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DrumBeat: August 30, 2006

Posted by threadbot on August 30, 2006 - 9:11am
Topic: Miscellaneous

[Update by Leanan on 08/30/06 at 9:17 AM EDT]

Kurt Vonnegut Says This Is the End of the World

"I'm Jeremiah, and I'm not talking about God being mad at us," novelist Kurt Vonnegut says with a straight face, gazing out the parlor windows of his Manhattan brownstone. "I'm talking about us killing the planet as a life-support system with gasoline. What's going to happen is, very soon, we're going to run out of petroleum, and everything depends on petroleum. And there go the school buses. There go the fire engines. The food trucks will come to a halt. This is the end of the world. We've become far too dependent on hydrocarbons, and it's going to suddenly dry up. You talk about the gluttonous Roaring Twenties. That was nothing. We're crazy, going crazy, about petroleum. It's a drug like crack cocaine. Of course, the lunatic fringe of Christianity is welcoming the end of the world as the rapture. So I'm Jeremiah. It's going to have to stop. I'm sorry."
[editor's note, by Prof. Goose] Also today is an interesting catch by Mike over at Green Car Congress on Dick Lugar:
In the keynote address to the Richard G. Lugar-Purdue University Summit on Energy Security, at Purdue University, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar (R-IN) called for a set of immediate action to address US transportation energy vulnerability, including flex-fuel capability in all new light-duty vehicles, accelerated investment in cellulosic ethanol and the institution of more aggressive fuel economy standards. Lugar asserted that none of the major stakeholders—the oil companies, the car companies, the Federal government, and US consumers—are taking the necessary, substantive actions to address what he calls a national security emergency.

Current oil price satisfactory - OPEC president


Gasoline prices could keep falling

Gasoline prices are falling fast and could keep dropping for months.

"The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving."


Oil, Oil everywhere! How consumers are being duped

If our legislators really want to help "WE THE PEOPLE" they would mandate the construction of two new refineries in America and when completed we would see gas below $1 a gallon very quickly. But really, what oil company wants to make less money than more?


Peak Oil and the Fall of the Soviet Union


Californians weigh a new tax on oil companies

STUDIO CITY, CALIF. – As Los Angeles motorist Jill Cantrell removes the pump nozzle from her Honda Civic gas tank, she spouts out two figures: "$56 for a gas tank for me and $78 billion in profits last year for the oil companies," she says. "I'm livid."


BP = Big Problems

BP's reputation as one of Britain's biggest corporate success stories took a fresh battering yesterday after the oil giant confirmed that it is being investigated in the US for possible manipulation of the crude oil and petrol markets.


U.K.: Energy protesters blockade nuclear power station


Iraq’s parties reach deal on oil-sharing


Petronas disputes Chad expulsion order


China says Japan 'generating new conflicts' over gas field dispute


Aussie brothels offer discounts on gas bills


[Update by Leanan on 08/30/06 at 10:23 AM EDT]

Good article. Just about everyone who's anyone in the peak oil community is mentioned. Hirsch, Simmons, Lynch, Kunstler, Pfeiffer, Yergin, Diamond.

End of an era

Global demand for oil will one day overtake our ability to produce it cheaply, and prices will skyrocket as half the world's easily extractable oil is gone. But when? A growing number think soon - if it hasn't already happened.


[Update by Leanan on 08/30/06 at 10:46 AM EDT]

Weekly Petroleum Data for the Week Ending August 25, 2006: Oil and gasoline inventories higher than expected, sending crude prices lower.

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