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Oil for War
Robert Bryce, The American Conservative
After invading one of the most petroleum-rich countries on earth, the U.S. military is running on empty.
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Napoleon famously said that an army marches on its stomach. That may have been true for his 19th-century force. But the modern American military runs on jet fuel-and lots of it.

Today the average American G.I. in Iraq uses about 20.5 gallons of fuel every day, more than double the daily volume consumed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq in 2004. Thus, in order to secure the third-richest country on the planet, the U.S. military is burning enormous quantities of petroleum. And nearly every drop of that fuel is imported into Iraq. These massive fuel requirements-just over 3 million gallons per day for Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Energy Support Center-are a key reason for the soaring cost of the war effort.

... In November 2006, a study produced by the U.S. Military Academy estimated that delivering one gallon of fuel to U.S. soldiers in Iraq cost American taxpayers $42-and that didn’t include the cost of the fuel itself. At that rate, each U.S. soldier in Iraq is costing $840 per day in fuel delivery costs, and the U.S. is spending $923 million per week on fuel-related logistics in order to keep 157,000 G.I.s in Iraq. Given that the Iraq War is now costing about $2.5 billion per week, petroleum costs alone currently account for about one-third of all U.S. military expenditure in Iraq.

Robert Bryce is the managing editor of Energy Tribune magazine. His third book, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence, will be published on March 10.
(10 March 2008)

Obama eyes active role in oil markets
Jeff Mason, Reuters
Democrat Barack Obama would take an active role in U.S. oil markets as president, tackling concerns about the dominance of large oil companies and eyeing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a potential weapon to combat high prices, his top energy adviser said.

The presidential hopeful's adviser, Jason Grumet, told Reuters that an Obama administration would crack down on any competition lapses in the sector that have resulted from big corporate mergers.
(20 March 2008)

U.S. Power Plant Carbon Emissions Zoom in 2007
Environmental News Service
The biggest single year increase in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants in nine years occurred in 2007, finds a new analysis by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project. The finding of a 2.9 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over 2006 is based on an analysis of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Now the largest factor in the U.S. contribution to climate change, the electric power industry's emissions of carbon dioxide, CO2, have risen 5.9 percent since 2002 and 11.7 percent since 1997, the analysis shows.
(18 March 2008)

Oil conservation the only answer
Paul Swartz, Albany Times Union (NY)
We all know that oil is a finite resource and will someday run out. But our experience is different. It seems like oil is of infinite supply, for whenever we have needed oil, it has been there.

But geologists are telling us it is about to be different. Within a very few years (maybe just one or two), the amount of oil we will be able to extract from the earth will decrease by several percent each year. In fact, our increased oil prices may be saying that the "peak" may already be in play.

We experienced an oil peak once before. In 1970, the United States produced 10 million barrels of oil a day. Production has decreased steadily since then, and now is only 5 million barrels a day (maximum).

...We must implement a broad and deep effort toward conservation, both by us as individuals and by our government.

And we as Americans must also take on the leadership of a massive and effective global effort to develop alternative fuels in very large quantities, particularly for transportation.

Time is of the essence; we must act now.

Paul Swartz is chairman of the Capital Region Energy Forum, a group concerned about energy issues and policies.
(16 March 2008)
Contributor Brock Renfrew writes:
This ran in the Albany Times Union on the front page of the 'Perspective' section, on the same day (Sunday) as they reviewed Kunstler's World Made By Hand on the front page of 'Travel/Books'. Awesome move for my hometown paper.