 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Sen. Donna Boley, husband Jack (a veteran involved with the testing of atomic weapons) and Pat Coakley were the speakers at the Creston Veterans Day event on Sunday, November 9.
The Creston auction on Friday night was the best ever with lots of folks going home with bargains.
Local folks like those elsewhere were amazed at the election results which gave West Virginia the first Republican legislature (house & senate both) since the 1920s. As some said the Big Eared One's negative coattails brought down almost all who were on the same ticket. Rural and coal producing districts all over the nation voted out the democrats who were waging war on coal. The only exception was the governor of Pennsylvania who was beat by a liberal democrat. He had joined up with some sleazy oil & gas types and helped pass a bill that allowed the big boys to steal Pennsylvania landowners royalties. Revenge had been promised and obviously it came to pass. West Virginia legislators and executives should take note.
Dean & Sue Miller, Gary & Shirley Jones, Nancy & Alvin Engelke were among those who attended the W. Va. Farm Bureau annual meeting at Flatwoods. There were over 300 at the meeting where policy for the year was determined. George Patterson, a lawyer from the Mouth of the Elk who wrote the "so called" Fair Pooling law, came and defended his representation of the big boys who want to take minerals away from those who will not agree with the bad terms that the companies have offered to "the rubes in the backwoods". One state investor who is participating in a promotion in New Mexico was told that "Out here the bonus is $15,000/acre with a 25% gross royalty". There was a lot of discussion at the meeting over the new political landscape both down at the Mouth of the Elk and in the swamps along the lower Potomac. One fellow noted that if the big boys want to have a pooling law then the royalty for all in the force pooled unit should be a 25% gross royalty without deductions. Cabot gets a 25% royalty when the firm leases acreage or well sites to others.
One of the topics discussed at the meeting was the Big Eared One's plan to, in conjunction with the Brazilian company J. B. S., import frozen and chilled beef and live cattle from an area in Argentina where hoof & mouth disease is present. This disease was eradicated in the United States in 1929 and there is major concern about it being brought back into the country. J. B. S., run by the Batista family is the largest protein company on the planet. As an awful example of "crony capitalism" the USDA is asking that the rules be relaxed to allow the contamination of the nation by the potentially contaminated meat and animals. There have been recent problems in Japan, South Korea and Europe where food and garbage came from contaminated countries where the disease is common. If the disease is found in the United States, many if not all of the nations where U. S. beef is exported will throw up immediate bans until the disease is eradicated. No doubt the Batistas and/or those in their employ attended some of the big S34,000/plate fundraisers. Some may remember the problem with the "mad cow disease" which was brought from China by folks who took garbage from there & used it in animal feed. Folks should contact their federal legislators and APHIS to express opposition to this proposed travesty.
Ivanpah is an "excellent" example of crony capitalism practiced by the Big Eared One's Dept. of Energy. $2.2 billion was spent to build a solar electric facility in the Mohave desert. The big players were Google and J. P. Morgan Chase with a little help from Gov. Moonbeams from California. The project is only producing 1/4th of the electric that the "experts" said it would generate "because of lack of sunshine" out where it never rains. The promoters now want the taxpayers to give them a mere $540 million to keep the project afloat since the executives at the bank & Google don't want to lose their money. The newbies in Washington can surely use this taxpayer funded disaster as an excellent reason to do away with the U. S. Dept. of Energy and thus work toward balancing the federal budget.
Jacques Frost paid a professional visit in Creston the day before the election.
It was learned that Cabot has now obtained the complete right of way to lay a gas line from their Utica well in Wood County to an existing gas line in the Washington bottom. Visitors to the well site note that the well has not been plugged and that gas is bubbling from a huge valve installed below ground level. It is also understood that the firm has a permit to drill the first offset well on some of the 10,000 acres of leases that they have in the area.
Broadway Joe has now more or less made it official that he plans to "come home" and run for governor again. It had been noted that he saw that he was not going to be a big frog in the big pond (Hillary didn't want him) and decided to go back to being the big frog in the little pond where no one would seriously question him or any of his minions.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude is now $77.65/bbl. with Appalachian light sweet (drip) fetching $55.15, Marcellus & Utica light $71.65 and medium $77.65/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
