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USGS says Powder River Basin has 35 years of coal left, not 250

USGS says Powder River Basin has 35 years of coal left, not 250

Preface. The USGS did a survey of coal in the U.S. in 1974 and announced that America had 250 years of coal left.  In 2007, the National Research Council wrote a report suggesting 100 years was more likely due to “a combination of increased rates of production…transportation issues, recoverability, and location”, and that the USGS ought to re-survey the U.S. to find out.

Not until 2015 was a new survey done on the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana, which supplies 45% of U.S. coal.  The USGS found that at best, 40 years of coal were left (35 years in 2020).   Here’s how the USGS calculated this in Billions of Short Tons:

  • 1,156 BST original resources (mostly coal that isn’t economic or technologically obtainable).
  • 1,148 BST after subtracting out previously mined coal
  • 179 BST geological constraints; subtract Environmental, societal, technological restrictions
  • 162 BST Subtract too deep, too thin, high stripping ratios, mining technology limitations
  • 25 BST  2% of original resource estimate after subtracting coal that is more expensive than the market value of coal

Then in 2017, the Little snake river and red desert coal fields were assesed again.  Originally there were 19.37 BST in resources, but at this point in time there is only 1% of this original resource, 167 million short tons of reserves that are economically and technologically obtainable (Shaffer 2017).

There are 5 more basins that the USGS has yet to asses: the Raton and Piceance Basins in the Rocky Mountain Province, the Williston Basin in the Northern Great Plains Province (lignite), the Illinois Basin, the northern Appalachian Basin, and the Gulf Coast Province (lignite) (USGS 2017b).  I question whether lignite is worth getting, it has roughly the same energy as wood.

The only major news media it appeared in was U.S. News and World Report and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

IT’S OFFICIAL; U.S. Silver Production The Lowest In More Than 70 Years

IT’S OFFICIAL; U.S. Silver Production The Lowest In More Than 70 Years

With the latest release by the USGS, silver production in the U.S. is now the lowest in more than 70 years.  We have to go all the way back until the year after World War II ended to see U.S. silver production less than it was in 2018.  While many reasons can be attributed to the decline, the main factors are falling ore grades and mine economics.

Unfortunately, there just aren’t too many economic silver deposits in the United States, especially with the high level of environmental and governmental regulations.  Instead of dealing with all the bureaucracy, companies are looking to Mexico and South America to open new silver projects.

Regardless, U.S. silver production declined by more than 100 metric tons last year, or 10% in 2018, mainly due to the ongoing closure of the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho.  The Lucky Friday Mine has been shut down ever since the United Steelworkers went on strike on March 13, 2017.  However, the dropoff in silver mine supply can’t all be blamed on the Lucky Friday Mine.  Domestic silver production has been trending lower for the past two decades:

In 2000, the U.S. produced 63.7 million oz (1,980 metric tons) of silver compared to just 29.7 million oz (923 metric tons) last year.  Thus, U.S. silver production has fallen by more than 50% in less than two decades.  Silver production in the U.S. ramped up significantly during the 1990s due to the McCoy-Cove Silver Mine in Nevada.  At its peak, the McCoy-Cove Mine supplied 20% of the total U.S. silver production:

I don’t have a chart of U.S. silver mine supply over the past 100 years, but I checked the USGS data, and in 1946, the country produced only 713 metric tons (mt) of silver. 

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

State Warning: Catastrophic Volcanic Eruptions In California Are ‘Inevitable’

State Warning: Catastrophic Volcanic Eruptions In California Are ‘Inevitable’

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has warned that California’s next big catastrophe might not be a massive earthquake.  Instead, they say a massive volcanic eruption could plunge the state into a post-apocalyptic hellscape.

In a report released on Monday, the USGS said that at least 10 volcanic eruptionshave taken place in the past 1,000 years and that “future volcanic eruptions are inevitable.” The USGS has previously said that California in dire need of the monitoring of at least 8 active volcanoes.

USGS claims that most people are well aware of the fact that California could experience a major and deadly earthquake, but the general public is less than concerned about a volcanic eruption. “The potential for damaging earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, and wildfires is widely recognized in California,” the report said according to Newsweek. “The same cannot be said for volcanic eruptions, despite the fact that they occur in the state about as frequently as the largest earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault.”

The USGS estimated the risk of volcanic eruption based on the past 5,000 years of volcanic activity in California. The report further found that there is a 16 percent chance of a small to moderate-sized eruption over the next 30 years. As reported by Newsweek, by comparison, there is a 22 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake at the San Andreas Fault in the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 25 years.

Although one cannot stop a volcano from erupting, preparations can be made just in case this inevitable event happens on our watch. The potentially hazardous volcanoes in California are being monitored closely for any changes that indicate an eruption could be on the way, but that may not give those in surrounding communities much time to get awat from the hazard.  Americans by and large have long lost their willingness to prepare for cataclysmic events and natural disasters.

Shale Oil Keeps Growing on Trees

The United States Geological Society (USGS) today released a report stating there is an estimated 46.3 billion barrels of theoretical, technically recoverable, as yet undiscovered light tight oil reserves in the Wolfcamp, Bone Springs and Avalon shaley carbonate formations in the Delaware Basin of West Texas. Shale oil, it seems, keeps growing on trees.

There are lot of “qualifications” to this estimate but it will nevertheless cause people’s panties to get plum bunched up, including the President of the United States who believes we are sitting on the Atlantic Ocean of light tight oil in America, so much so we no longer even have to worry about conserving the stuff anymore.

What price of oil will it take for all this imaginary oil to actually be recovered in the Delaware Basin? Well, the USGS does not bother itself with that kind of small stuff. Taxpayers pay for it to make wild ass guesses and that’s that.

Art Berman reviewed the study in detail to determine the USGS itself estimates it will take 318,000 wells to recover this oil, costing over $3.0 trillion. Some of the USGS EUR estimates for various benches in their assessment will only be economical at oil prices above $150 per BO.

Where  that money is going to come from beats the hell out of me. The US shale oil industry has drilled almost 70,000 shale wells the past decade all across America and is hammering its sweet spots in the major shale oil basins. It has recovered a little less than 10 billion barrels of oil  so far  (EIA, DI, IHS, shaleprofile.com). The shale oil industry  is somewhere around $300 billion in long term debt, so it essentially has not even paid for what its already produced.

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

USGS: Yellowstone Super Volcano Threat Set To ‘HIGH’

USGS: Yellowstone Super Volcano Threat Set To ‘HIGH’

The United States Geological Survey has increased the Yellowstone supervolcano threat to “high.” This is the first time that the USGS has updated its volcano threat assessments list since 2006.

The USGS said that 11 of the 18 volcanoes they have classified as a “high threat” or a “very high threat” are located in Washington, Oregon, or California, “where explosive and often snow- and ice-covered edifices can project hazards long distances to densely populated and highly developed areas.”

According to the Epoch Times, the danger list is topped by Kilauea in Hawaii, which has been erupting continuously in 2018.  Mount St. Helens as well as Mount Rainier in Washington, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, and California’s Mount Shasta are also in the top five, according to what the USGS has said.

Although the Yellowstone supervolcano is a “high” threat, it’s only the 21st most dangerous volcano in the United States.  According to Forbes, the assessment that Yellowstone supervolcano was only high was not assigned on a whim. While theYellowstone supervolcano does have the potential for a large eruption, other factors are at play. Such as the fact that it erupts so infrequently, shows no signs of increasing eruption risk today, and is located in a relatively sparsely populated area of the United States which decreases the threat. To be clear, the USGS still ranked the supervolcano as a “high” threat, but it is clearly not the most dangerous volcano in the United States.

Despite the recent gradual uptick in thermal activity in the caldera directly below the supervolcano, the new USGS threat assessment is showing Yellowstone as stable, but dangerous when it does happen to erupt in the future, according to a report by the Missoulan.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

Massive 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded Off Coast Of Indonesia

A massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the Indonesia island of Sumatra, prompting tsunami warnings across the Pacific ring of fire, according to USGS. The quake followed a smaller quake killed one person and damaged some homes.


: A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck just minutes ago 48 miles North of Palu, Indonesia. A tsunami alert, meaning watch for updates and be ready to evacuate, is in effect for the island chain. No Tsunami Warning is in effect for the United States.


The comes after a series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the island of Lombok, a popular vacation spot southwest of Sulawesi. Back in February, Mt. Sinabung erupted on the island of Sumatra, triggering mass evacuations.


Prelim M7.5 Earthquake Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia Sep-28 10:02 UTC, updates https://go.usa.gov/xPWFd


The quake dredges up memories of the massive 2004 tsunami that killed 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia. Reports of the damage from Friday’s quake have not yet emerged. Tsunami warnings following the quake do not extent to the US.

Yellowstone geyser erupts for fifth time in months, prompting fears of an eruption

Yellowstone geyser erupts for fifth time in months, prompting fears of an eruption

Does the USGS, NASA, and other government agencies know more than they are leading people to believe when it comes to the Yellowstone supervolcano?

yellowstone
Jeff Gunn/Flickr

(INTELLIHUB) — The largest active geyser in the world has erupted for the fifth time this year, prompting the general public to wonder if an eruption of the supervolcano is imminent.

Scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have been trying to quell peoples fears that the magma chamber may explode by producing a series of information and awareness videos explaining how everything should be okay for the time being.

@USGSVolcanos issued the following tweet on Sunday: “#Steamboat #Geyser in @YellowstoneNPS erupts for [the] 5th time in 2018, just before 4 AM on May 13. Steamboat also had frequent eruptions in the 1960s and early 1980s. No implications for volcanic activity, but good implications for viewing some spectacular geysering this summer!” (typos corrected)


Seismic record from Norris museum showing Steamboat eruption starting just before 4 AM local time on May 13.Temperature record (UTC time) from Steamboat geyser. Spike at about 10:00 UTC (4:00 AM local time) records hot water from the eruption passing by the temperature sensor.

🌋

in @YellowstoneNPS erupts for 5th time in 2018, just before 4 AM on May 13. Steamboat also had frequent eruptions in the 1960s and early 1980s. No implications for volcanic activity, but good implications for viewing some spectauclar geysering this summer!


Plus, University of Utah Seismograph Station sensor readings indicate an uptick in activity which may be acting as a red flag indicator to people in-the-know.

University of Utah Seismograph Stations

But at the same time, NASA has been working on a plan to drill into the molten magma chamber and pump water into it in an effort to stop such an eruption from occurring, one that could send the world into a nuclear winter scenario.

Withal, some scientists fear the current activity may go hand-in-hand with the recent activation of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano and volcanoes located in the Pacific Northwest.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Yellowstone earthquake swarm hits entire park, more than 60 on Friday alone

Yellowstone earthquake swarm hits entire park, more than 60 on Friday alone

Earthquakes as big as 5.0 were recorded on USGS censors placed throughout the Yellowstone region

YELLOWSTONE REGION (INTELLIHUB) — U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) seismology reports conclude that a massive swarm of earthquakes swept through the park triggering more than 60 separate events in which seismographs spiked to magnitudes of up to 5.0. Friday.

Experts fear that the supervolcano is long overdue for an eruption capable of wiping out a vast amount of human, animal, and plant life in the Continental United States.

Scientists currently believe that there’s a 10% chance that a “supervolcanic Category 7 eruption” could take place this century, as pointed out by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku who appeared on a segment for Fox News.

yellowstone
WYOMING — Yellowstone National Park (Jeff Gunn/Flickr)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The grey haired physicist told Shepard Smith that the “danger” we are now facing with the caldera is that it’s long overdue for an eruption which Kaku said could “rip the guts out of the USA.”

Kaku said that a “pocket of lava” located under the park has turned out to be twice as big as scientists originally thought.

Scientist concur that the last eruption of the caldera took place some 640,000 years ago.

The U.S. is currently under contract with at least 4 countries all of which have agreed to house displaced U.S. citizens in the unfortunate event the Yellowstone supervolcano were to erupt. Hundreds of billions of dollars were paid to foreign governments to facilitate the agreement which spans a ten year period from its signing, ending in 2024.

An excerpt from an article I authored in April of 2014 titled: “Report: Brazil, Argentina and Australia sign contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars to house displaced U.S. populace when Yellowstone supervolcano erupts” reads:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

8 States Dealing With Huge Increases in Fracking Earthquakes

8 States Dealing With Huge Increases in Fracking Earthquakes

new report, released Thursday from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), identified eight states in the eastern and central U.S. where fracking operations have led to dramatic increases in earthquakes, primarily from the injection of the wastewater byproduct of drilling operations into underground wells. This process can activate faults that in some cases were previously unknown.

cumulative_earthquakes
The injection of fracking wastewater into underground wells has exploded the amount of earthquake activity in previously inactive regions of the county. Image credit: USGS

“Earthquake activity has sharply increased since 2009 in the central and eastern United States. The increase has been linked to industrial operations that dispose of wastewater by injecting it into deep wells,” the report says bluntly, in a rebuke to the earthquake deniers in the oil and gas industry, such as fracking founder Harold Hamm, who pressured Oklahoma officials to stay silent about the connection.

While OklahomaTexas and Ohio have gotten much of the attention for increases in seismicity in areas where earthquakes were once rare, they aren’t the only states in danger of more and larger earthquakes. The USGS report also pointed to Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico and identified 17 zones within the eight states in particular danger from an increased number of what it calls “induced” quakes.

The report, Incorporating Induced Seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model, analyzed these seismic activity increases and developed the models to project how hazardous earthquakes could be in these in these zones, taking into account their rates, locations, maximum magnitude and ground motions.

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

As Extreme Weather Increases, A Push for Advanced Forecasts

As Extreme Weather Increases, A Push for Advanced Forecasts

With a warmer atmosphere expected to spur an increase in major storms, floods, and other wild weather events, scientists and meteorologists worldwide are harnessing advanced computing power to devise more accurate, medium-range forecasts that could save lives and property.

Like a pipeline in the sky, the plume of sodden tropical air advanced mile-high above the Pacific Ocean, heading toward the California coast. This “atmospheric river” — a long, narrow band of concentrated water vapor — carried the moisture equivalent of about 15 Mississippi Rivers. When it made landfall, it dumped a massive amount of rain on the densely populated stretch of California from San Francisco to Los Angeles, unleashing floodwaters, causing landslides, and cutting off power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

Atmospheric rivers fuel some of western North America’s most intense and destructive winter storms, and this one, slamming California last December, was a big one. But despite nearly a foot of rain in some places, damage was considerably less than it could have been, thanks to forecasts that pinpointed the storm’s course a week before it struck, giving communities time to prepare.

“I think that [forecast] was a home run,” said Mike Dettinger — a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California — who studies atmospheric rivers. “That is how we feel the forecasts ought to work for us now.” 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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