[coyote]

Energy tsunami coming, ex-policymakers warn

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of 27 elder statesmen is sending an open letter to both presidential candidates and every member of Congress saying the country faces "a long-term energy crisis" that threatens the security and prosperity of future generations if swift action isn't taken.

The group includes Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and six other former secretaries of state or defense, former senators of both parties and a half dozen former senior White House advisers and other Cabinet officers for both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Associated Press

Kissinger and Powell, and looks like many other ex-secretaries and senators. Not bad company.

Could this be the signal we've been waiting for, that will inject our favorite topic into this year's political race?

[Plantagenet]

The open letter was the idea of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a group affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has embraced largely Republican, pro-business approaches to dealing with energy problems. The Chamber, for example, has called for expanding domestic energy development, including opening offshore areas long off limits, and criticized new taxes on oil companies.

But retired Marine General James Jones, the institute's president, said the call to action reflects broad, bipartisan views and doesn't lean on one party or the other.

"There's an energy tsunami coming, and when you see it coming you better get on top of the wave, or you're going to get crushed by it," he said in an interview.

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Maybe this letter will convince a few people to work towards an energy policy, but unfortunately, it probably isn't likely this letter will convince the dem leadership in Congress to do anything. Pelosi, Reid etc. mostly don't believe there is an "energy tsunami" coming. Some of the leading dems have said that supply and demand don't have anything to do with current high prices, that gas prices are being controlled by speculators, that energy shortfalls are a "hoax" , that oil makes people sick, that we can solve the energy problem by using oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, and weird stuff like that.

I doubt the dem leadership in Congress is going to change their minds and accept that oil supply shortages are real and peak oil is real just because of this letter.

[kpeavey]

In other News, Kissinger is still alive. b 1923 puts him at 85 this year. More importantly-Active.

I'm with Pstarr in that this is not a long term energy crisis, rather, it is the last energy crisis. Informing the wider population is not an option. These elder statesmen know this. They've been keeping the public in the dark for decades now, its old hat to them.

It will not become part of the race for President. To win votes, politicians must promise to solve the problems at the top of the polls, this would be gas prices. They must give reasons why gas prices will go down and what they will do to make sure of it. Peak Oil in a presidential race is taboo.

[vetusfirma]

What totally stupid crap. You think you own peak oil. Get off my raft crap. You are really sick pstarr.

[mos6507]

Anyone have a link to the full letter? Because I don't see the words "peak oil" anywhere in this article, which means it's more evasion and euphamisms.

[KevO]

In other News, Kissinger is still alive. b 1923 puts him at 85 this year. More importantly-Active.

I'm with Pstarr in that this is not a long term energy crisis, rather, it is the last energy crisis. .

It absolutely is. The last energy crisis, the last recession. We are at a defining moment in human history.
It amuses me that people, even here at PO.com, think this is a blip as if in 5 to 15 years we'll be back where we were in 2006 only with electric cars and solar houses.
No, this is it. Mad Max world. There's no escaping the fact.
It will have to be faced by all of us within a very short space of time.

The ONLY things that can save us now from the Mad Max scenario is 1/ Bird Flu pandemic that wipes out more than 60% of the planet's population or
2/ the world moves into villages and grows it's own food and cars and planes are no more.

so Thunderdome, here we come

[kjmclark]

Wow, you know better than Robert Hirsch *and* Kunstler!

They can't say "peak oil", because people will google "peak oil" and find either LATOC or peakoil.com. Either way, they will find out that either it's the end of life as we know it or we're headed to Mad Max (according to "Experts" PStarr and KevO).

[kjmclark]

Peak oil is not a "long term" energy crisis. That usage suggests a problem of finite dimension.

No, no, no - peak oil *is* a "long term" energy crisis. That usage implies that it is not going away tomorrow.

[Cashmere]

1. Kissinger was and is a POS.

2. It is shocking that, other than the usual cornucopians who spam the board, there are PO believers here who don't see that life is going to end as we know it. Still in the bargaining phase, as it were.

3. Oh well.

[Jack]

What totally stupid crap. You think you own peak oil. Get off my raft crap. You are really sick pstarr.

I suggest you cease the personal attacks.

[Homesteader]

Anyone have a link to the full letter? Because I don't see the words "peak oil" anywhere in this article, which means it's more evasion and euphamisms.

Here you go: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiir ... gD91UI8JG0

[Chuckmak]

What totally stupid crap. You think you own peak oil. Get off my raft crap. You are really sick pstarr.

what in the blue f*ck is wrong with you?

[coyote]

Wow, what a car wreck of a thread. Never mind...

[AlexdeLarge]

Wow, what a car wreck of a thread. Never mind...

I agree coyote. Personal biases, political beliefs, ideological view points......... cause some folks to call others names, disparage other points of view, and belittle politicians of another party. It does not help or add to the debate.

These people will not change, and they will continue to demonstrate their ignorance. They are no different from the taliban, yet they think they are somehow more enlightened than the rest of the masses.

[keehah]

Don't think it was posted yet but this is the link to the actual letter:

http://www.energyxxi.org/xxi/open_letter.html

Any effort to meet growing demand and address environmental concerns with continued economic growth requires...

They take credit for inflation: "Over the last 30 years, we have cut the amount of energy needed to produce a dollar of gross domestic product by nearly one-half."

And regarding the oil the letter is written so it appears they are concerned about the ability to grow oil production to continue historical rates of economic expansion.

Anyone not aware about the true energy crisis will not notice anything to be concerned about in this letter. Making it perhaps mainly another pimp for more globalized powers to Kissy and his gang.

It reads like something a smart, but in denial high school kid would write.