By JOHN P. TRETBAR

In its latest weekly report, the government said our gasoline stockpiles grew by 4.4 million barrels, a figure the auto club AAA called “astonishing.” After four consecutive declines, the national average price for a gallon of regular was $2.648 on Monday. That’s down six cents from last Monday, nearly 13 cents lower than a month ago, and 21 cents lower than last year at this time. The average across Kansas is $2.447. We found prices as low as $2.22/gallon in Hays. It’s going for $2.33 across Great Bend. You’ll save about two dollars on your 15-gallon fill-up compared to a month ago.

China and South Korea appear ready to join the U.S. and Britain in offering military protection for oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, according to Reuters quoting an ambassador and local newspaper reports. According to EIA estimates, 76 percent of the petroleum that moved through the Strait of Hormuz last year went to Asian markets, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. Germany and other European nations have said they would not commit military vessels to the escort mission.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports another near-record for weekly crude oil production. For the week ending August 2, operators pumped 12.253 million [[“twelve point two five three million”]] barrels per day. That’s the fourth-highest weekly production total ever, and an increase of nine thousand barrels per day over the week before.

U.S. Crude inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels. The government reported total inventories of nearly 439 million barrels, about two percent above the five year average for this time of year.

Imports averaged 7.1 million [[“seven point one million”]] barrels per day last week, an increase of 485,000 from the week before. The four-week average for U.S. imports is down nearly 15% compared to the same four weeks a year ago.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports another drop in its statewide drilling rig count. There are 11 active rigs in eastern Kansas, down one, and 20 west of Wichita, down two. Operators were drilling on one Russell County lease, and were about to spud one well in Barton County and three in Ellis County.

Baker Hughes reported 934 active drilling rigs across the U.S. Friday, a decline of six oil rigs and two seeking natural gas. The count in Alaska was down four and Oklahoma was down two. Texas was down one while New Mexico was up two rigs. Canada reported 140 active drilling rigs, up three for the week.

Regulators approved 17 permits for drilling at new locations across Kansas last week, three east of Wichita and 14 in Western Kansas, including two in Barton County, three in Ellis county and one in Stafford County. There are just 586 new drilling permits in Kansas so far this year. Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 26 newly-completed wells for the week, 869 so far this year. There were five wells completed in eastern Kansas, and 21 west of Wichita, including one in Ellis County.

The government predicted the spread between national and international benchmark crude-oil prices will narrow next year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted Brent crude will average $65 per barrel in 2020, and that West Texas Intermediate will average about $5.50 less, or just under $60. That would put the spread about a dollar less than the agency’s previous prediction.

The bigger players are increasing their stakes in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, even as smaller energy companies are pulling back. Exxon Mobil and Chevron are keeping their promises to ramp up production in the Permian. According to the Houston Chronicle, Exxon Mobil is by far the Permian’s most active driller with more than 50 rigs operating, increasing production there by nearly 90 percent in 12 months. Chevron and Occidental Petroleum produce more than 420,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the region. The Permian, now the world’s most productive oil and gas basin, is producing about 4.2 million barrels of crude oil a day, more than one-third of the nation’s record output of more than 12 million barrels a day. The basin, by far the central focus of the shale boom, also is the country’s second-most prolific natural gas producer.

Domestic railroad freight traffic continues to decline in weekly and year-on-year comparisons. But, oil-by-rail continues to grow, and remains one of only two types of freight to show gains on the nation’s railroads. During the week ending August 3, 12,561 rail cars filled with petroleum and petroleum products hit the rails. That’s an increase of nearly 16% over the same week last year. The year-too-date total is 21% higher than last year. Canadian traffic was up 24%. The Association of American Railroads Senior Vice President John T. Gray said total combined U.S. rail traffic is down three and a half percent, held back by declines in coal, grain and inter-modal shipments.

Time to remind Kansans that a key skill in Kansas politics is distraction.

Yes, remember that you don’t have to be much of a magician if your assistant is sexy enough that she’s the one the audience watches, not whether that rabbit actually came out of the hat the magician is wearing.

Democrats do it, Republicans do it. Heck, even third-party politicians practice distraction. Right now, it’s the Republicans who are getting in gear due to a recent series of events.

The fuses: Last week, it was the need for the Kansas Department of Corrections to contract with a private for-profit corporation to hold at least 360 Kansas prisoners in an Arizona prison because Kansas doesn’t have the space for them.

The week before was the Kansas Department of Revenue demanding that all out-of-state merchants collect Kansas sales tax on sales made into Kansas.

Oh, and then there was the relatively distracting response to the massacres in Texas and Ohio.

It’s early, but so far, the Kansas Legislature and its Republican leaders who are still angry that the state elected Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly to be its governor are doing their best at distraction from the real issues and finding solutions that are politically acceptable to them and their supporters.

The prisoner issue: During the past eight years, conservative former Gov. Sam Brownback consistently cut spending on the Department of Corrections along with other agencies in order to make his dramatic tax-cut program workable, or at least appear to be workable. With years of prison aging and with below-market salaries for prison guards essentially frozen, Kansas prisons filled and then over-filled; the state just ran out of space for prisoners and for guards to manage them.

While lawmakers don’t like the idea of moving Kansas convicts out of state at $75 a day, they’re not really eager to take responsibility for the crisis and instead have special committees which are watching every dollar in spending proposed by Democrat Kelly that has become necessary after years of not spending money on prisons.

The sales tax issue that might well see the state hauled into court for its absolute sales tax collection rule? Well, that’s state law which the Legislature couldn’t get amended this year because it tacked the so-called “safe harbor” amendment exempting those out of state merchants with small sales into the state onto bills with millions of dollars of state income tax cuts for the well-heeled and corporations that the governor vetoed because the state needs the money. So, we’re seeing that sales tax problem become a distraction from the big tax cuts lawmakers voted for but couldn’t get passed.

Oh, and as part of the distraction, there’s the potentially small reduction in sales taxes on food which were part of the bill vetoed by Kelly. Hmmm…lawsuits and a Democrat not signing a food sales tax reduction. Not a bad political distraction, is it?

And the response to the Texas and Ohio massacres? The distraction here is that the state needs more mental health services for those with guns to keep them from using those guns in hate crime rampages. Nope, no mention of taking guns away from the mentally ill, the hate-mongers, under a “red flag” law, or even making it harder for those people to obtain guns. Let’s instead talk about mental health. Again, not a bad distraction, and one that doesn’t raise the blood pressure of the National Rifle Association.

Distraction? Nope just look over there…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

My mom was so allergic to poison ivy I still believe to this day she could have caught it by merely looking at the plants. I remember her being hospitalized once with poison ivy so bad on her hand that it resembled raw hamburger. My dad on the other hand could’ve rolled around in the stuff and never known it. One night a few years back I went to change a flat tire on our mobile deer blind which was still in the woods, and found it to be afloat in a sea of the healthiest poison ivy I’d ever seen. I chopped it down all around the tire, wore gloves and was pretty careful as I worked, but three or four days later I had a small patch of rash on one arm, the first time I ever “got” poison ivy.

Each stem of a poison ivy plant has three shiny, pointed green leaves, thus the old saying “Leaves of three, let them be.” The troublemaker is the oil called “Urushiol” that is found on poison ivy plants. Urushiol by itself is fairly harmless, but when absorbed by our skin, our body attacks to it as an intruder and the red, itchy rash follows. Urushiol is found in ALL parts of a poison ivy plant ALL year round, and has actually been found to be present in plants that have been dead for up to five years. Animals and pets do not react to urushiol but can carry it on their fur or hide and infect humans that way. It can also remain indefinitely on clothing and tools. Liquid from poison ivy blisters WILL NOT spread poison ivy; urushiol must be absorbed by our skin to cause a reaction and by the time a rash develops the oil has long since been absorbed. Sensitivity to poison ivy is thought to be genetic so it can run in the family; someone sensitive to poison ivy can also have a reaction from the smoke of burning poison ivy plants.

To keep this from reading like a pamphlet about poison ivy you’d pick up at the County Extension office, I’ve put together a little fun trivia about the “leaves-of-three” plant, plus few not-so-common facts and cures for poison ivy rash.

Five hundred people could itch from the amount of urushiol found on the head of a pin. It’s estimated that 85% of the world’s population would have an allergic reaction to poison ivy. Samples of urushiol several centuries old have still been found to cause skin irritation on sensitive people.

If using water to attempt to rinse urushiol off your skin before it’s absorbed, ALWAYS rinse with COOL water as hot water will actually open skin pores and speed absorption.

Capsaicin cream, labeled for arthritis pain can suppress the itch of poison ivy rash for hours.

Apple cider vinegar, rubbing alcohol or lemon juice poured liberally over your skin can rinse off urushiol if done soon enough after contact. Either liquid can also help heal poison ivy rash if drizzled over the rash or used on a compress.

Other ways to soothe poison ivy rash include coating the rash with cucumber slices or a paste made from cucumber, and rubbing the rash with the inside of a banana peel or cool melon rind.

Witch hazel, strongly brewed tea, buttermilk or yogurt dabbed on poison ivy rash with a cotton ball can help draw toxins out of the rash and dry up seeping blisters.

Aloe Vera juice will soothe poison ivy rash like it soothes sunburn.

One cup of oatmeal ground into a fine powder, put into an old pair of pantyhose and used like a teabag in a tub of cool bathwater can provide relief from the intense itching of poison ivy rash.

Three teaspoons of baking soda mixed with one teaspoon of water makes a good paste to spread over poison ivy rash to aid in healing and offer temporary relief from itching.

In summary, lots of things can give relief from the itch of poison ivy rash, but the only sure way to prevent a reaction is to rinse off the urushiol oil before it can be absorbed into the skin. The opening lines of the old Coasters song “Poison Ivy” say “she comes on like a rose but everybody knows she’ll get you in dutch, you can look but you better not touch; poison ivy, poison ivy, at night when you’re sleepin’ poison ivy comes creeping around.” …Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].