The magazine on peak oil and the Transition movement
Move over OPEC, North America is about to become a net exporter of oil. At least that’s the supposed good news from the International Energy Agency’s latest outlook. According to the IEA, the drilling boom for shale oil is putting US production on track to pass Saudi Arabia. North of the border, output from Alberta’s oil sands is expected to notch a similarly grand expansion. Notions of energy independence, however far fetched they may seem today, play well to the IEA’s target … [Read more...]
As everyone is aware by now, the US is headed towards energy independence 2030, thanks to unconventional sources of oil and gas. If you believe the mainstream media, that is. However, if you know anything about energy, the happy talk that energy from tar sands, fracking and deepwater oil will replace all of America's imports today and in the future is clearly too good to be true. But we can only understand the real problem with America's alleged energy boom if we take it from a … [Read more...]
In chemistry you quickly discover that oil and water don’t mix. The same is true in the energy industry. It’s unfortunate, because the new fuel sources that the International Energy Agency claims will allow North America to reach energy independence require tremendous amounts of water. Whether it’s from shale plays or the oil sands, millions of gallons of water are needed to pull that energy out of the ground. Alberta’s oil sands mines require more than three barrels of water to … [Read more...]
After I saw Matt Damon and John Krasinski's new fracking drama Promised Land, I couldn't help but compare it to the slew of trite pieces trotted out during the previews. There was the typical wedding family hijinks RomCom; the take-no-prisoners gangster-fest; the scorched-earth-meets-futuristic-savior piece; and some picture about a lovable psychotic redeemed by a chick. Guilty pleasures, all (for somebody). And all committed to film using no small amount of fossil fuel … [Read more...]
The end of 2012 brought with it a rash of the same-old same-old "In and Out" lists issued by the lamestream media and their corporate overlords. To wit, the annual Washington Post "List," this time tarted up by putting two newbies at the helm to give it some so-called edge. Bwa-ha ha! It still stunk of too much product placement, too many contract obligations, and a crap load of deference to the corporocratic taste makers; which reminds us — oxymorons are in! So we're back again with … [Read more...]
A rush to drill is sweeping the United States. Across the country, the oil and gas industry is surging into new areas as quickly and cheaply as possible. And they have been using techniques like hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) long before we fully understand the extent of the negative impacts on the health of the local people, communities, water, air, climate, and other critical resources. Landowners and communities are struggling to cope: Existing laws are outdated and … [Read more...]
Whether or not peak oil is true cannot possibly be in doubt. Within anything other than a geological frame of time, oil is a finite substance. When it is burned, it is gone. Without stretching our brains very far, it is easy to conclude that anything that is finite and consumed will someday be gone. Peak Oil, then, is really an observation, not a theory. If only! What most four-year olds would agree is not much more than minimal common sense continues to confound some, who just cannot … [Read more...]
How many Saudi Arabias did you say that was? It's hard to keep up these days with claims by oil and gas drillers about how many Saudi Arabia-sized reserves of tar sands oil/shale oil/deepwater oil/hydrofracked gas that North America is now allegedly able to access due to the smarts of petroleum geologists and the tenacity of oilmen. "Because of better technology, notably breakthroughs in drilling, the US all of a sudden realizes it is sitting on a century’s worth of gas supply," writes … [Read more...]
The oil and gas industry broke out the bigger-than-big guns this week in an attempt to discredit film maker Josh Fox's Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland. It's not simply the usual industry objections to the film, as we reported earlier, in our review of Gasland. Would that kind of industry money play so lackadaisical? Not if the past is any guide. Instead the industry, through front group Energy in Depth, has called on Hollywood to evaluate the film's qualifications for the Academy's … [Read more...]
When Gasland was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature in January, the natural gas drillers were furious. "While it's unfortunate there isn't an Oscar category for propaganda, this nomination is fitting, as the Oscars are aimed at praising pure entertainment among Hollywood's elite," executive director Lee Fuller of industry group Energy In Depth said in a statement. "Without doubt, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated 'Gasland' for its work in the field … [Read more...]
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