Chimp's Own Lead Energy Analyst Says Bush ME Oil Goals Impossible - WP

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Tuesday asked the Bush administration to explain how it can slash Middle East oil imports by 75 percent by 2025 when the government's top energy forecaster predicts that won't happen. As President George W. Bush wrapped up a two-day, three-state tour to promote his alternative energy plan, Democrats asked Energy Secretary Sam Bodman to detail how the plan will reduce oil imports from the Mideast.

"Could you please identify for us and the public the specific policy initiatives the administration has underway or will propose to reverse the current trend," the Democrats said in a letter to Bodman. The letter noted that Guy Caruso, head of the federal Energy Information Administration, told a Senate hearing last week that shipments of Mideast oil to the U.S. market will rise by about 50 percent in the next two decades. Bush has sent six cabinet secretaries to 13 states this week, where they will tout ethanol and other renewable fuels, hydrogen fuel cells and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. "I have spent a lot of time worrying about the national security implications of being addicted to oil," Bush said on Tuesday at an energy research laboratory in Golden, Colorado.

Consumer groups and environmentalists are tagging Bush's energy initiative as merely a public-relations blitz meant to change public sentiment without changing policy. "This is pure window-dressing, so the administration can get some new stories out there without offering any solutions that will offend (the Republican party's) biggest contributor -- the oil industry," said Tyson Slocum at Public Citizen, the consumer watchdog group.

The Bush administration should focus on reducing gasoline consumption in U.S. cars and trucks and provide much more funding for renewable energy research, said Bill Prindle, an energy expert at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. "This is about looking like they're doing something," Prindle said of the Bush energy blitz. "I'm sure polls will show that the administration is doing something on energy, but the real record doesn't bear that out."

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022101342.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. He will not be president by then

that is how he can

[Oerdin]

2. He never had the goal

instead he just wanted to talk like he had the goal to fix his sagging poll numbers by appearing to do something. Oldest political play in the book.

If he was serious about slashing energy imports then he would have done something, anything, to control consumption and push for greater efficency. Hell, I'd settle for just having the fuel economy cars had in 1987.

[hatrack]

4. I'm surprised he didn't call for a "blue-ribbon panel" to write a report

:eyes:

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Shrub doesn't even care about 2009

Like he'd give a shit about 2025.

[depakid]

5. "how it can slash Middle East oil imports by 75 percent by 2025?"

Well, if you believe the Hubbert model- and Campbell, Deffeyes, Simmons & Skrebowski et al.'s analysis (as opposed to the less than credible R/P ratio) then it seems to me that this particular problem will take care of itself- although not for reasons that the Post would ever print....

[hatrack]

6. I suppose it depends on how you define "solving" a problem

nt

[depakid]

7. I was just thinking of the 75% solution

By 2025, I expect that'll be the least of our worries. Keeping the lights on will probably a bit more important. My guess is that in 20 years (or less), places like Phoenix and Vegas may be in for a world of hurt, if the early peakers are right (or maybe even if they're not).