Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard has a piece out calling for increased domestic oil production. He makes the case on the grounds of national (economic) security saying that producing oil in the US would stop the flow of petrodollars overseas and relieve prices at the pump. The first point is undeniably true. The second [...]
Mother Jones has a must read article on the wide array of consequences attributed to extracting oil from tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Everything from prostitution and drug use to rare forms of cancer and deformed fish — the place once renowned for its subtle beauty is turning into an industrial wasteland.
The article starts by [...]
I was reading VF Daily today when I came across David Roberts’ post on global warming. I could have ghost written the piece since it so closely mirrors my opinions on global warming:
The things environmentalists are trying to do in response to global warming make sense to do even if there is, in fact, no [...]
Chieftain of the Chevron reservation David O’Reilly predicated a few years back that low gas prices were unsustainable. Now that we’ve seen sustained skyrocketing prices at the pump, Wall Street Journal asked O’Reilly to ‘peer into the crystal ball again.’
He repeated his mantra: cheap oil is dead. Thus Americans can expect to be paying at [...]
Primer: Oil Price Rise Fails to Open Tap
Mother Jones has an interesting read on the future — or lack thereof — of petroleum. The coming crisis isn’t about ‘Peak Oil,’ it’s a simple case of high demand vs. low supply — more people want more oil but less is being found and produced:
Energy of [...]
Peter Viles over at LA Land also comments on the suburbia-oil nexus:
Consider the effect of $4 gas. A 110-mile round-trip commute gets very expensive in a hurry. Consider that fast-growing areas such as the Inland Empire have suddenly lost a major source of economic vitality: home-building and all the economic activity it creates and sustains.
But [...]
Aaron Newton of Powering Down sounds off on the suburbia-oil nexus:
There is little doubt that during that last 60 years we here in America have transformed our manmade landscape in a way that is fundamentally different from any form of human habitation ever known. While many have flocked to this new way of organizing the [...]
WSJ rolled out an article Saturday on the rise and significance of mega-regions — essentially making the case that they are the global economy:
The real driving force of the world economy is a new and incredibly powerful economic unit: the mega-region.
Extending far beyond a single core city and its surrounding suburbs, a mega-region is an [...]
The latest edition of Vanity Fair includes a necessary frontal assault on Monsanto, agriculture’s Wal Mart:
Most Americans know Monsanto because of what it sells to put on our lawns— the ubiquitous weed killer Roundup. What they may not know is that the company now profoundly influences—and one day may virtually control—what we put on our [...]
Even though it’s not renewable or clean, the Air Force wants to fuel their planes with liquefied coal:
WASHINGTON — Squeezed by the soaring cost of oil-based jet fuel, the Air Force is converting its gas-guzzling fleet of aircraft to synthetic fuels and encouraging the creation of a liquefied coal industry that could tap the nation’s [...]
Considering oil is not a renewable resource in the human experience, peak oil — the point in which petroleum production peaks and forever declines — is a certainty. The question therefore is not whether it’s true or not but when we will reach it. Joseph Romm over at Salon makes the case that peak oil [...]
John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company, said on Charlie Rose last night that oil demand cannot be met by current supply — foreshadowing rising petro prices and potential rebellion by consumers. Also, according to his analysis, we’re stuck with oil for at least another 20 years:
When Hofmeister speaks of drilling more in the US, [...]
PASSPORT reflects on the open-skies agreement going into effect next week:
This is great news… if you live in Europe. New fares may apply to folks on both sides of the drink, but Europeans are finding great opportunities to spend their euros in the United States, while American tourists find that a dwindling few countries even [...]
Newsweek spoke to John Hess, CEO of Hess Corp., about the economics of petroleum:
Oil prices have quintupled in the past six years, from $20 to $100 a barrel. Why hasn’t that weakened demand?
The reason we’ve withstood the increase is that consumer income has grown faster than energy expenditures have. We spend about 6 percent [...]
If you don’t know, don’t feel bad. Despite my best efforts, I can’t explain what’s going on either. David Leonhardt wrote a piece in the NY Times yesterday telling us not to feel so bad:
Raise your hand if you don’t quite understand this whole financial crisis … I’m here to urge you not to feel [...]
Washington Post ran this article yesterday about the DOT’s effort to levy congestion tolls — tolls that rise with the level of traffic. The concept is intended to discourage drivers from commuting during peak hours. There is also a fringe benefit that is slightly less obvious.
Suppose you commute to and from work daily in LA. [...]
The US-EU Open Skies Treaty comes into effect at the end of March. It opens the doors for low fare airlines to go international. Why? Because protectionist US regulations currently allow national carriers to fly between the US and their home country only. For instance, British Airways can only fly to and from the UK [...]
The following is excerpted from an essay by James Howard Kunstler published in the book Thrillcraft: The Environmental Consequences of Motorized Recreation (Chelsea Green, 2007). It’s really well written and thought provoking, read it all.
It’s compelling to see how NASCAR auto racing has risen to the level of a mania in early 21st century America, [...]
WSJ reports that the FDIC is bracing for economic turmoil in 2008:
The FDIC is looking to bring back 25 retirees from its division of resolutions and receiverships. Many of these agency veterans likely worked for the FDIC during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 financial institutions failed amid the savings-and-loan crisis.
What [...]
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Brian is a recent college graduate living in Washington, D.C.
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