Clinton Raises Alarm About Oil Depletion

[Strelnikov_]

http://www.energybulletin.net/17470.html

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has urged newspaper editors to focus more attention on the depletion of the world’s oil reserves. In a June 17 speech to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said a “significant number of petroleum geologists” have warned that the world could be nearing the peak in oil production. Clinton suggested that at current consumption rates (now more than 30 billion barrels per year, according to the International Energy Agency), the world could be out of “recoverable oil” in 35 to 50 years, elevating the risk of “resource-based wars of all kinds”.

During a question-and-answer period, the Georgia Straight asked Clinton if he believed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates had exaggerated claims about their proven oil reserves. The four Persian Gulf states are among the six nations with the greatest listed proven reserves. (Canada and Iraq are the other two.) “I don’t know if they’re overstating their reserves,” Clinton replied. He added that he expects oil prices will reach US$100 per barrel “in five years or less”.

. . .

At the AAN convention, Clinton delivered a detailed scientific explanation of some of the problems with the Ghawar oil reservoir. Clinton echoed Simmons’s claim that massive amounts of water have been injected into Ghawar to maintain oil pressure. “It implies less oil than we previously thought,” Clinton said.

Clinton also recommended that everyone at the convention read The Empty Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe (Random House, 2005), by Jeremy Leggett, a petroleum geologist and international campaigner for Greenpeace. Clinton also emphasized the importance of developing the alternative-energy industry and weaning his country off its dependence on imported oil. He claimed that promoting renewable power would also stimulate the American economy.


Went to the site for the Association that held the conference to verify the details of the article, since the article was claiming that a major politician was speaking of that which will not be mentioned. Seems that Clinton was loose, in a good mood, and (apparently) spoke what was on his mind.

Wes Clark was the keynote speaker.

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/index

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2006/06/elvis_wouldnt_leave_the_buildi.aspx

It was a tour de force, though hardly unfamiliar to anyone who's followed the man from Hope, Hot Springs, Fayetteville, LR and points north. Is there such a thing as a stump-the-Bill question? Hard to imagine He had extended remarks on the declining petroleum yield of seawater injection wells; the comparatively high cost, low participation and poor results of the American health care system; standardized school testing; Darfur, etc. Political analysis? Plenty. Criticism of the current administration? Yes, but in a policy-oriented way, studded by warm remarks about the current president and his father.

[hatrack]

1. Well, I'll be damned - the Big Dog Channels Matt Simmons!

Whaddya know?!?

[brokensymmetry]

2. Good one!

I hope that, between them, they start to get the message out.

[4dsc]

3. Most Du'er are still in denial about PO!!

It would appear that in as much as Persident Clinton declared we should be very worried about oil depletion, it appears to me that most DU'er are still in denial about the whole concept!!

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Most DUers are very cynical and "punch drunk"

Some of them think that every piece of bad news or advisory of an upcoming problem is a ploy from the Bush regime to scare them into obedience. It's kind of like the story of the boy who cried wolf.

Can ya blame 'em? I sure don't.

Many of our comrades have passed the point of "sadder but wiser" and have become "paranoid and paradoxically dumb". Punch drunk, as it would be, over world events and political intrigue. "Shell shock" would also be a good description.

That may be the most painful damage that the Bush cabal is doing, but, like the folks in New Orleans ten months ago, we're on our own. Bush will be gone in a couple years, just as we're coming into the first critical phase of what Richard Heinberg is calling the "Powerdown". The Democratic, the American, and the World response has to be made with clear heads and vision.

If they're temporarily not thinking straight about this, there's only one group who can put them wise to the situation, and that's us.

So ... where do we start? Any ideas? We should probably start a new topic about this.

Peak Oil is not a trivial problem. As part of a cascading series of problems we face, it may seem like the stuff of science fiction. It will not be solvable by the application of cynicism. It will not be like catching Rove buggering Antonin Scalia's ten-year-old nephew, or breathless reports that al-Qaeda has kidnapped Santa Claus and an undetermined number of elves. Between the energy situation, the climate changes, and various environmental problems following them, this coming era won't just be brutal; if we can't get it together, it will be murder.

It's easy to be in a mental state of denial over all that. We have to go wake 'em all up.

--p!

[brokensymmetry]

5. Truly...which is tragic.

Peak Oil will make the core standards of the Democratic
Party, and the progressive attitude, essential.

[NNadir]

6. He probably could have mentioned this when he was President.

Of course, then he would have risked being President Carter rather than President Clinton.