The Rise of “The Axis of Oil”—Big Trouble for the United States

[jpak]

http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/836

Just how bad are the geopolitics of energy, from the perspective of the United States?

This morning the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources launched its New Year with an unusual hearing into “The Geopolitics of Oil.”

The consensus conclusion of the witnesses: the United States is in deep, deep trouble, facing the emergence of an “axis of oil” that threatens to recreate the bi-polar world of the Cold War, complete with Russia as a principal actor.

Normally the Committee deals with less weighty matters, like fuel efficiency standards for cars. But the incoming chairman, Senator Jeff Bingaman, decided to go for the big picture, and the big picture is not pretty. There was an almost palpable sense of graveness and alarm that lent a chill to the room. The vice chair of Goldman Sachs, Robert Hormats, was one of the witnesses, as was the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, Dr. Fatih Birol, so this was hardly a “green” group.

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[notasheep]

1. Axis of Evil to I will do anything to protect our country

Not to mention that Bush just flamed the fire again in his speech about threatening Iran and Syria.

[hatrack]

2. K & R - this is the whole thing in a nutshell - and it made it to the Senate

:wow:

[4dsc]

3. But will awake America??

American's a sleeping when it comes to energy issues and their own future. They are living in a dream world and soon they will find out its too late to do anything about it.

Or is that the plan after all??

[YankeyMCC]

4. Surprised??

"Senator Domenici (R-NM), said that “what you told us today is absolutely startling with reference to the future.” There appeared to be a genuine sense that some members really were surprised at how bad things look for the U.S."

WTF - Have they been hiding under a rock? Well I guess they have.

:banghead:

[phantom power]

5. Do I smell a return to the reality-based community?

[phantom power]

6. Here is a cute comparison from the same article...

Robert Hormats from Goldman Sachs emphasized the need for more government subsidies and tax breaks for alternatives to oil. He pointed out that the Congress passed a tax credit for oil drilling in 1916 that has never been changed. But the tax credit Congress passed for renewables in 1992 has expired 5 times and been renewed. With such short windows for investment, companies have been unwilling to make long-term investments in renewables. There was much nodding of heads among the Senators on this point.

[phantom power]

7. "the Chinese were bringing a new coal plant online every 10 days.."

Wow. Is that number for real?

[phantom power]

8. this bit on ethanol is interesting too...

Ah... there's nothing like "hailing the potential" of technologies that don't exist yet! So soothing!

Several panelists and Senators raised the problem of the rising price of corn as food for humans as a result of the increased production of corn-based ethanol. Everyone hailed the potential of cellulosic ethanol as a way of avoiding the conflict with food for humans.

The panelists agreed that the U.S. should remove the 54 cent a gallon tax on imported ethanol, which would be especially helpful to Brazil’s ethanol industry, which produces ethanol far below the cost of the U.S. industry. Senator Martinez (R-FL) questioned them closely on this point, trying unsuccessfully to get them to say that ending the tariff would be bad for the domestic ethanol industry.

[jpak]

9. Is one more vote in the rec column too much to ask???

:shrug:

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

10. We're finally addressing this!

nm

[JohnWxy]

11. Which is why we need a national commitment to renewable fuels. We can get a whole lot more

done in terms of expanding renewables faster if Government recognized the risks of the situation we are in. The middle East, NIgeria, Venezuela - were gambling on nothing blowing up in our faces. And then there is growing demand for oil from China.


Now, with the Dems in Congress we will see improvement but I don't know if they will move aggressively enough.


Recommended!

[profgoose]

12. yeah, there's a thread over at The Oil Drum...

...that just got started on this. http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2173

That should be interesting.

The strategy has to be towards a Manhattan Project for energy, directed centrally by the government. There is no other way. If we wait for markets, the middle class will be decimated...

[eridani]

13. They should just bear in mind what the Japanese diplomat said--

--during the arm-twisting process for Gulf War I. Our guys said something to the effect of what a disaster it would be if Saddam controlled all that oil. The diplomat said that Japan's position was "We feel that whoever owns the oil will find that they have to sell it."