahead of us in the production world. So what is your general observation about that pesky problem.

Ditto.

(Are you insane?)

@Suzianne said
Are you insane?

Well, Suzianne? Let China burn coal for successful energy, we don’t, so they win the coal race? Elaborate?

@AverageJoe1 said
Well, Suzianne? Let China burn coal for successful energy, we don’t, so they win the coal race? Elaborate?

"Coal race"?

Why don't we have a steam locomotive race, too?

Can you even hear yourself?

@Earl-of-Trumps said
"$$Money talks and bull**** walks"

I don't know why you blame just the Republicans.


(oh yes I do) 😠

So one republican I know of wants to do a 50% tariff thing. Arrest 10 million people and put them in concentration camps.
Last time that happened with 5000 children in cages, 8 of those children died.
None of that crap happened under ANY democrat.