Oil hysteria, part 3

Congress scrambles for short-term solutions to counter oil prices

Posted by Jon Rynn (Guest Contributor) at 9:10 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Read more about: politics | Congress | energy | oil | gas prices

I was afraid of this. The irrationality being exhibited about the price of gasoline is on prominent display this week in Congress.

According to the New York Times article "Congress feeling pressure for action on oil prices," some of the things being considered are 1) drilling, of course, 2) anti-speculation legislation, and 3) "incentives for renewable fuels," ergo, corn ethanol.

The most ironic idea, to me anyway, was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) suggesting that voters blame "the government." I thought people didn't want the government to intervene in the economy -- since 1980 we've supposedly been getting government "off our backs." Thirty years later, since "government" didn't do anything, there's a crisis. Now, "government" is supposed to fix it immediately?

As I predicted about a year ago, peak oil (the idea that the era of cheap oil is over, and soon the global supply of oil will go down) may make matters worse, environmentally. People will reach for simple solutions like more drilling, tar sands, oil shale, coal-to-liquids, and biofuels.

That's why I think that it's imperative that activists argue that the reason oil is going sky high is because of peak oil. That way, not only is the discussion more reality-based, we can more cogently offer real alternatives like transit, plug-in hybrids, denser urban areas, and high-speed rail, instead of continuing to bury our head in the (tar) sands.

For story: Oil hysteria, part 3
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How to end the price rationing?

Richard Heinberg has a good relevant piece on GlobalPublicMedia:

How badly do we want cheaper oil? Badly enough to cooperate internationally? Badly enough to lower our consumption? As soon as we want it that badly, we'll have it. Until then, the market rules. Welcome aboard the oil-price escalator

In the meantime, how about some Federal help with transit? Here in Seattle/King Co. we're looking at our second fare increase this year to cope with higher diesel prices. Meanwhile other areas are cutting service.

by Colin Wright at 10:12 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Maybe the oil depletion protocol

will finally get a hearing, somewhere, although I'm not holding my breath. Interesting statement here from Heinberg: "there is no existing market-based fix for the fix we're in."

by Jon Rynn at 10:26 AM on 10 Jul 2008

Peak Oil is a catastrophe

Global oil production is now declining, from 85 million barrels per day to 60 million barrels per day by 2015. At the same time demand will increase 14%. This is like a 45% drop in 7 years. No one can reverse this trend, nor can we conserve our way out of this catastrophe.

Because the demand for oil is so high, it will always be higher than production; thus the depletion rate will continue until all recoverable oil is extracted.

We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel trucks for maintenance of bridges, cleaning culverts to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables, all from far away. With the highways out, there will be no food coming in from "outside," and without the power grid virtually nothing works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, and automated systems.

This is documented in a free 48 page report that can be downloaded, website posted, distributed, and emailed: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html
Anyone interested in relocating to a sustainable area?

cjwirth www.peakoilassociates.com

by cjwirth at 11:34 AM on 10 Jul 2008

It is illegal to waste gasoline by speeding ...

and it is illegal, when walking past a police car in the donut shop parking lot, and noticing a policeman sitting in it, to whip out one's car key and scratch said car's paint with it.

If the price of petroleum rises enough that government finds it necessary to begin subsidizing fuels derived from it, just so people can continue to get to work and pay income tax, these two crimes' degrees of illegality, now very different, will instantly become, from highway patrolmen's point of view, the same.

That is to say, price rising beyond a certain point will find a step change, downward, in demand.

--- G.R.L. Cowan, H2 energy fan 'til ~1996
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/boron_blast.html

by GRLCowan at 12:29 PM on 10 Jul 2008

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