Fossil Fuels

Commentary: DOE Responds to ASPO-USA – Too Little, Too Late … or a Good First Step?

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In October 2011, ASPO-USA conducted a news conference in front of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters in Washington D.C. to express deep concerns about the reliability of projections for future oil and gas supplies by DOE and the Energy Information Administration. Representatives of ASPO-USA presented a letter to DOE Secretary Steven Chu which outlines these concerns and asks for answers to seven specific questions. The letter also urges DOE to initiate and lead the development of a National Oil Emergency Response Plan. A staff member from the Office of the Secretary was on hand to receive the letter. This month DOE sent their response – printed below.

A new energy third world in North America?

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The “curse” of oil wealth is a well-known phenomenon in Third World petro-states where millions of lives are wasted in poverty and the environment is ravaged, while tiny elites rake in the energy dollars and corruption rules the land. Recently, North America has been repeatedly hailed as the planet’s twenty-first-century “new Saudi Arabia” for “tough energy” — deep-sea oil, Canadian tar sands, and fracked oil and natural gas. But here’s a question no one considers: Will the oil curse become as familiar on this continent in the wake of a new American energy rush as it is in Africa and elsewhere? Will North America, that is, become not just the next boom continent for energy bonanzas, but a new energy Third World?

My ‘Gasland’ ‘Tis of Thee

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It is one thing to read about the fight over the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing or fracking that are associated with natural gas drilling in deep shale formations. It’s quite another to see that fight captured on film. The documentary film Gasland provides a compelling, if one-sided, portrait of the devastation visited on the lives of those who live closest to the drilling.

ODAC Newsletter – Mar 30

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While awareness of peak oil has advanced light years since ODAC was founded over a decade ago, on the evidence of this week the same cannot be said for the conduct of British energy policy. Back in 2000, Tony Blair’s government was blindsided by petrol protests that brought the country to a standstill in 48 hours. Mr Blair bore the scars, and while there was much to criticise in New Labour’s energy policy—not least the invasion of Iraq—he developed emergency plans and did not allow a serious recurrence…

More than the deck chairs: ASPO-USA launches webinar series

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Given the tsunami of energy misinformation in the media right now, ASPO-USA’s role in providing accurate analysis of our domestic and global energy situation has never been more important.

Therefore, ASPO-USA is launching a series of monthly webinar programs, where members and donors will have the opportunity to see and hear presentations by distinguished speakers. The first will take place Thursday: “Shale Gas Update, with Art Berman.”

The peak oil crisis: Our natural gas glut

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With global warming driving down the demand for natural gas as a home heating fuel and natural gas drillers producing record amounts, an oversupply situation has developed quickly. Stocks of natural gas are rising. As a result natural gas prices have fallen way below profitability and drillers are scrambling to cut back production.

Spinning for Heathrow

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There is no business itch too trivial for the British Chancellor George Osborne not to want to scratch it, no matter what the other consequences. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the sustained lobbying by not one but two separate Heathrow expansion campaigns has got Osborne, or so it’s claimed, lobbying his Cabinet colleagues on a change of mind on Heathrow’s third runway. I’ve written here before…about the long-term trends influencing aviation in the rich world. My assessment then was that most of them pointed to a decline in demand for long-haul flight (and in Europe and the United States, probably short-haul as well). So it’s probably worth spending some time on the “studies” which support the latest political mood music emanating from Number 11.

Mobilizing society in the face of peak oil: a call to French Presidential candidates

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‘Mobiliser la société face au pic pétrolier’ is a call to French Presidential candidates inviting them to mobilise society in the face of peak oil. It has been signed by renonwed French oil specialists and published in LeMonde.fr. The group is also calling for signatures for their petition.