Well I think you'll see some regulations and then the existing deepwater areas will be opened up for drilling and exploration again. The "moratorium" you're referring to meant no drilling off the East and West costs and Gulf Florida, which would possibly remain in place.

My thoughts about BP are that they were and are criminally negligent, and somebody needs to be tried for the murder of 11 men, in addition to the environmental offenses. The other majors know how to drill in deep water just fine, although the Fed will probably require new offshore response plans (OSRP).

Oh, and ban the nuke instead, OK?

Good post Rob! It was obvious to me that the city council wanted to give some residents some relief, but in the process caused several other big problems. So you'll see that the residents love it but the beach-goers and businesses hate it. Congestion will only get worse on Gulf, a major unintended consequence. While those places were not counted towards parking slots intended to provide public access to the beach, the bet effect was to violate the spirit of the Texas Open Beaches Act. Sure looks like referendum material to me!

Excellent post sir, and I wasn't aware of the Supremes case with Florida.

I did have to laugh. If some erosion, hurricane, or storm comes along and takes away the front 40 foot of your seaside property, are you telling me that the landowner can sure the government for compensation? That has to be the silliest, most stupid thing I have ever heard.

I think it was rather expensive, although I don't know the financial situation. George & Scarlet are so cool, you ask them if they need a fundraiser or some help and they say "sure, make a donation." Too proud I guess.

Well that's the crux - getting off petrochemicals such as for transportation fuel. There's no real alternatives out there, and quite frankly the world is awash in oil right now because of the global recession. About 300 super tankers are currently moored off Singapore because nobody is buying crude oil. At least temporarily, there is no such thing as "peak oil" because it is dirt cheap and so plentiful. People light have opinions, but the facts right now say otherwise. I know what you all mean with respect to reducing oil dependency and alternative energy sources, but there's nothing there. The power plants don't use crude oil of any kind, at least in terms of a global scale.

The truth as far as I can see it is that the world is awash in so much oil right now we don't know what to do with it. Because it takes 5 to 20 years to develop offshore oil fields, we're looking at stuff far into the future. There are huge "finds" off Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Angola, and other places (including the North Pole). Interestingly, the one off Cuba is perhaps the most important, although because of screwed up diplomatic relations and a ban on oil extraction off Florida, we're screwing ourselves out of one the the biggest reservoirs of oil ever, bigger than Alaska.

This story about Cuba's immense oil find doesn't get much media attention. Part of the discovery is in Cuba's territorial waters and part of it is in the US exclusive economic zone off Florida. Since both are "off limits" for US drilling and technology partnership, we deal with Brazil and allow the Chinese and Norway oil exploration companies to make Cuba perhaps one of the richest nations in the world on a per-capita basis. Norway was dumped a few hundred million into exploration and the Chinese hold rights to ten times as much investment right now as we speak.

Meanwhile, except for a few new super-rigs like Thunderhorse off the Alabama coast, the rigs are fleeing the US part of the Gulf of Mexico as fast as they can. The royalties, leases, government corruption, insurance, and day rates are simply too high, and it is cheaper to move their rigs to Brazil, Nigeria, and Angola (but not Cuba). Now what's wrong with this picture? Energy independence my arse, we're running off everyone except the small wildcatters.

Unfortunately, President Obama didn't get the memo. He got some high-level policy wonk advice that was plainly wrong but sounded good as a sound-bite during an election campaign, and now has to eat his words. It won't be the first time. But I do want to clarify my position as being totally against the GOP's "drill here and drill now" stupidity. Folks we know where the oil and natural gas is, and it ain't off California or the East Coast, and Alaska seems a pretty sorry choice the major oil companies don't even like, because of all the environmental rules.

It's a very complex issue, one I think deserves more attention. Until we "make the break" to alternate power sources, we pretty much reliant on domestic and foreign oil. But there is a reason why a company called Deep Sea 7 recently relocated to Port Isabel. Their stated justification was development of PEMEX oil and gas fields and offshore Brazil. Naturally, the Cuba/Florida thing was NOT mentioned.

sam

Well as long as casino gambling is in the toilet, I don't think you'll see any high rollers like MGM Grand Mirage investing in Texas. Their stock went from a high of $52 last year to $9 presently, and they are not paying any dividends (meaning they're losing money). Most casino stacks started well above $20 last year and are trading at half the value. Jimmy Buffet stopped two major casino deals involving his Margaritaville corporation. The time to choose casinos was about 3 or 4 years ago when times were good, not now.

What you have to watch out for are these weasels who want to allow the small gaming companies into the picture, like keno, off-track betting, one-arm bandits, 777, dog racing, horse racing, Texas Hold 'Em, and any fly-by-night operator with a major case of greed, lobby money, payola, kick-backs, corruption, and balls.

That's my prediction. No publicly traded casino operator is going to dump a hefty fraction of a billion dollars on SPI for a casino. But the small pirate outfits will be clamoring for their comeuppance. Thank goodness, these political hacks and blow-hards won't be back in Lege for a year and a half!
sam

This is very troublesome. Something bad is happening. The parks bring in millions a year and get GLO funds for beach maintenance as well. Down a Isla Blanca the County gets concession cash and a cut of the proceeds, too! I mean it's a gold mine. And I've never seen more than a few parks officers or maintenance workers -- even though we supposedly spent another million in County bond money to fix Isla Blanca. Tell me, where is the money going?

I do know that the County made some unwise decisions to build more parks on the mainland, which were to be funded by SPI resort revenues. Those were poor decisions, political I guess, but the Parks System is supposed to be self-sufficient, requiring no added revenue.

Something is very, very wrong here. I'm getting a major whiff of corruption, mismanagement, and ignorance. THOSE issues must be addressed before we start hosing the local citizens for more money and LESS access. It you talked to Gene Gore (who complained about the County running illegal landfills on the beach) and Charlie Brommer (who still wonders WTF the County is doing), your hair would instantly curl.

If I didn't know of the allegations about corruption and outright fraud, I wouldn't say it. But I can't prove it. They've outfoxed the GLO, TCEQ, FBI, and EPA, they're that good. One day I hope that happier times will be back. -sammie

Well Rob at least I bought on the bayside, the last part of the island to fall into the sea. In areas that are accreting or neutral, such as the area from the SPI jetties to mid-island about Oleander, I guess no managed retreat? Hey that's cool. There have already been a passel of Texas Supreme Court cases on this, so why not add some more? You know how hard it is to be a lawyer in the economic recession, give 'em some work, man! I'm joking man.

Excellent post and I hadn't heard about the "sand pirates" of the Caribbean.

Oh just one thing, a typical truck can only pack about 10 yards of sand, only 14 for a super-extended rig, so 706,000 cubic yards is some pretty serious theft, like 70,000 truckloads! -sam

Well, anything in the federal budget is inherently political, and allocating where it is scientifically the best to attempt to control erosion seems out of the question. My thinking is that the shore between Isla Blanca Park and around the Tiki within town limits seems viable for beach renourishment, simply because we've lost the mechanism for gaining sand, other than where it piles up next to the jetty.

A former alderman named Fred Mallet was very concerned about actions that put the town at further risk, such as building over the Historical Building Line, or allowing development on the north side so close to the Gulf of Mexico. He said that such carelessness can actually drive up our insurance rates and other local costs. And I think he's right.

During the last set of waves, which weren't even from a tropical storm, the water was up to the sea wall in the area between the Tiki and La Quinta. It is becoming clear that this area is at extreme risk. No matter how much sand we dump there, it gets washed down and out the beach. Hauling sand by truck to that location has been wasted money, yet we - through our Board of Aldermen, fund it every year, using "borrow sand" from the TxDOT right of way up by County Access 5. In a weird way, these properties have become an "attractive nuisance" that is now costing the local taxpayers big money.

That said, the cost of letting these properties slide into the Gulf is even worse, and our economy would feel those impacts as well. In hindsight, we should have demanded a 350-foot setback there (I remember when there was at least 150 foot of white beach up there). What is baffling, though, is that these property owners really feel that the Town should pay for all the beach restoration, while they pay nothing other than local, state, and federal taxes. No, that is not a "right" named in the Texas or US Constitution.

We might need to rethink things, although I doubt much will change ... what I fear the most is that such "attractive nuisances" will be built all the way up to the end of Park Road 100 on South Padre Island. I wonder what Fred what think about that can of beans today.