America's energy future

We'll drill down and see what's really in store for America's energy future now that the long delayed, much debated energy bill has been signed. Were the oil and coal industries the only winners or is there something in there for the rest of us? In signing the legislation Bush said nuclear power offers great promise but is it a safe or cost effective?

Author and commentator, Mark Hertsgaard will weigh in about the real cost of nuclear energy and tell us why "peak oil" is going to become a familiar concept.
Listen (17 min)

Bob Borosage, of The Campaign for America's Future and the Apollo Alliance, will tell us what states are doing to be more "conserve-ative" since the federal government is MIA on energy efficiency leadership.
Listen (19 min)

LISTEN to the whole progam (37 min)

Comments

[Webster Hubble Telescope]

Betsy, I have listened to your show somewhat regularly over the past year. Glad to see the podcasts. I often wake up in a fog early Sunday morning, so I replayed it later with a clearer head. The Hertsgaard interview was on the money!

[Elizabeth with G.B. Days]

If the gov't cared about us, why would gas prices spike before Katrina? If they were concerned, they'd LOWER the consumer cost so that all those potential storm victims could AFFORD to flee...

Katrina Targeting U.S. Oil Operations, gas prices likely to rise

By JUSTIN BACHMAN, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

NEW YORK - With crude oil prices already at record levels, a hurricane targeted the heart of America's oil and refinery operations Sunday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of daily production and threatening to curtail refining activity in the region.

Katrina, a Category 5 storm expected to strike near New Orleans early Monday, was churning through the Gulf of Mexico. The area is crucial to the nation's energy infrastructure � offshore oil and gas production, import terminals, pipeline networks and numerous refining operations throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi....

"It's not looking real friendly here. This is unmitigated, bad news for consumers..."

Gasoline prices could see the largest spikes because so many refineries in the region could be shut down by flooding, power outages, or both, energy analysts said. The U.S. has ample crude oil supplies, even if major hurricane destruction trims Gulf oil output and foreign imports, but refining capacity is extraordinarily tight. As a result, prices for gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel and other products have flirted with records and could go even higher this week.

"If this thing knocks out significant quantities of refining capacity ... we're going to be in deep, dark trouble," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York.

Elizabeth
cofounder
Gasoline Boycott Day 3
Labor Day - Sept. 5, 2005
http://www.gasolineboycottday.org

[Mike]

None of the links are working for me. Two take me nowhere, and the third takes me to a log in page. Too bad... I would have liked to listen to the program.

[philippe boucher]

Thanks for telling us: radio4all just moved most of the recordings in to another location, changing the urls without telling us. I have fixed those ones. Sorry about that.