You're right, thelastsasquatch, Bartlett has spoken to Bush.  But at the time, "Bartlett declined to discuss or characterize any of his private conversation with the President, but said that he was very happy about the meeting."  I remember that Simmons has also spoken to Bush, but I don't recall him saying anything definitive about the content of their meeting.

As far as I know, this is the first time that anyone directly involved with the President has said that Bush knows about Peak Oil.

We can speculate all we want, but it becomes newsworthy when there are witnesses and public statements.  That's why I think it's a big deal.

The afternoon half of Bartlett's seminar just played out here on the West Coast

As the meet with Bush, I Bartlett said that the problem is one of "the urgent (hurricanes) pushing out the important (peak oil)". He seemed to indicate that Bush knew about PO but was always focusing on the more politically "urgent" topics rather than the more "important" long term crisises.

from http://www.bartlett.house.gov/Events.asp :
Second Panel:  Sustainability - What Must We Do To Achieve A Soft Landing?

10:30am - Donald Wulfinghoff:  The Key - Energy Efficiency

10:50am - John Spears:  What Does Sustainability Look Like?

 11:10am - John Howe:  Understanding the Challenge - Critical Priorities

11:30 - 11:50 - Q&A, Roundtable Discussion - Policy Options

[Moderated by Congressman Bartlett]

 11:50 - 12:00 - Concluding Remarks by Congressman Bartlett
 ++++++++++++++++++++

John Howe & his solar tractor:
http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/end_of_fossil_energy.html

Howe claims he'll send you a free copy of his book if you just email him a request, see
http://www.mcintirepublishing.com/pages/energy.html

Wulfinghoff's site:
http://www.energybooks.com/

Correction: first line should say As for the meeting with Bush, I heard Bartlett say ...
I was intrigued by the solar tractor. It's referred to as "10HP", but this doesn't look right (or only for short stints of the battery). Looks like he's got about 3 m^2 of PVs. Solar constant is around 1300 W/m^2 for vertical sun at the top of the atmosphere. Let's say around 1 KW/m^2 in practice at moderate latitudes at noon. Let's say 12% efficiency PVs. So he's got about 360 watts of power - when it's sunny and the middle of the day with the sun overhead. That's 0.4 horsepower (according to these nice tables). He'd be much better off with a 1.0 horsepower horse. Looks like the solar tractor is a completely bogus PR stunt.