Peak Fuel Report Offers Sober Assessment of SF's Energy Future

Somewhere amid the budget drama of the last several weeks, a peak oil and natural gas report (PDF) Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi called “a really big deal” got lost in the shuffle. So, when the Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force showed up before the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee today, neither the committee’s members nor the public were quite ready.

The report itself, which is already available online, is hard-hitting, bold, and important enough that Mirkarimi planned to reschedule a proper public hearing for August or September.
Peak oil and peak natural gas are “not as much science fiction as people think,” said Mirkarimi, who, along with his fellow committee members, Supervisors Eric Mar and Sophie Maxwell, originally called for the formation of the task force in order to complete the report.

Jeanne-Marie Rosenmeier, the chair, hoped the public will come ready to discuss the full presentation. “Because it’s 125 pages long, it’s hard to ask people to read that big a report,” said Rosenmeier. “But I think it has a lot of good data in it that tells us something about how San Francisco uses energy, and it casts a real light on what our options are going forward, not just for peak oil but also in terms of climate change. I think everybody should read it and take notes and come with questions and comments.”

Streetsblog