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That’s what one former oil exec is saying and based on the increased demand we’re seeing in China…this doesn’t seem unlikely. From CNN Money: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, says Americans could be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline by 2012. In an interview with Platt’s Energy [...]

The Vermilion 380 blew up today, but it looks like we may have dodged an oily bullet. Still, could it have been prevented? Well, as the title suggest, it’s very likely. Because fines are usually in the thousands to tens of thousands. So, to be fined the better part of a million dollars is patently [...]

It seems to be a question that’s popping up a lot lately, and the simple answer is: they don’t know how to stop it. Of course they have the authority. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 gives Obama all the authority he needs to take over the spill if need be. But the government just [...]

Previous worst case scenarios estimated the spill to be pumping 2M gallons of oil a day into the gulf, but new numbers paint a much darker picture. Here’s how the two leaks shake out… Leak A: 70,000 barrels a day + Leak B: 25,000 barrels a day = 95,000 barrels a day One barrel of [...]

First it was the wishy-washiness of the civil rights act repeal and now it’s criticism of the administration being tough on BP? Watch the video… Here’s the thing…yes, accidents happen on offshore oil rigs. However, most damage is mitigated by appropriate safety measures being put in place to keep spills to a minimum. However, recent [...]

Ironically, the star of Waterworld (which I like…by the way) might be just the guy to help save the water in the Gulf of Mexico. Check out the nifty gadget he and his brother has been funding the development of (to the tune of $15M) for the past 15 years. Apparently, it can remove between [...]

A leaked document tells a sobering tale of 10x the amount we thought was escaping the ocean floor before… “The following is not public,” reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Emergency Response document dated April 28. “Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the [...]

Hey, if he’s right, shame on them. Well, more than shame on them. They should spend their lives in prison for all of the destruction they’ve caused. But for some reason…I don’t think folks who have spent their lives defending the environment would deliberately cause one of the worst environmental disasters in our lifetime just [...]

The equivalent of 5,000 barrels of oil are being dumped into the gulf…every…single…day. Folks, we’re looking at a disaster bigger than Exxon Valdez. It’s that serious. And that could have devastating effects on our economy. From Fox News: The shrimp season begins in early May, as the shrimp move from estuaries out to sea, Long [...]

Almost exactly 5 years ago, Wired.com ran an article chronicling the various reasons why nuclear energy was a decent idea. At the time, I was skeptical upon reading the headline, but once I dug into the article I was swayed and considered this alternative more seriously. It was definitely a controversial piece, but it was [...]

The green energy revolution is in full swing and it’s supported by the White House. From NY Times: President Obama announced on Friday the award of $2.3 billion in tax credits for clean energy manufacturing — part of a broader push by his administration to stimulate job growth during the highest period of sustained unemployment [...]

TIMES crunches the numbers and comes up with some encouraging data… The initial data released by Department of Transportation, however, shows that so far cash for clunkers has been a green success. The clunkers averaged 15.8 m.p.g., compared with 25.4 m.p.g. for the new vehicles purchased, for an average fuel-economy increase of 61%. On the [...]

A new website for the controversial, popular program is up and it includes some things you need to know if you’d like to take advantage. Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG [...]

Looks like the world’s largest retailer is getting serious about green. From The Register: The five latest stores in Walmart’s pilot program, which now totals 20 stores, Sam’s Clubs, and distribution centers in Hawaii and California, will all be located in sunny Puerto Rico. Their solar installations will be provided by SunEdison, described by Walmart [...]

In one of those “every silver lining has a cloud” kind of situations, state and federal government road maintenance funds are dwindling as people drive less and use less gasoline per mile as they buy more fuel efficient cars. The federal government had to put $8 billion into the Highway Trust Fund because plummeting gas [...]

I’ve been genuinely intrigued at how much fiction and reality have been intersecting recently. See, there’s this film called MOON and it follows the story of a guy working on the far side of the moon who figures out that there’s a lot more to his mission than collecting the natural resource Helium-3. It’s a [...]

Thanks to Justin and company for welcoming me on here as a regular contributor. I will be posting on a number of issues, but one area you can expect that I will regularly be tracking is technology related developments and how they interact with the political world and policy. I also live less than ten [...]

After I read Matt Taibbi’s piece about Goldman Sachs gaming the oil/gas marketplace and wrote my own response, I started to think about the massive $24.3 billion budget deficit in California, and I wondered, “How could they get that far in the hole?” Sure, the global economy has tanked the past couple years and revenues [...]