The pure insanity of using nuclear weapons to blow holes in the Earth in order to produce oil nicely captures everything that is wrong with our current culture. I can see this being done before meaningful efforts at curbing demand begin i.e. -- 'Nuke that grass, I want gas!'

Hello MicroHydro,

Somehow, I think the insurance underwriters would refuse to offer coverage-- the risks of something going wrong are probably too high.  Using the govt as the insurer of last resort would be like asking New Orleans residents to fully and faithfully trust the govt again.  The only way to get this done is when the military is so desperate for fuel that they will shoot anyone that stands between them and the oil, and if a nuclear accident or something worse happens-- it will just be considered as collateral damage.

Bob Shaw in Phx,AZ  Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?
 

It's fair to assume that The Empire isn't going to allow itself to collapse for want of a few billion barrels of oil.  Many seem to think that the end of cheap oil will pave (irony intended) the way for establishing some sort of low-tech, sustainable utopia.  But such will not be the case, and HO's post reminds us why.

The problem is that power structures exist because they lift the most aggressive individuals (and families) to the top of the heap, where upon they live a very priviledged existence.  Nothing new here, just that exploitation of fossil energy has taken the pyramid to new heights.  If maintaining the pyramid means trashing the planet one acre at a time, that is really no problem for those on top of the heap.  It's only a problem for those on the bottom whose land, drinking water, air and quality-of-life will ultimately be sacrificed for "the greater good."

So, as TPTB ponder the energy precipice, I expect to hear a lot more proposals like this one -- high-tech, so that implementation is only possible by those with the "right" money and political connections, and with a huge potential for payoff, even if it makes a mess of someone else's life.  Same with "solutions" to GW.  I've recently begun to hear of schemes to control GW by placing foreign materials into the upper atmosphere so as to reflect a portion of the sun's energy back into space.  No doubt some of the great minds at the Pentagon are already seeing the $$$ on that one.