[Zeiter]

Forget U.S. energy independence - oil executives

HOUSTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Holding on to hopes of an America that will one day be free from reliance on oil from the Middle East and self-sufficient in its energy needs?

Well, stop dreaming and wake up to reality, say top oil executives, who dismiss the idea of U.S. energy independence as mere political fluff.

Instead, the goal of energy independence -- among the more popular mantras thrown around during the run-up to the U.S. presidential election last year -- needs to be ditched in favor of embracing global energy interdependence, they say.

And,

Oil companies like ChevronTexaco add that protecting U.S. energy needs means recognizing issues not just in energy policy but also in foreign and trade policies.

For example, O'Reilly said improving security and the investment climate in West Africa, which supplies light sweet crude oil that is in high demand, should be a priority in U.S. foreign policy.

Why didn't the article bring up the obvious fact that we can hugely reduce our oil that comes from "unstable parts of the world" by:
1. Increasing conservation
2. Investing in renewables
And why didn't the article bring up the obvious fact that, even if we don't become completely energy independent, every barrel of oil that we don't buy from abroad bring us a little closer and shrinks our trade deficit?

It's like saying, well, ya know, we'll never be able to reach 100% employment in the U.S., so why don't we just give up on trying to employ people altogether? Or, ya know, we'll never be able to feed everyone on this planet, so why even try to feed any of them? Absolute nonsense. The author of this article must lack any sort of professional or intellectual integrity whatsoever to not even bring up these simple points. Otherwise, this author is just acting as a mouthpiece for big oil, parroting exactly what they are saying. Where's the critical inquiry? Is this the state of current journalistic skills? Or perhaps the media's corporate masters have a tight leash on what writers can say about oil. I sincerely hope that the "masses" don't buy this $hit.

Examples like this demonstrate why people are so "energy illiterate," as Monte would say. I mean, if this is what people are fed, this is what they are going to think. It's very simple. I'm almost starting to think that the media could keep people ignorant from peak oil indefinitely, if they keep churning out corporate drivel like this.

[BabyPeanut]

Mike Tidwell is an activist who has debated that the Sierra group is opposing wind farms by concealing the results of studies that show whether they are a problem with birds.

This story is unrelated to that but it showed up on my news scanner.

http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/loc ... 976034.bsp

Trial for trio of Jewish activists

by Paula Amann

News Editor

As he waited last Friday in a Rockville courtroom before his sentence came
down, Mike Tabor thought his livelihood was on the line.

For some 30 years, the Takoma Park man has run a farm in Needmore, Pa., so for
most of the year, his workday involves an interstate commute. A prolonged
probation, he said, would have put a crimp in his rural enterprise.

But he and five other defendants got a sentence of $100 and 10 days suspended
jail time from Montgomery County District Judge Cornelius J. Vaughey.

"I haven't gotten arrested since the civil rights era," said Tabor, 62, one of
three Jewish activists sentenced Friday. "We're not people who committed a
crime -- it was a statement of conscience."

Tabor, along with Rockville Rabbi David Shneyer, Riverdale activist Jonah
Blaustein and three others, were tried for their part in a protest at the
Dickerson Generating Station last Nov. 10.

The six, including Chesapeake Climate Action Network executive director Mike
Tidwell, were arrested for "peacefully refusing to vacate the road leading to
the plant," according to a statement from Tidwell.

Some 15-20 also took part in the protest, including a local Jewish legislator,
Montgomery County Council vice president George Leventhal.

The Dickerson plant, which sits amid the foothills of Sugarloaf Mountain,
alongside the Potomac River, across from Leesburg, has drawn attention from
environmentalists for its emissions. The Atlanta-based Mirant Corporation owns
the largely coal-fired plant, along with three other power plants in Alexandria
and in Prince George's and Charles counties.

"When you see someone or some institution doing something wrong, it's an
obligation to speak out about that wrong, or you're part of the wrongdoing,
too," said Shneyer in a phone interview Tuesday, citing links between air
pollution and respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

"If we were more attentive to the quality of the air we breathe, we'd be
healthier," said Tabor. "It's affected my immediate family."

Both he and Shneyer have sons who suffer from asthma, Tabor said.

But Mirant spokesperson Steve Arabia disputed the protesters' claims of
emissions problems.

"These publicity stunts don't really help the debate," countered Arabia, the
company's director of external affairs.

He pointed to new technology installed in 2003 and 2004 that allegedly cut
nitrogen oxide output by 40 percent and slashed particulate matter emissions by
75 percent.

"That's a very strong and demonstrable improvement in the Dickerson station,"
said Arabia.

"We are planning to reduce mercury and sulfur emissions at all four of our
power plants" in the area, said Arabia, who did not cite a timeline for the
plans.

But he voiced concern that Mirant might have to compete with other companies
that aren't making similar changes.

"We don't think it makes sense to spend hundreds of millions when our
competition don't," Arabia said.

But activist Tidwell disputed the Mirant spokesperson's case.

"That argument is specious because virtually every state surrounding Maryland
is mandating greater pollution reductions from coal-fired power plants than has
Maryland," countered Tidwell.

He cited higher standards for nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide in Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina.

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post last month, Leventhal drew attention
to four emissions -- nitrogen oxide, mercury, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide
-- from the four Mirant plants.

"Maryland has the fifth-worst air quality in the country, yet Mirant's four
coal-burning plants ... keep on polluting," Leventhal wrote in part. "It's time
the General Assembly used the power granted it under federal law and passed a
four-pollutant bill. We need this legislation now -- for our air, for our
climate and for our children."

Mirant lobbyists in Annapolis, Leventhal charged, have kept power plant cleanup
bills from getting out of committee.

"They reduced their nitrogen oxide, but they can do more on nitrogen oxide and
need to reduce other pollutants," Leventhal said of Mirant in a phone interview
Tuesday.

With his sentence set, Tabor says he'll be winding down his activism as the
farming season heats up in March and April. Then it's back to the toil of
growing heirloom apples and tomatoes.
This story was published on Thu, Feb 17, 2005.