The Peak-Oil Crisis: Mid-Year-2005

These developments again raise the question of what it will take to trigger public recognition by the major industrial powers that a disaster of monumental proportions is near. Obviously, no responsible leader wants to trigger a panic by openly announcing oil will soon become very expensive, and then very scarce, and finally unavailable. But, there are many subterfuges that could be used as a pretext for taking drastic action without even mentioning the concept of peak oil.

The Europeans and the Japanese seem to be on the verge of doing something under the banner of slowing global warming which is quite acceptable to talk about and may someday prove to be more serious than peak oil. Policies which mitigate global warming by lowering consumption of fossil fuels, are the same ones that would be used to mitigate the initial stages of an energy crisis. Last weekend, the British announced the cabinet would soon consider a form of energy rationing called a
Falls Church News-Press