Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The House Financial Services Committee in the United States plans to begin a hearing Wednesday on the oil reserve scandal at Royal Dutch/Shell, a move that is sure to expose the company to more public criticism, and could provide additional fuel to class-action suits.
President Bush and his Democratic opponent John Kerry are both for “energy independence”—like every other president for a generation. That elusive, but ultimately pointless, quest has been a central feature in American politics and policy for the past 30 years, ever since the October 1973 embargo on oil exports to the United States launched by Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Libya.
Wind energy’s erratic performance as a power source means the more it forms part of a power system, the more back-up supply is required and the less cost efficient it is, according to a report on renewable energy produced for Britain’s House of Lords.
China’s power shortages show no signs of easing, state media said Wednesday, as the company in charge of the nation’s power grid threatened to cut off factories that fail to conserve energy.
Russian oil giant Yukos faced being torn apart after bailiffs said they would sell off its main operating arm to settle a $3.4bn bill for back taxes.
The defense ministry said yesterday that it was short of fuel for the military’s aircraft and naval ships as budget constraints continue to bite.
The salient features of the post cheap oil world will be turbulence, economic systems failure, and falling standards of living. The greatest imperatives for Americans will be the reconstruction of local communities and economic networks of interdependency and the re-establishment of local agriculture.
Could the US presidential election be called off? The stakes are high and they include the world oil peak, rants Chuck Richardson.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will visit China in October to talk about oil as China reaches out for more sources of supply to feed its booming economy.
Iran is harboring members of al Qaeda, and the United States is investigating whether the Iranian government had a role in the September 11, 2001, attacks, President Bush said Monday.
In 1944 Vice President Wallace wrote, “If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States”.
Given the gravity, immediacy and potentially all-encompassing implications of Colin Campbell’s projection, there must by an urgent government-initiated debate over the validity of the statistics and the potentially devastating short term economic and political implications of oil peaking in next two or three years.
