In Gas-Powered World, Ethanol Stirs Complaints

OKLAHOMA CITY Along the highways of this sprawling prairie city, and in other pockets of the country, a mutiny is growing against energy policies that heavily support and subsidize the blending of ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, into gasoline. Many consumers complain that ethanol, which constitutes as much as 10 percent of the fuel they buy […]

Police: rising fuel costs are

Municipal police departments, which must run 24-hour fleets on $4-a-gallon gas, are charging extra for cruisers at traffic details, increasing bicycle and motorcycle patrols, and putting electric-powered vehicles into commission, a Herald review has found. A Herald survey of the state

Firefighting costs soar

As wildfire seasons have grown lengthier from year to year, the cost of fighting off the threat has skyrocketed — and the funding situation is becoming dire. WASHINGTON – The Forest Service has struggled for years to pay for fighting fires that last year alone scorched almost 10 million acres. As fire seasons grow longer […]

James Kunstler insists suburbs are done for

James Howard Kunstler isn …Q: Where do you see things going in terms of the housing market? Will America abandon the suburbs in favor of the cities? A: A lot of people (Realtors, builders, bankers) are waiting for the

An old misconception

The preoccupations of an age are often given away by its choice of prophet. In the 90s, Karl Marx came back into vogue, not as the John the Baptist of the class struggle, but as a reliable guide to globalisation and its discontents. Old Whiskers was even the subject of a long New Yorker essay, […]

Would You Drive 55?

Liberals say Iraq is another Vietnam; conservatives say Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter redux. ABBA’s a mega-hit and Elton John’s going to be performing at Madison Square Garden. Had enough of these ’70s flashbacks? Brace yourself for another: the return of the national speed limit, courtesy of one of the country’s most venerable politicians. Senator […]

Venezuelan president wants oil to stabilize at 100 dollars per barrel

MADRID (AFP) – The price of oil should stabilise at around 100 dollars per barrel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday during a visit to Spain. “The price of oil needs to stabilise. The price according to our interpretation should be lower and stabilize at around 100 dollars per barrel,” the head of the OPEC […]

Now it’s war at BP-TNK

The oil giant’s dispute with its Russian partners has erupted into open hostilities with the stage set for a long battle in the international courts Bob Dudley was at the end of his tether. The embattled chief executive of TNK-BP, BP His departure was not a total surprise. Dudley had just five days before a […]

Canada: Food for thought

Farmers facing bitter harvest and consumers may have to pay the price WILMOT …He said irrigation costs have doubled because some equipment used to pump water into fields uses up to 23 litres of fuel per hour. “It

Peak Oil Media

In James Howard Kunstler’s view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about. Under the fold, more Kunstler (in a short radio interview), an interview with Paul Erhlich at […]

Senate Republicans block heating aid bill

WASHINGTON – Republicans on Saturday blocked the Senate from considering a bill next week that would nearly double federal aid to help the poor pay heating and air-conditioning bills. Although a dozen Senate Republicans support the measure, most voted with GOP leaders who would rather spend the time trumpeting their call to expand offshore oil […]

Analysis: Moscow and Riyadh grow closer

U.S. consumers, battered by a year of record-high fuel prices, at least can take solace in the fact that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, is firmly in the American camp. Or maybe not. On July 14, during a meeting in Moscow little reported in the foreign press, Interfax reported that Saudi Arabian Secretary-General […]

Outside View: Russian-Venezuelan oil pacts

Many analysts expected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who visited Moscow on July 22, to sign new agreements in military-technical cooperation, but this did not happen. Instead, a number of Russian oil giants signed promising contracts with Venezuela. They would replace their American counterparts, previously ousted by Hugo Chavez. … The signed agreements make it clear […]

The NRC says the reactor revival is NOT ready for prime time

A devastating blow to the much-hyped revival of atomic power has been delivered by an unlikely source—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC says the “standardized” designs on which the entire premise of returning nuclear power to center stage is based have massive holes in them, and may not be ready for approval for years to […]

War With Iran? State Department Realists vs. Cheney’s Ultras

Commentators whom I respect are saying, with conviction, that there’s no way the U.S. is going to attack Iran. Alexander Cockburn, Jim Lobe and Tom Engelhardt, for example, say no. Others whom I equally respect predict the opposite. Gordon Prather, Ray McGovern, Scott Ritter and Justin Raimondo say yes, it’s going to happen. Those proffering […]

Power crisis hits Indian states

Authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have announced tough measures to deal with a power crisis. The state’s 250,000 industries will now get power only five days a week and malls and government offices have been told to reduce energy consumption. Scanty rains, growing demand for power and lack of new power plants […]

United States has bigger problems than the war on terror

Climate change, peak oil, scarce water, diminishing food production, a predatory health-care system, huge national debt and world recession are bigger problems than America’s fear-mongering, soul-destroying “war on terror.” Our only means of creating real wealth — the machinery, knowledge and expertise to manufacture goods — was shipped overseas after Americans facilitated their own fleecing […]

Chrysler to stop leasing; GM offers employee prices

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Two Detroit automotive powerhouses made moves in attempt to stanch their bleeding Friday as gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs continue to sit idly on U.S. car lots. Chrysler LLC’s financial arm, Chrysler Financial, will stop offering vehicle lease options in the U.S. in order to focus more on financing vehicle purchases, according […]

‘Peak oil’ Facebook site fuels global discussion

EDMONTON – Jordan Schroder lives in a province with one of the richest supplies of oil in the world, but the Edmontonian is the driving force behind a Facebook group to raise awareness about the resource’s scarcity. Schroder had been following the peak oil theory — that production of oil will peak, then decline — […]

Oil Shock: Why This Run-Up Is Different

The two events, half a world apart, went largely unheralded. Early this month, Valero Energy in Texas got the unwelcome news that Mexico would be cutting supplies to one of the company’s Gulf Coast refineries by up to 15 percent. Mexico’s state-owned oil enterprise is one of Valero’s main sources of crude, but oil output […]

China: Panda or Dragon?

Until 15 years ago, China exported oil to neighbouring countries. Today, it has an almost insatiable appetite for the stuff. Since the Great HelmsmanThe International Energy Agency thinks China will burn 16.5 million barrels per day by 2030, after buying 13.1million barrels abroad. Think about it: Saudi Arabia

Massive Economic Disaster Seems Possible – Will Survivalists Get the Last Laugh?

With multiple crises on the horizon, survivalist views don’t seem as marginal as they did before. They used be paranoid preparation nuts who built bomb shelters for a place to duck and cover during nuclear dustups with communist heathens, but their tangled roots go back to the Great Depression for a reason. If you want […]

Iran says oil could reach $500 on dollar, politics

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s OPEC governor said world oil prices could reach as high as $500 per barrel in a few years’ time if the dollar falls further and political tension worsens, an Iranian weekly said. “If the dollar’s value continues to decrease and if the political crisis becomes worse, the oil price would reach […]

Indonesia: Last-Frontier Forest Is at Risk From Boom

The global resource boom is threatening one of the world’s last tropical-forest frontiers: the Merauke region of Indonesia’s remote Papua province. Indonesian companies are lining up to develop pulp-and-paper mills in Merauke; investors from South Korea want to expand palm-oil plantations; and Indonesian officials have tried to persuade International Paper Co to invest in the […]

France: ‘It feels like a sci-fi film’ – accidents tarnish nuclear dream

The nuclear site at Bollene sits in a picturesque corner of Provence between the lavender fields and cypress trees that stretch north to the nougat capital of Montelimar and to the historic town of Avignon 30 miles to the south, which was hosting its famous theatre festival when the spillage occurred. Until now most locals […]

World Preps for a Nuclear Renaissance: Huge Boost in Uranium Exploration

More evidence arises that the world is preparing for a global nuclear renaissance: although the spot price for uranium fell, global exploration for 2007 totaled $718 million according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency. To put this number in perspective, while it might be […]

UK: Customers braced for further energy price rises

Homeowners could face a fresh round of energy price rises after the UK’s second biggest domestic energy supplier warned that it is likely to impose higher prices on customers before long. Scottish & Southern Energy, which has 8.8 million UK customers, said it was becoming “more difficult by the day” to resist raising prices despite […]

CFTC Preliminary Report Subscribes to the Peak Oil Theory

A preliminary report by an Interagency Task Force for the CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) conclude that “current oil prices and the increase in oil prices between January 2003 and June 2006 are largely due to fundamental supply-demand factors”. Basically, the report subscibes to the peak oil theory. The report’s main thesis is surplus global […]

Australia: Rio Tinto shows muscle in coal industry debate

Rio Tinto has unveiled ambitious plans to double coal production over the next seven years, in a clear sign that coal-fired energy is here to stay despite moves to cut carbon emissions. Preston Chiaro, head of Rio’s energy unit, yesterday forecast large growth in coal-fired power generation in China and India that would require significant […]

Mexican crop has environmental advantages

TASTIOTA, Mexico — A few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, amid cracked earth and mesquite and sun-bleached cactus, neat rows of emerald plants sprout from the desert floor. The crop is salicornia. It is nourished by seawater flowing from a man-made canal. And if you believe the American who is farming it, this incongruous […]

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