Yearly Archives: 2007

The Oil Deficit

4/12/2007 – 12:10 pm

Late last week, the federal government’s Energy Information Administration posted the final global oil consumption figures for 2006. Although we pumped more oil than ever in 2006, on an average day, we consumed over 400,000 more barrels of oil than we produced. This is not the first time demand has exceeded supply; in 2002 we […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Economy, Oil | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A Way Forward

4/5/2007 – 12:22 pm

It’s been a big week for the atmosphere.  Monday, the Supreme Court ruled five to four (Hang on, Justice Stevens!) that the Clean Air Act does allow the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.  Just because the EPA can regulate CO2 doesn’t mean it will, at least not under the current […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

War of Words

3/29/2007 – 10:49 am

The late, great Molly Ivins called politics “the finest form of free entertainment ever invented.”  Sweeps week is coming to Washington, DC very soon. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill to fund the troops in Iraq – on the condition that they’re brought home by the end of August 2008.  This week, […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

World War Policy

3/22/2007 – 10:33 am

The Iraq War turned four this week.  In a few more weeks, it will have lasted longer than the Civil War, moving it into third place in the “longevity of American wars” category, behind only the Revolution and Vietnam.  When the war started, the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “The war might last six […]

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Pardon My Skepticism

3/15/2007 – 11:07 am

On March 5, the New York Times published a front-page story called “Oil Innovations Pump New Life Into Old Wells.” Getting new oil from “played out” wells was the thrust of the piece; as the price of oil rises, it becomes worthwhile investing new money into old wells. The article also indirectly took on the […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Energy, Oil, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Unbearable

3/8/2007 – 10:43 am

“I can’t imagine a world without polar bears,” the woman said. She was standing at a microphone in an auditorium at the Department of the Interior Monday night, delivering a comment on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened or endangered species. The Bush FWS was not being […]

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Go Along, Get Along

3/1/2007 – 11:51 am

Twenty-some years ago I was a newspaper reporter covering the courts in a rural county (population 50,000) in Western New York. People there were politically and socially conservative and had great faith in law enforcement. Defendants who went to trial were usually convicted. I remember one acquittal in four years. Defense attorneys counted themselves fortunate […]

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