Hubris

clipped from news.yahoo.com Fri May 21, 5:20 pm ET According to two surviving crew members of the Deepwater Horizon, oil workers from the rig were held in seclusion on the open water for up to two days after the April 20 explosion, while attorneys attempted to convince them to sign legal documents stating that they were unharmed by the incident. The men claim that they were forbidden from having any contact with concerned loved ones during that time, and were told they would not be able to go home until they signed the documents they were presented with. Stephen Davis, a seven-year veteran of drilling-rig work from San Antonio, told The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg today that he was held on a boat for 36 to 40 hours after diving into the Gulf from the burning rig and swimming to safety. Once on a crew boat, Davis said, he and the others were denied access to satellite phones or radio to get in touch with their families, many of whom were frantic to find out whether or not they were OK.

Hat-tip to Wounded Bird: HORIZON SURVIVORS ALLEGEDLY KEPT IN SECLUSION AFTER EXPLOSION for this link. And like Wounded Bird, I have few words, and let the story speak for itself.

But I have one observation. Perhaps our grandchildren's generation may develop the technology to exploit that oil without wasting it or damaging the environment. It seems that BP were out of their depth, figuratively as well as literally. That is our grandchildren's oil that is being wasted by this generations hubris.

Massive oil spill was foreseeable

Massive oil spill was foreseeable: "BP, the company that owns the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded on April 20, is claiming that the spreading oil spill threatening US states along the Gulf of Mexico with economic and ecological disaster was unforeseeable.

Oil is now flowing into the Gulf at a rate of as high as 25,000 barrels a day due to the explosion and the subsequent failure of a blowout preventer (BOP), which is designed to plug the well in the event of an emergency. The BOP is still not responding to attempts to close it.

Neither the company nor the government had in place any backup plans in the event of a failure of the BOP. Options currently being considered to plug the well will take weeks or months to implement and may not be successful."

Theology and Peak Oil discussion forum

Elizaphanian:

I'm so excited!! (Theology and Peak Oil): "Following a failed attempt of mine three years ago some of the lead figures in on-line Peak Oil research and writing have started up a Yahoo Group to explore Peak Oil from a religious perspective. What bliss!

The home page is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/peakoilinterfaith/
To subscribe, send an email to peakoilinterfaith-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

The tyranny of oil

From a book review:

Antonia Juhasz - The Bush Agenda:Index: "Juhasz investigates the true state of the U.S. oil industry—uncovering its virtually unparalleled global power, influence over our elected officials, its lack of regulatory oversight, the truth behind $150-a-barrel oil, $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, and the highest profit in corporate history. Exposing an industry that thrives on secrecy, Juhasz shows how Big Oil manages to hide its business dealings from policy makers, legislators, and most of all, consumers. She reveals exactly how Big Oil gets what it wants—through money, influence, and lies.

The Tyranny of Oil offers both a new take on problems and a new set of solutions as Juhasz puts forward an immediate call to action—a formula for reining in the industry, its governmental lobbying power, environmental destruction, and violence while reducing global dependence on oil. Her thought-provoking answers to the most pressing energy questions speak directly to readers concerned about oil and gas prices, global warming, wars for oil, and America’s place in the world. With the major players in the world’s most powerful industry charged with collusion, price-gouging, anti-competitive behavior, and unabashed greed, Juhasz calls boldly for the breakup of Big Oil."

The Blackouts Spread

With the rolling blackouts at the beginning of this year and the media coverage South Africans might be forgiven for thinking that Eskom was the only electricity provider in the world that has been having problems. But apparently the energy crisis is worldwide.

Falls Church News-Press - The Peak Oil Crisis: The Blackouts Spread:

Shortages, however, are not confined to small, poor states, but, in an increasing number of cases, are appearing in large, relatively well-off and active states on which the OECD world of North America, Europe and parts of Asia are very dependent. Several of the countries having energy problems are actually oil exporting states that, for one reason or another, are not able to turn their increasing oil wealth into smoothly functioning shortage-free economies. Unfortunately, several major countries appear to be on the path to an energy shortage-induced economic and perhaps political collapse within the foreseeable future which obviously will have serious consequences for us all.

Currently, the most serious situations appear to be in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Both are nations with populations in excess of 150 million people that are ensnared in devastating power shortages that have destroyed their export industries. Both are facing water and agricultural problems that threaten their food supplies. Liquid fuels are running short and reductions in exports threaten their ability to import oil and natural gas. It was recently revealed that the Saudis already are forgiving $6 billion of Pakistan's $12 billion annual oil import bill.

Cohen: Bring on the right biofuels - International Herald Tribune

An attempt to put the biofuels issue into a wider perspective.

Cohen: Bring on the right biofuels - International Herald Tribune:

The supposed crimes of biofuels are manifold. They're behind soaring global commodity prices, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, increased rather than diminished greenhouse gases, food riots in Haiti, Indonesian deforestation and, no doubt, your mother-in-law's toothache.

Most of this, to borrow a farm image, is hogwash and bilge.

I'll grant that the fashion for biofuels led to excess, and that some farm-to-fuel-plant conversion, particularly in subsidized U.S. and European markets, makes no sense. But biofuels remain very much part of the solution. It just depends which biofuels.

Any comments? Has he missed something?

Peak Oil -- Elizaphanian

An Anglican priest has written several posts on his blog about Peak Oil. Well worth reading.

• My first post was The Great Dislocation which summarises the issue.
• Pledges describes some of what we need to do about it.
• Prophecy and Peak Oil is drawing on Walter Brueggemann to start exploring a theological response.
• Misplacing the Apocalypse is a theological critique of the 'doomers'.
• SUV Spirituality is a cultural critique of mindless consumerism.
• A Fully Wired Future describes why I'm optimistic.
• What I'm optimistic about describes my optimism about the church and the economic future.
• Review of Economist article on Peak Oil points out how useless The Economist is.
• It's the secondary effects, stupid describes what I am most worried about.
• The Holiness of Stuart Staniford describes what I admire about the intellectual exploration of Peak Oil.
• Loose Tappets gives an image describing why some people just don't 'get it'.

Resilient communities: A guide to disaster management

Resilient communities: A guide to disaster management | EnergyBulletin.net | Peak Oil News Clearinghouse: "The following is a proposal to help make communities better able to respond to the coming economic shocks from resource depletion, beginning with Peak Oil, and perhaps also to shocks from other causes (such as the ongoing subprime mortgage and credit collapse).

In searching for a name for the strategy, I have settled on the phrase 'Resilient Communities,' which comes with considerable baggage—useful baggage in this instance. Once I have described and discussed the proposal, I will offer some background materials regarding the terms resilience and resilient communities, mentioning some other projects that have used the same title or that pursue similar goals."

Hat-tip to The Western Confucian.

Shockingly unprepared for the coming end of oil

Shockingly unprepared for the coming end of oil: "Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil, by Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl, is one of the most thought-provoking books to cross my desk in a long while. Gilbert is an urban issues consultant and former York University professor and municipal politician in Toronto. Perl is director of SFU's urban studies program.

Their book is an eyebrow-raiser, portraying a future that's around the corner as oil production is projected to hit a peak and start declining around 2012. In adapting to peak oil, the way we move ourselves and domestic and international freight will change as dramatically as when the horse and buggy gave way to the car."