Rep. Bartlett thunders on peak oil
February 8th, 2008On Thursday (2/7/08) Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland) gave a lengthy and scathing speech before the House of Representatives on peak oil and our energy crisis. He even gives a nod to peak oil’s relationship to global warming and climate change.
Bartlett really takes us to task for our profligacy and irresponsibility:
“‘A selfish and irresponsible parent will squander it in riotous living and care not one whit how his offspring will fare.’
“Boy, that is quite precisely what we have done with this incredible wealth under the ground. When we found that wealth 150 years ago, we should have stopped and said, gee, what can we do with this to do the most good for the most people for the longest time? Rather than doing that, what we did was to act as if oil were forever, that there would never be an end of oil, just keep drilling, just keep pumping, and it will always be there.”
He put his finger on the solution to global warming:
“What you want to do is stop releasing this sequestered CO2 in the fossil fuels and use renewables.”
Of course, getting there may be a problem.