VANCOUVER – October 24, 2004. Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist, Ron Suskind reports for the New York Times Magazine that George W. Bush knows about oil peak. In fact, he’s got a plan that extends beyond making Iraq the 51st state. In a confidential luncheon a block away from the White House with large campaign contributors, Bush gave a brief outline of a supply-side plan that is certain to irk environmentalists and anti-nuclear activists (which by the way are no longer always the same group), as well as anyone concerned about the efficacy and risks of carbon sequestration and the urgent need to put serious effort into reducing demand.
Bush’s statements force us to question when did he and his advisors first know about peak oil? Was it before 9-11 during Cheney’s energy task force deliberations? No, says Matt Simmons (chairman of Simmons & Company and member of the Bush-Cheney Energy Task Force transition team) in an interview with Kellia Ramares on KPFA Evening News in which he ardently states that there is no cover up to hide oil peak from the American public and that only a handful of people in the Bush Administration know about peak oil. Simmons believes that a number of well-known petroleum economists have been successful in convincing government that peak oil is a non-issue. Listen to the KPFA Evening News Report at http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/#bushknows20041017.
It is clear, however, that Bush himself knows about oil peak (Matt Simmons told Global Public Media this, on camera, back in February 2003, see http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/INTERVIEWS/MATT.SIMMONS, answers 10 and 11) and is relatively confident in addressing the issue. If we are to take Suskind’s article at face value, Bush did not bungle, mince, or create any words, stutter, or misspeak as commonly occurs when he has not been prepped on an issue. In fact, the question was reported to be what Bush is going to “do about energy policy with worldwide oil reserves predicted to peak”. We assume that the use of oil reserves was either a mistake by the questioner or the person relaying the information to Suskind, since analysts less frequently talk about the peaking of oil reserves. As a well-prepared presenter, Bush answered the question as if he was speaking about peaking of oil production.
The peak oil plan that Bush described at the fundraiser sounds remarkably similar to the energy bill that Dick Cheney and Big Energy recently tried to push through congress.
A growing number of people believe Cheney and his cohorts at Project for a New American Century have known about the energy supply predicament for years. In a speech at the London Institute of Petroleum Autumn lunch in 1999, while he was CEO of Halliburton, Cheney said “Producing oil is obviously a self-depleting activity…. For the world as a whole, oil companies are expected to keep finding and developing enough oil to offset our seventy one million plus barrel a day of oil depletion, but also to meet new demand. By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from?” Did Cheney tell Bush and, if so, when?
Following are excerpts from the New York Times Magazine article “Without a Doubt” By Ron Suskind.
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According to notes provided to me, and according to several guests at the lunch who agreed to speak about what they heard, he said that ”Osama bin Laden would like to overthrow the Saudis… then we’re in trouble. Because they have a weapon. They have the oil’….. After his remarks, Bush opened it up for questions, and someone asked what he’s going to do about energy policy with worldwide oil reserves predicted to peak. Bush said: “I’m going to push nuclear energy, drilling in Alaska and clean coal. Some nuclear-fusion technologies are interesting.” He mentions energy from “processing corn.” “I’m going to bring all this up in the debate, and I’m going to push it,” he said, and then tried out a line. “Do you realize that ANWR [the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] is the size of South Carolina, and where we want to drill is the size of the Columbia airport?” |
Use this link to email NYT reader’s representative Daniel Okrent asking them to cover government responses to Peak Oil.
Post Carbon’s Bush Peak Oil Talking Points:
• Cheney has known about oil peak since 1999 – pre 9/11
• Bush’s plan for energy security includes ramping up nuclear and coal and drilliing in ANWR
• Post Carbon Institute’s policies for energy security – USE MUCH LESS & GLOBAL RELOCALIZATION
Post Carbon Institute is an initiative and operating unit of MetaFoundation, a non-profit organization chartered in Portland, Oregon, United States. Post Carbon Institute is an educational institution and think tank that explores in theory and practice what cultures, civilisation, governance & economies might look like without the use of (non-renewable) hydrocarbons as energy and chemical feedstocks. For more information, visit http://www.postcarbon.org. For news on oil depletion, visit Global Public Media at http://www.globalpublicmedia.com.
- Without a Doubt by Ron Suskind : Cached | Original
- Email NYT reader’s representative Daniel Okrent asking them to cover responses to Peak Oil
- KPFA report with Matt Simmons [4:23] | transcript | —> MP3
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