The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-10-11
Official, City. state and County Newspaper
Actually Stopping Oil Waste

file
"a The Hoover administration has taken its second step
n oil CONSERVATISM. Acting under t- withdrawal action
81 the president Of last March. Secretary Wilbur. OF the
'. Interior department, has stopped production in the kct-
rrlcman Hills field in California, until January J, 1881, or
toe,ntil the market for oil will justify resumption OF oper-
p~prGstions. This action is made possible b. the fact that the
stssovernment controls 40 per cent Of the production OF the
BIZ ield. the major portion Of which. is public domain. BY
caantering into an agreement with the other operators
- Secretary Wilbur has been able to proclaim a complete
- hut down in the area.
toe The Kettlenan field is the newest and largest discov-
Try in recent years. and Secretary Wilbur appraiscs the
fio{onsummation of the agreement and the subsequent clos
Thing Of the district as the outstanding piece OF coilscrva-
ooea4on in the country. What is more, il revives the coaserv-
,rS..stion policy out Of the dorInancy which succeeded its
tiasromulga'ion some months ago and holsters the wisdom
TIT the presidents policy. which SO far has been largely
e pnfined to paper. It shuts down two wells producing
hoo barrels each a day and. in addition. approximately
pr0p .Oo0. 900 cubic icct Of gas daily.
su9 The presidents order imposing oil conservation was in
rrt1he nat OF a double -barrcled executive action. It
thekndcd II stop wasteful production which was rampant
VIVA the industry, with prices at the well low, this also
No~M1ending to wasteful consumption and unWlse uses, anu 1t
refined at lscrupulous promoters prospecting OIL public
allAnd. With a government permit as an indIccmcnt. such
sixerospcctors would organize a company and draw in IN
xN,,.tsSary investors, then fade away and leave the confidin2
dor 6ock purchasers holding the bag. OF $4,000 permits is
ed ned before the presidents withdrawal order, Sc came to
Cot1e ripcress OF leases. the others were allowed to lapse.
It was perhaps also from 4 consideration Of the Fall
boheny- Sinclair cases that the president was led to the
Eep he h He put an end to leasing of government oil
binds by his action. and it was leasing oil lands, it will be
lccallcd, that led to the Teapot Dome and Elk Hills scan
Ials. It was a reply to the old fiction Of royalty lease
~eekers that neighbor wells. privately owned, were likely
81 ) drain pools controlled by the government. The big
Pro 1nsidcration among the private oil operators was to get
py -ontrol Of the supple III the grn,-d. and any argument
rs accomplish that, however dcvie"e. satisfied the cupidity
as,rf the oil r.abbcrs.
lon Prior to the Hoover decree. there had been but two
the residential steps toward conservation, one by Roose-
- .elt in 1907 and the other BY Taft in 1909. It was the
Is APPEAL of the Taft action that opened the way for the
life ,oheny and Sinclair leases and the big oil scandals which
cur 1rked congress and national politics through the Cool
~; lge administration. which inherited tho scandal from its
z .arding predecessor.
Of Meanwhile q federal and states petroleum conscrva-
auo on commission is striving to work out the problem of
10 conservation. Mark L. Requa, its chairman. IN a
81 cent letter to The Tribune, put the situation thus:
tho Minerals are a problem unto themselves in that they
mo not renewable: once exhausted they are gone for
~ Jer. Petroleum is a problem unto itself in that it is the
Why migratory mineral. Drilling by one landowner forces
staf Joining owners to drill and we run into the whole
tslLscious circle OF excess production and the waste Of Pc
800 oleum reserves.
aliv There are two possible lines of procedure: We may go
Ni as In the past with low production efficiency and the
AA- . ~ AAAAA-SAA - AAANA W III - ANA - &c. Ia pAANC
.eis coal. with consequent loss of gasoline. Diesel oil and
curl bricating oil. and rapidly increasing dependence upon
lreign sources Of supply: or We can work out and adopt
Irrational program Ct cooperation and conservation that
lyn - cooaullate ~ RUNNING q ~ atil WITH 'he require
somlents Of the market. making possible the conservation
~ oil for cracking into gasoline and thus turn back to the
s~1s5al industry the great volume OF business that oil has
~ 5urped. but which it should not supply because Of its
tho eater value for cracking into gasoline.
haMji"Last year about 9l2.O0o0o barrels OF oil were run to
ord Iun.~;.s ,r,.. !. AZ. 80. g..
ooct!. M' SSo'e - 20 ecHs. oon's
yecoYFineries recovered well over 60 per cent. On a go per
Amt basis. 81. 100000 barrels would have yielded all
nef 1oducts refined from the 9l2,Oo0OOo barrels. In other
~ lbrds, around 275,0000 600 bar-o's could theoretically. have
maxeen conserved. In practice a large part of this saving,
1T not all Of 1t. is possible. for there are places and uses
xs3jat justify the burning Of oil as fuel. for example for
sssr,..!tchard heating and for fuel where there is no goc coal
thalStainable at reasonable prices.
his Tin California over 100000 900 cubic feet OF gas is daily
l.ssasted to the air; in heat units this is equal to about
fhsfs, 900 tons Of coal q day. What Is true in California is
= s'is ss'e7 = o'nef ~ producing s'sVes