[onoway]

hrothgar, on 2013-May-19, 14:37, said:

Why would you restrict someone's right to purchase land but not the corresponding mineral rights?
Nothing is preventing people from doing that right now.

They choose not to. They are unwilling to pay the price necessary to secure complete right's to their land. (More, generally, if you accept Coase's Theorem, the fact that this isn't available as a product shows that there isn't demand for this bundle)

FWIW, I always find it highly amusing to see how you justify increased regulations as a cry for freedom
(Your objection to to regulations around fractional reserve banking being the classic example)

And the end of they day you don't favor freedom, just the idiosyncratic set of regulations you want to impose.

Actually in Canada I don't believe that private owners CAN buy mineral rights to the land unless the previous owner had them. The government now sells "leases" and they aren't even to a whole chunk of land but for levels in that land, so actually there could theoretically be a number of companies all drilling at different depths/levels through the same surface area. Companies bid for those that the government decides to put up for tender. I'm not a lawyer and maybe have some details wrong, but that's my understanding from conversations with oil company people such as geologists and engineers.

[hrothgar]

onoway, on 2013-May-19, 19:00, said:

Actually in Canada I don't believe that private owners CAN buy mineral rights to the land unless the previous owner had them. The government now sells "leases" and they aren't even to a whole chunk of land but for levels in that land, so actually there could theoretically be a number of companies all drilling at different depths/levels through the same surface area. Companies bid for those that the government decides to put up for tender. I'm not a lawyer and maybe have some details wrong, but that's my understanding from conversations with oil company people such as geologists and engineers.

If there were significant demand for land + mineral rights someone could purchase the rights to the land and then purchase the mineral rights and repackage this into a new product.

(To my knowledge no one has done so

Draw your own conclusions regarding demand for such a good

[GreenMan]

<off-topic stuff about nitrate fertilizer snipped>

onoway, on 2013-May-19, 11:15, said:

Aside from that, there's a whole lot of land which cannot be utilized very well in any other way except by herbivores.

So you're saying that people are planting crops on this land instead of ranching it? If not, what does this have to do with cropland?

Quote

Secondly, look at land which has simply been left without cultivation or herbivore access. It has become less and less diverse in plant matter and eventually has become pretty much desert.

You must be talking about some other planet. If what you say were true, then this entire planet was desert until the large herbivores came. So, where did they come from? Did they spontaneously combust?

Quote

You cannot blame cattle for the greed and ignorance of man. The Amazon is also being cleared for lumber, are you going to blame the trees for being valuable as timber?

Don't try to change the subject. You were just saying that the introduction of ruminants is always beneficial. I pointed out that the introduction of ruminants in the Amazon requires its ecological devastation as a precondition. Cattle introduction accounts for more than two-thirds of Amazon deforestation. Talking about lumber is just distraction. But I guess that's all you have to work with.

[onoway]

GreenMan, on 2013-May-19, 20:38, said:

<off-topic stuff about nitrate fertilizer snipped>



So you're saying that people are planting crops on this land instead of ranching it? If not, what does this have to do with cropland?



You must be talking about some other planet. If what you say were true, then this entire planet was desert until the large herbivores came. So, where did they come from? Did they spontaneously combust?



Don't try to change the subject. You were just saying that the introduction of ruminants is always beneficial. I pointed out that the introduction of ruminants in the Amazon requires its ecological devastation as a precondition. Cattle introduction accounts for more than two-thirds of Amazon deforestation. Talking about lumber is just distraction. But I guess that's all you have to work with.

Are you off your meds again? Or just being silly/obtuse deliberately? Either way it's not worth the effort of taking your comments seriously. I hope you enjoy your fantasy world.

[PassedOut]

Interesting article in the Times yesterday: Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust

Quote

A few miles west of Mr. Yost’s farm, Nathan Kells cut back on irrigation when his wells began faltering in the last decade, and shifted his focus to raising dairy heifers — 9,000 on that farm, and thousands more elsewhere. At about 12 gallons a day for a single cow, Mr. Kells can sustain his herd with less water than it takes to grow a single circle of corn.

“The water’s going to flow to where it’s most valuable, whether it be industry or cities or feed yards,” he said. “We said, ‘What’s the higher use of the water?’ and decided that it was the heifer operation.”

I wonder if what is happening to the underground water resources could ever happen to the oil reserves as well.

[Winstonm]

PassedOut, on 2013-May-20, 05:54, said:

Interesting article in the Times yesterday: Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust


I wonder if what is happening to the underground water resources could ever happen to the oil reserves as well.

Yes, and when that happens the earth will collapse in on itself unless we start pumping in a ton of helium right now.

[GreenMan]

onoway, on 2013-May-20, 00:34, said:

Are you off your meds again? Or just being silly/obtuse deliberately? Either way it's not worth the effort of taking your comments seriously. I hope you enjoy your fantasy world.

Well, I got you to shut up, so that's a job well done.

[onoway]

Winstonm, on 2013-May-20, 07:51, said:

Yes, and when that happens the earth will collapse in on itself unless we start pumping in a ton of helium right now.

Maybe we could somehow figure out how to move us ALL to Mars on our big helium earth balloon...