 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Fall continues its march along & in the northern counties such as Preston the leaves are at or near their peak.
Local residents are reminded to send their comments to the Charleston Post Office about the "official" closing of the Creston office. It should be noted that a new facility was offered to the postal system in addition to existing buildings. Also the "highly touted" cluster boxes are now said to no longer be available to those who would like to have a box for their mail. Perhaps that is the new definition of "service"?
The DNR is now accepting comments for their proposed "Elk Management Plan" which is said to only include seven (7) coalfield counties but it was noted that in an earlier plan the entire state was to "be studied" by DNR for elk hunting. Presently W. Va. leads the nation in wrecks with deer and as one who has had way too many involvements with the DNR's "speed beef" the idea of hitting an elk is scary. Of course there is the problem with fence & crop damage as well as the diseases the elk carry and spread to domestic livestock.
Some of the folks in the Ohio Farm Bureau decided to cut a deal with the governor of that state to "try to head off attacks by the vegans". Of course the politicians saw the chance to divide & conquer and then proceeded to stab "those reaching across the isle" in the back. Nicky Joe Rahall, the southern
West Virginia congresscritter won an award from the HSUS (Humane Society of United States) as being their #1 representative. HSUS openly advocates banning hunting and ALL animal agriculture.
While our "elected leaders" saw no need to provide assistance to those who were hit by the recent tornado, they did decide to put up 400 big ones to take the trees out of the streams so the trees wouldn't lodge in the army corps dams on the Ohio River, take out the Wells Lock dam, etc.
The Charleston Daily Mail reported that Russian, Ukrainian & Indian (Hindu) companies have spent several $billion recently buying W. Va. coal reserves and active mines. One of the scary parts of this story is that because of bad decision making, wealth has left America and no one in this country can afford high ticket items. The same is true in the oil & gas business -- it was recently noted that "sovereign funds", that is the loot held by rich foreign governments & potentates, are funding the bulk of the current oil and gas development. Such is certainly true locally as a check of local court houses will confirm. The Norwegian government oil company is funding Chesapeake's Marcellus drilling and Royal Dutch Shell recently purchased East Resources which has most of the old Pennzoil (South Penn Oil Company) leaseholds and mineral rights.
The drilling of wells in the Marcellus and other shale plays, such as the Barnett, Fayetteville, Haynesville, etc. have increased the production of domestic gas significantly (more than some had planned) and caused a decrease (actually drastic) in the importation of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from foreign countries. Most would see this as a good thing but, of course, there are those who want more gas imported into America from foreign lands. Those folks are now fighting back with a vengeance. The new angle is to attack hydraulic fracturing as being dangerous even though such has been routine for at least fifty (50) years. Prior to that fracturing was done primarily by setting off nitroglycerin & such in the pay zones. The leader in the fight to stop modern technology in the oil & gas fields is George Soros, the Hungarian billionaire currency manipulator who recently funded the Clinton daughter's multi-million dollar wedding and who also, through his connection s and money put the big eared one in the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. It seems that Soros has a big gas field in or near Borneo and has major investments in LNG and gas fields in Russia and its former satellites. Soros is funding the attacks on fracturing through his fronts, Media Matters, Center for American Progress and the Tides
Foundation. One expert on the Marcellus said that some time back he started receiving the telephone calls from Moscow and central Asia asking if this Marcellus drilling was for real and he commented, "What is this all about?"
W. Harrison Schenerlein IV went on a rock climbing adventure in the Shamokin mountains of New York at New Paltz and his guide made a wrong turn causing other family members some concern. The folks at the meeting and those at the hotel went all out looking for the "lost boy". However, he considered the trip a success having found salamanders, a millipede, lots of acorns and wanted to take another trip the next day. He & family members also visited the the chocolate factory in Hershey Pennsylvania. Later his parents, grandparents & cousin Dave Welch visited Mr. & Mrs. Adam Yates before Adam left for a year in Kuwait, Afghanistan and other scenic spots in that part of the globe.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil fell to $76.50/bbl.
The Wirt County Annual Farm Bureau meeting will be held Tuesday, October 19 at 6 P. M. at the high school cafeteria in Elizabeth. All members, friends, etc. are invited to the covered dish dinner. The Farm Bureau will provide ham & turkey and likely there will be pickled corn, a standby for the Wirt County dinners.
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