Don't Tell My Mother That I Work in the Oil Business!

It seems that one can hardly go anywhere or do anything these days without overhearing or participating in conversations related to BP’s Macondo Blow-out and related oil spill that occurred on April 20, 2010. Without question this was a disaster of monumental proportions – first because of the loss of human life. Eleven hard-working professionals lost their lives the day the Transocean Deepwater Horizon exploded and later sank. The depth of this loss was amplified for me when I saw the Transocean flag flying at half-mast the following week outside their building in Aberdeen, Scotland – half a world away.

Secondly this was an environmental disaster – the “broken well” leaked crude oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico until it was successfully “killed” on August 4, 2010. The massive containment and cleanup operation that followed extended from the waters and shores of the Gulf of Mexico to our dinner tables, dens, offices, and radios via a flood of media coverage. Most of this was accurate, but some of it was “spun” according to the agenda of the reporting organization. Understandably the “spin” was generally biased to the dramatic or negative side of any issue – it’s difficult to put a positive spin on oiled seabirds, dead fish, and huge floating rafts of crude oil. Nor should anyone wish to – what is done is done and there are hoards of folks doing what they can to restore the environment damaged by this disastrous oil spill. Only with time will we come to fully understand the impact it has had on the ecosystems, flora, and fauna in the affected areas.

Thirdly this was a business and economic disaster. While there are numerous partners, contractors, and sub-contractors with a stake in the Macondo Prospect; ultimately the buck stops with the operator – BP. BP is a huge multinational oil company with thousands of hardworking, smart, and principled professionals. They are our friends, our neighbors, our daughters, fathers, and sons. I’ve tried to explain what probably happened to this well – but drilling this kind of well is very complicated and speculating about what went wrong would be ill-advised without facts. With time we may understand more (especially now that the original blowout preventer has been recovered). Let’s retreat to a high-level view to say that there are many procedures, steps, tests, checks, balances, redundant safety systems, etc. in play. For a disaster of this magnitude to have occurred many things had to go wrong at the most inopportune times, forcing reactions, triggering more critical decisions, and compressing time. Inevitably mistakes were made and short-cuts taken that contributed but alone were not “to blame”. Blame should not be our focus – our focus should be on what we can learn from the disaster to avoid repeating this outcome.

Just for the record shutting down exploration activities is an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction intended to be seen as decisive and action-taking. Certainly we have to be sure that these mistakes are not repeated but literally hundreds of wells have been successfully drilled in more challenging conditions and deeper water with successful result. I was personally involved with successful wells drilled in water nearly 10,000 feet deep; right here in the Gulf of Mexico! The Macondo well was a “Black Swan” event (sorry, you’ll have to read the book) or like a 100-year storm. To take a similar response to a 100-year storm, we should ban anyone from living less than 50 feet above sea level!!! Crippling the domestic oil industry will add economic insult to injury. While I am unequivocally in favor of developing “green” energy, continuing to develop and produce domestic oil and gas reserves is a vital bridge to a more balanced and green (energy) future.

I had an opportunity to go sailing on the Øresund last week (the straights that connect the Baltic with the North Sea, near Copenhagen, Denmark). We sailed past an offshore wind farm, saw the idle stacks of a coal-burning power plant and across the straight the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant. Somehow none of these detracted in any way from a beautiful evening sailing with friends. In the city of Copenhagen everyone walks, cycles, or rides the (electric) train to work (powered incidentally by the offshore wind farm) – residents there are fit and take a serious responsibility of making personal sacrifices to take a green approach (of course 180% tax on automobile purchases is strong encouragement to ride a bike). The point is that in the US, everyone is quick to throw stones at the earth-raping oil companies, but they still want to drive their cars, heat their homes, and consume vast quantities of petroleum products in everything from their clothes to their food, their medicines, their makeup and their bottled water. The average US citizen won’t commit to “green” behaviors, but is quick to expel measurable quantities of greenhouse gas pontificating about the evils of oil exploration and production activities – how embarrassing!

Since the first oil well was drilled by “Colonel” Edwin L. Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania (1859), the drill bit has chewing its way into 31 of our 50 states. As technologies have evolved these oil & gas projects have gotten progressively safer, cleaner, and now require a very small bit of land to drill most of which is reclaimed around a tiny little well-head that would fit in your yard. These projects have for decades been conducted side-by-side with other industrial projects, agricultural fields, national parks, city centers, and the wildest frontiers. Take a drive through west Texas sometime (or visit it virtually using GoogleEarth) and you find oil wells, wind farms, cattle ranches, and cotton fields – all happily intermingled; producing what is consumed by folks who will fight tooth and nail against anything that will be visible from their deck or just over the horizon of their beach!


Oil and Gas Fields of the US (from the US Geological Survey).


We’ve been doing this here for over 150 years, and while mistakes have been made we get better at it all the time. As a conservationist, I am vastly more proud to be a part of the oil and gas industry of today, than the one joined nearly 30 years ago. We all invest heavily to support research into renewable energy alternatives and care deeply about the environment we strive to safeguard. Next time someone pontificates about how we shouldn’t be drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, in the wheat fields of Kansas, or near their favorite national park – ask them how they plan to heat/cool their home, how will they transport themselves, what will they wear, and what will they eat? I’ve drilled wells in the Arctic, offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, near national parks, and in the mid-continent of the US. I’m proud of our work, proud of our care and concern for the environment, and proud of our industry …. just don’t tell my mother!

Social Networking – the Glass House

Today’s fascination with “social networking” combined with mobile technologies leads to a new reality for today’s younger generations. It’s a reality that requires today’s parents to take an active role in setting boundaries and providing useful coaching. It also mandates that we ALL think about what we’re doing (at least), develop new behaviors, and consciously extend our values into the technological realm (at best).

Over the last decade, social networking has grown from kids using MySpace to include young adults (and a growing number of “oldies”) using FaceBook , professionals using LinkedIn, and even Presidential “tweets”. Mobile technologies paint this canvas with a real time wash – it’s no longer about minding what your child is doing during late night sessions in front of the home PC, it’s about what they do during almost every waking minute during the day!

NB: While my focus here may appear to be on kids and our role as parents, let’s not lose sight of the fact that we must also examine our own behaviors and those of our colleagues and friends.

Frankly, I don’t “tweet” (or “twit” as some have suggested). I don’t really have an interest in knowing up-to-the-minute what all my friends and acquaintances are doing. I really don’t care that your status has changed from “eating dinner” to “reading on the patio” – unless of course you are “pulling weeds from your bed of snow peas”; THAT I would care deeply about! For me, FaceBook and LinkedIn are other stories entirely.

I use FaceBook to keep up with a growing network of friends from all over the world – from my kids away at college to friends and colleagues in Europe to co-workers down the hall. We share pictures, keep up with birthdays, touch base, and comfort, console, and congratulate one another. I was first attracted to FaceBook as a simple means to share photos with people from all over the world that were on a trip I took a number of years ago – but I quickly recognized it as a means to keep up with what my kids were doing when away from the nest. It seems that they live their lives in FaceBook, using it as a platform for self-description, for social and political statements, and to have fun. They do this as openly as if living in a “glass house”.

In this digital age we live in, you never know who is standing outside that glass house peering into your life. A growing number of recruiters and personnel managers are using these tools to locate candidates, qualify them for opportunities, and to perform a sort of background (or behavioral) check on prospective candidates – maybe even active employees! The point is that if you put something in FaceBook (or in a blog you think is only read by three people), you better be comfortable that it is something you want the world to see, and potentially interpret “out of context”.

Can you imagine that social networking has even changed the way we interact socially? Duh! Kids aren’t “officially dating” until their relationship status changes from “single” to “in a relationship with …” Furthermore you can’t tell your love interest that you are too tied to go out and then have Facebook across your circle of friends alight with photos and comments about the wild party you attended that night! Lastly, what may seem like humor or an inside joke to you and your inner circle, can easily be misinterpreted by the people who are offended by the comment. They just might pass you up for that life-changing job opportunity.

The bottom line here is that we have to be mindful (and coach our kids to be mindful) of not only what they say, but how they say it, and by what mechanism. Most people will quickly admit that they will say things in type that they wouldn’t say in person – perhaps because they don’t have to look anyone in the eye when saying it. But we should all ask ourselves “Is this for the world, or only the person I wish to say it to?” If the answer is “it’s for the world to see”, double-check your motivation. I really don’t care how many sheep you have in Farmville and think it’s sad that you spent your sick day killing Mafia dons in MafiaWars! To my own friends, I must apologize for burdening you with the fact that I posted a high score (for me) while playing Three Towers Solitaire the other night – it was a slip of the keyboard (or ego)!

Another bite out of the Apple.

The much-awaited next generation of must-have gadgetry was announced yesterday. Apple is now taking pre-orders for a tablet device that will (eventually) replace everything in your briefcase - perhaps even the person carrying it. But I don't want to analyze the technology or compare and contrast it to alternative devices - I want to talk about marketing.

With forethought and planning, Apple decided to name the device the iPad. Undoubtedly they will roll out a larger one and a smaller one... obviously the MaxiPad and the MiniPad. Of course the case it comes in will have little fold-out wings and the no-strings-attached service agreement will be standard. As we've come to expect from Apple it will be driven by a leak-proof security system. I'm sure the professional comedians on late night TV (whoever is left?), will come up with hundreds of more ways to joke about this latest addition to our technical hygene.

The point is, the Apple marketing gurus chose this name intentionally! They KNEW that the name would prompt a bit-stream of (refreshingly juvenile) humor related to the name. They knew it would be the focus of late night comedy routines, pundits, and amateur bloggers. They consciously decided that this added channel of chatter would feed into product curiosity and recognition - the old "it doesn't matter what they are saying as long as they are talking about us" approach. While it seems like a cheap trick or gimmick, it just might work. IMHO the Apple product line is so robust that the comedy will shortly be followed by cudos and accolades. They know that and are confident enough to risk the downside.

I never buy the first generation of anything (learned that lesson buying the first year model of the Ford Aerostar minivan), so I'll wait to invest until the price stabalizes and they add a camera for iChat. Just for the record, I'll still read books on my Kindle - I just like the unlit display. That being said, I'll patiently continue chuckling to myself while the comedy dies down and the techies and early-adopters weigh in. By the way, one undocumented feature of the iPad is that it automatically shuts down when in the presence of a little blue pill!

London, it’s time to get with the program!

A group of us were riding the Underground around London today. After “minding the gap” we entered a not-so-crowded train on our way back to Piccadilly. I stood aside and offered an empty seat to a colleague of mine whose fashionable shoes (and a few blocks of cobblestone streets) were making her feet hurt. Before she could move, a London businessman muscled his way between us and plopped down in the offered seat. Uncharacteristically, I simply gave him a quizzical look (well, I thought it was quizzical) and said “pardon me”. As if he had grown up in New York, he gave me one of those “What?” looks as if it was me that was self-centered and rude. Ignoring him for the rest of the trip (much to his liking I’m sure), we were all pushed aside as he again showed his “I need to be first” tendencies exiting that train at our stop.

Work is being done all over this (already) attractive city, I guess, in preparation of hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. They are busily sprucing up and refurbishing many aspects of the city center – I’m sure it will be wonderful. But these preparations are only window dressing, if visiting guests are treated in such an ungentlemanly fashion. I’ve always found Londoners to be kind and well-behaved, so I can only hope that this self-centered bloke is an exception, rather than the rule. If not, preparations in London need to be extended to etiquette classes!

Darwin Had It Right

Every year many of us enjoy a few morbid chuckles when winners of the prestigious Darwin Awards become known. As a rule these are stories of folks doing incredibly stupid things that result in their death - thus removing themselves and distilling the human gene pool. If tombstones were printed with one's last words, you'd be amazed at how many would read "Hey fellas, watch this!" or "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."


It is the non-fatal acts of stupidity that concern me the most - the ones that require heroic rescues and government disaster relief to overcome. Like the folks who build their ground-level homes on the perennial flood plains of major rivers - not the "100 year" flood plain, the just-over-the-levee flat fertile plains that are there because of the rich mud deposited during (you guessed it) FLOODS. These are the folks who tearfully tell reporters that they lost everything, then they seek disaster relief funds so they can clean up and REBUILD!!!


Every year during hurricane season there are the folks who steadfastly ignore the warnings to evacuate a barrier island (or New Orleans) because of an approaching hurricane. Then, at the height of the storm or during the flooding that follows expect the brave men and women of the Coast Guard to come rescue them. What is it about these people that makes them feel entitled to taxpayer money and life-risking actions of the CG to help them overcome their bad decisions?

While I find that sort of presumptuousness abhorrent, they are still a notch or two above those who took their FEMA handouts and used them to purchase designer handbags, jewelry, and table dances! Despite all the "bad money" wasted, there was still a lot of "good money" spent to provide relief for those who did evacuate and subsequently needed assistance to return and rebuild. I have no probelm helping those who were smart enough to help themselves.

Of course, then there is California. I love the logic applied in that beautiful state. "Look at the spectacular view from the top of this landslide/mudslide, honey! Why don't we build a multi-million dollar home here?" Who was the government mastermind that purchased undeveloped land for public schools? As a geologist, I know that mapping the San Andreas Fault system quickly can be accomplished by playing connect-the-dots with the public school locations! The coastal areas of California are rife with grassy hillsopes above dramatic canyons. Could it be that those are grassy hillsides because they are so frequently burned by (natural) wildfires that no trees of significant age can grow there? N0 - I'm sure it was just overlooked by previous developers who missed the opportunity to fill the canyon with expensive homes! "Buy now - a few choice lots left ... at Fuego Vista!!!"

Even people who (in theory) should know better, repeatedly ignore the signs that there are risks associated with certain landforms. Signs that should signal that there are periodic, if not frequent, processes in play that shape the land. I once had a geology professor (who should have known better) who parked his jeep in a dry stream bed (arroyo) in the western desert and hiked off for the day. When he returned after a long hot day in the desert he found his jeep a few hundred yards downstream - upside down and half buried in the mud after a flash flood had subsided. Apparently it had rained up in the mountains....

Mistakes are a natural part of the human condition. We should learn from them. Public money should not be spent to rescue people from their own stupidity. Personally, I don't think the skills and bravery of the Coast Guard should be squandered on those unwilling to help themselves - their job is hard enough. I don't want Coast Guard tombstones to read "We can't just leave them here!" - I'd rather rename entire towns of rubble to Darwinsburg!

Cell Phones Make us Rude

It seems that a connected society is a rude society. The now nearly ubiquitous appearance of cellular phones on the streets, in cars, in business, and in the home has changed not only our behaviors, but our expectations of each other as well.

As a rule, we have come to a point where we expect instant access to everyone involved in our lives. The idea that "back in the day" you could call someone and have the phone just ring (never to be answered) or, worse, receive a busy signal is unbelievable! Somehow the world continued to turn, even if we couldn't simply leave a voicemail or a text message. The fact that someone wasn't home, meant that they couldn't be reached until they returned - today that is an unbelievable inconvenience.

"Back in the day", we used to consciously decide whether to bother someone at work or to wait until later and call them at home - the cell phone has provided us the opportunity to just call, with little or no worry as to the necessity of interrupting something they may doing. That change in behavior has led to receiver-end responsibilities that appear to be beyond the character of the Average Joe. Planes are delayed by people unwilling or unable to terminate a call, people get up and walk out of meetings if they receive a call, and (horror or horrors) church services and symphony performances are interrupted by ringing phones or texting attendees. Personally I think people with a phone to their ear or talking away into a bluethooth earpiece should be refused service in convenience stores - or shot on sight!

The distractedness of drivers holding a phone to their ear has been well documented. Some cities and states have made it illegal to use a hand-held cell phone while driving. Here in Texas it is now illegal to be on a cell phone while driving in a school zone - which helps only minimally during the daily commute as school zones are inactive ... unless you are lazy and don't go into work until 7 or 8! If you live in Texas, have you ever had anyone say "Sorry I'm entering a school zone - I'll have to call you back" and hang up? That's about as likely to happen as the lady in front of you putting on her make-up before leaving the house!

Bluetooth headsets and car/phone integration is intended to help - but most businesses require protracted data entry to speak the right language, access the proper account, or to reach the right department which doesn't float with the whole hands-free thing! And what's with this fascination of spelling things with phone numbers? Try calling 1-800-WHO-CARE(s) from a QWERTY smartphone.... I have to carry a small printed keypad telling me which letters go with which numbers. Ridiculous. Why are people so annoyed by your confusion when they walk up to you and say something completely random? They usually give you one of those "Are you stupid?" looks and jab a finger toward their bluetooth earpiece. Fortunately my gesticulated response can't be represented in print.

What we need is a realignment of our behaviors, expectations, and technologies. Evolving technology opens a world of opportunity for being more efficient - but at what cost? I am convinced that texting is pushing the next phase of human evolution toward beings unable to lift their heads, who are all thumbs with stubby little atrophied digits that used to be used for things like dialing phones, typing on keyboards, and turning the pages of books that used to be p-r-i-n-t-e-d!

The Global Climate Crisis!

"On December 7, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to determine the fate of our planet. Let’s turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen. Sign the Climate Petition and become a citizen at hopenhagen.org."

I recently visited the UN Global Climate Change Conference website out of curiosity. When I made the “Hopenhagen” icon and blurb (above) appear on my Facebook wall, I received criticism from family and friends who missed my (intended) sarcasm.

COP15 is going to "determine the fate of our planet"? How absurd! How arrogant! This whole Climate Calamity is a crock! Who is leading the charge? The (honorable?) Al Gore is one of the most visible promoters of global warming … (oops!) cooling … (oops!) climate change … (oops!) climate CRISIS! While Mr. Gore is undoubtedly a skilled politician and accomplished speaker, he’s not the brightest bulb in the string when it comes to responsible science. He has surgically extracted scientific facts that support his agenda and repackaged them so even the knuckle-dragging Average Joe could understand his message. To claim that human activity is responsible for causing the undeniable climate shift we are experiencing and (worse) that humankind can reverse that change is the epitome of human arrogance.

Even if you rode the small bus to your “Rocks for Jocks” class you would know that the geologic record contains well-documented evidence of global sea level fluctuations associated with climate changes across millions of years. In Al Gore’s televised Inconvenient (yet profitable) Truth he theatrically showed a climate change graph that was restricted to the most recent Holocene which conveniently excluded the preceding peak which nearly equals present day conditions.

You don’t have to include a great deal more of the graph to see what I mean: http://teachingboxes.org/seaLevel/lessons/lesson4_SeaLevelCurveGraph.htm

As a professional scientist, I find the “spinning” of perfectly good data into a promoted agenda particularly distasteful. Heaven knows that real scientists strive daily to remove or mitigate subjectivity and personal bias from the process. If I turned out this kind of science at work, I wouldn't be invited to Oslo - I'd be shown the door! At this point I am nearly certain that Mr. Gore’s rhetoric has surely surpassed bovine flatulence as a source of “greenhouse gas”. Did I mention that this is how he makes a living?

What really chaps my … well, “sticks in my craw” … is that despite his prostitution of my science, and his promotion of an “Incomplete Truth” Mr. Gore has succeeded in starting an important dialogue. At an emotional level there is nothing bad about rallying a global community around being more energy efficient, less polluting, and more conservation-minded with Earth’s natural resources. One can easily anticipate that the resolutions, accords, and protocols likely to result from COP15 will financially burden countries and companies alike. While the overall direction likely to be taken is laudable the timeframe for change promoted by this “crisis” will strain everyone.

But the delegates attending COP15 are all exceedingly “green” well-meaning folks, right? If that is the case then why have the majority arrived in their private jets, and why have they booked up 200 limousines for the week in Copenhagen. I have found when travelling there that trains/subways are great for getting around, even though walking is the norm – most locals bicycle to and from work and around town. I wonder what the carbon footprint of COP15 would look like?