Friday, April 20, 2012

Big Oil makes a big claim.


The spring rains have come and made everything real green in Texas.  It is early this year.  We have been undergoing a drought for so long, many of us had forgotten what rain was like. Our lakes are getting filled and there has even been some flooding in areas.

But if Texas stays true to its nature, we will see summer approach and with it the high pressure will descend over us and the rains will go away.  We will have a long hot summer, with little to no precipitation.

Weather forecasting is relatively easy here.  Unless we get a big low pressure off the Pacific, or a hurricane off the Gulf, we are going to have blue skies, high temperatures and little moisture. We could even see the return of the drought.  I hope not, but certain prognosticators are saying it could be so.

As this is happening, there has been a renewed firestorm from the pros and cons on the issue of Global Warming, or as it is called now, Global Climate Change. In the midst of the rhetoric there was a surprise announcement; it came from a set of scientists with BP and Shell, who proclaimed there really was such a thing as climate change, and they believed that fossil fuels do, in fact, play a key role in the changing environment here on Earth. 

The reports went on to say that in the near future we will be dependent on gas, oil and coal, but soon (see the New York Times Business April 20th) places like India will be running out of their reserves. That means two things.  Global tension over who has carbon-based fuel stocks and who needs them. (Watch for wars and rumors of wars. India just tested their first ICBM the other day. I may not be able to forecast the weather, but that is a clear signal that someday soon, they will be aggressively seeking fuel sources to feed their hungry industrial growth. And they are not alone.) 

The other thing the scientists say that will happen, is that companies will soon get on the bandwagon like BP and SHELL are on and that is looking for alternative fuels, perhaps even synthetic fuels which have a lower CO2 output and a cleaner footprint for us all. Fuels we may harvest and grow. Fuels from the sea. Fuels from the deserts. Fuels from our every own waste. Why would they do this? Because it will be profitable.

This is good news coming from two of the world’s energy giants. While we will still explore and drill for hydrocarbon deposits, it is good to know they are looking into biodiesels, garbage-produced methane and other sustainable sources for our energy supply of tomorrow.  Remember the Mr. Fusion machine from the movie Back to the Future (I forget which number…)? That may not be so far fetched if scientists and engineers have their way.  We may all drive around on garbage, and I am not talking about AMC Pacers and Gremlins.

Even EXXONMOBIL has moved in that direction. Imagine that! The company that has funded more scuttlebutt on real or imagined environmental science is now diving headfirst into finding new sources of clean, sustainable fuels for the future. They too, see that it will not only be profitable, it may be the only way energy companies will stay around.

If EXXONMOBIL can convert, anybody can.

It is also good to know that they are acknowledging the problems our environment will be facing if we do not stop the carbon footprint from growing beyond salvaging.  True, volcanoes, cattle and other things (like people), create large quantities of carbon-based gasses that affect the air we breathe, but we can’t control a volcano.  We can control the fuel we use to power our cars, our industries and our homes.  And to have BP and SHELL step forward and make a statement like this gives me hope.  They are, after all, companies based on science and engineering.

Now that energy companies like BP and SHELL have seen the light, maybe the other problem facing our environment can be addressed finally by – say – the Pope in Rome – we have too many people on planet Earth.  Population explosion is one of the things driving all of this. And that is not a problem the oil companies can’t tackle. It is going to have to come from civic and religious leaders getting serious about taking care of this rock that God left us with – but that is a topic for another day. Today we celebrate a small victory.

It is good that science from two industry leaders can point the way for others to pull their heads out of the sands of denial and understand that our environment is fragile and needs our attention, just as we need an ever-increasing volume of energy. There will be solutions.  And they will be clean and sustainable and companies will prosper when they discover and market them to an energy-thirsty world.

And all of that is good.

Now, if we could just get this environment to see a little rain for us scattered through the months of June, July and August here in Texas, I’d be grateful for that, too.



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