— How can Congress and George W. Bush NOT DO SOMETHING about greedy oil companies after this news?
— Is this another case of an athlete cheating?
— Arizona football is picked to finish sixth in the Pac-10, and fans … rejoice?
— Four more illegal immigrants may have died attempting to enter the country. Sigh.
— And we close with this. Enjoy the cool weather, everyone.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 2, 2006.
Just wanted to congratulate Vanderpool on the AZHope/Prop 207 scam story. Well done. I reviewed in detail all the props on the 2006 ballot. (http://arizona.typepad.com/blog/2006/07/arizona_ballot_.html) Vanderpool neglected to mention that the money for 207, over 800K, came from right-wing NY developer Howard Rich.
C’mon Jimmy, profits are a good thing. Do you really want our government in charge of our oil supply? I mean, they do so well at regulating other things (rolling eyes). And just look how well the South American countries with nationalized oil companies are faring. Profits just show the oil companies are doing a good job. I say God Bless Capitalism.
Thanks for the comment, Bea. However, I didn’t say our government should take over the oil companies. I think a good first step would be NOT LETTING THEM SET OUR ENERGY POLICY, which is basically what’s going on now.
My impression is that Jimmy objects to a U.S. foreign policy of maintaining a military presence in the middle east.
U.S. DOE Oil Factoids (2004) 7.446 Billion Barrel (BBL) / Year Consumption
21.900 BBL Continental U.S. Remaining Supply, a 2 Year & 343 Day Supply IF we could pump to meet demand.
1.741 BBL / Year Continental U.S. Pumping Rate, 23.38% Amount of U.S. demand that can be met, which could probably be continued for a little over 12 years.
10.300 BBL Estimated ANWAR Supply, perhaps a little over 1 year of U.S. demand
.492 BBL ANWAR Estimated Pumping rate in 2010, 6.6% Amount of U.S. demand that can be met, but as it comes online the continental U.S. supplies would be falling, so in 2012 the additional 6% may not replace the exhausting wells, it should however be able to provide the 6% until around 2032
.727 BBL Strategic Reserve Storage, the reserve represents about 9% of annual demand
1.5695 BBL / Year Maximum Strategic Reserve pumping pate, which is 21% of present demand rate, so it could supplement at this rate for a period of 169 days
POTENTIAL SCENARIO – Posit that there is a 10 day supply of oil and fuels “in the pipeline” at any given time. Therefore, if the U.S. gets cut off from foreign fuel supplies, in 10 days supply drops to about 45% of expected demand. 169 days later supply drops to around 23% of demand. We face a slow decline in supply from 23% to 6% for 12 years, with perhaps 12 years at 6% until final exhaustion.
Present farming and food processing represents more than 20% of annual use. Without a continued flow of oil, we have less than six months until even our food system cannot be maintained.
We’re not going to change the macro scale plans or policies. We can make changes at the personal, and community level.
Think in terms of a long term, “Sustainable Tucson”.
Without the input of cheap, abundant energy, primarily in the form of oil, how does this desert community gather, reuse, or reprocess enough water to meet not only the direct human needs, but to grow sufficient food within a distance such that delivery of the food, and return of the waste to the growing medium, is practical without fuel powered transportation.