July 2, 2008
Counterpunch
Just when you think the Democrats can’t get any dumber when it comes to energy policy, they surprise you. The latest development is their refusal to allow offshore drilling in the U.S. Their reasons for continuing the ban on offshore exploration are familiar: there’s not much oil to be found; drilling now won’t do any good in the near term; and finally, we’re “addicted” to oil.

The answers to those points are, respectively: wrong, wrong, and yeah, so what?

July 2, 2008
Energy Tribune
The U.S. may not like it, but the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline deal is done. At least, that’s the claim of S.R. Kassaei Zadeh, the managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company.

July 1, 2008
Energy Tribune
The revolution lives in Cuba. And it’s not just the revolution started by Fidel Castro four decades ago. It’s an energy revolution. Got that? It’s a revolution.

June 30, 2008
Energy Tribune
It’s all about access to the resources. That was the common talking point for the heads of Repsol, Shell and BP during the opening session of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

June 2008
Energy Tribune
Mercedes De Freitas is the director of Transparency International’s office in Caracas. In late April, Transparency International released a report that looked at 42 leading national and international oil companies worldwide, three of which are in Latin America: Pemex, Petrobras, and PDVSA. It found that of the three, PDVSA was the worst in terms of transparency.

June 3, 2008
The American
Why are oil prices so high? Well, if you believe Congress, one of the main problems is that OPEC members aren’t drilling enough. Thus, on May 20, the House of Representatives passed a bill that could allow the Department of Justice to sue OPEC for conspiring to raise oil prices. But just eight days before the House bill passed (by a vote of 324 to 84), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released data indicating that world oil demand may be outstripping supply.

June 2008
Energy Tribune
Over the past few years, numerous energy watchers and politicos have declared that the U.S. government needs to launch a “Manhattan Project” or “Apollo Project” to provide us with the breakthrough energy technologies that will allow us to transition away from fossil fuels and toward something cleaner/cheaper/more convenient. Doing so, the proponents claim, will create millions of “green collar” jobs, revitalize the economy, and put America back on track as a manufacturer and technology leader.

May 21, 2008
Energy Tribune
When it comes to energy policy, Congress goes from dumb to dumber. The latest example: a bill passed by the House of Representatives on May 20 that will allow the U.S. government to sue OPEC for conspiring to raise prices.

There are several reasons why the bill, which passed by a margin of 324 to 84, makes no sense. I’ll focus on two: reciprocity and hypocrisy.

May 15, 2008
Slate
The next time you have to take out a loan just to fill up your tank, remember this: Four-dollar-per-gallon gasoline is cheap.

There's no doubt that high fuel prices are hurting low-income consumers, and high energy costs are placing a tax on the economy that is slowing investment while sending billions of dollars overseas. It's unsurprising that presidential candidates and members of Congress issue new proposals practically every day to lower gas prices: Stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve! Suspend the federal gas tax! Open ANWR to oil drilling!

May 14, 2008
Christian Science Monitor
Tough talk about America's oil addiction
by Todd Wilkinson
Thomas Edison altered the course of civilization by helping to pioneer a reliable, affordable, and mass-produced incandescent bulb. But, as author Robert Bryce points out, there was a breakthrough that escaped Edison’s grasp: How to build a hyperefficient, long-lived, electric battery capable of powering homes, industry, and transportation – smoke free.

May 2008
Energy Tribune
The ethanol apologists refuse to face the facts. Soaring demand from the ethanol sector has helped push prices for all grains dramatically higher. Over the past two years, corn prices have more than doubled and soybeans have nearly tripled. And yet the ethanol boosters continue to claim that the biofuels business is not to blame.

May 5, 2008
E Magazine
To The Last Drop
by Jim Motavalli
Robert Bryce’s Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of “Energy Independence” (PublicAffairs, $26.95) is a timely book. If you’ve ever wondered why we haven’t abandoned our addiction to oil and simply started running our cars on ethanol from corn or biodiesel from soybeans (or even used fast-food fryer oil), you need this sobering account.

May 05, 2008
Energy Outlook
Going It Alone
by Geoffrey Styles
The quest for US energy independence might just be the biggest and most persistent bad idea in the last several decades of energy policy. I've been railing about this subject since I started this blog more than four years ago, and I have acquired a deep understanding of what it means to swim against a strong tide.

May 2008
by John T. Landry
Energy is such a politicized topic in the U.S. that it’s no surprise when rhetoric obscures reality—ridiculous arguments for ethanol subsidies being only the most egregious example. Bryce, an energy journalist, argues persuasively that ending oil imports would actually reduce U.S. economic security while having little effect on terrorists (who rely mainly on organized crime for funding) and petrodictators (who have survived low oil prices before).

May 2, 2008
Curled Up With a Good Book
Robert Bryce has written an important book, one in which he persuasively argues that America’s goal of achieving “energy independence” is not just unwise; it is impossible. Gusher of Lies is the kind of wake-up call that would have saved American consumers and taxpayers billions of dollars if it had been written and understood a generation ago.

May 2008
Energy Tribune
Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of international relations at Boston University. A graduate of the U. S. Military Academy, he received his Ph.D. in American diplomatic history from Princeton University. Bacevich left the Army with the rank of colonel. He joined the faculty at Boston University in 1998.

April 27, 2008
Chicago Tribune
It is now beyond dispute that congressional mandates on ethanol use are having a number of deleterious effects, soaring food prices chief among them. So given that, plus recent findings that greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol and biofuels may actually be greater than those created by conventional gasoline, a natural question arises: Which presidential candidate will first call for a change in U.S. ethanol policy?

April 2008
Energy Tribune
When it comes to economic growth, the vital commodity is always electricity. Peter Huber and Mark Mills, in their outstanding 2005 book about energy, The Bottomless Well, made this point clear, declaring, “Economic growth marches hand in hand with increased consumption of electricity – always, everywhere, without significant exception in the annals of modern industrial history.”

April 2008
Energy Tribune
Robert Hart has for many years worked to develop electric power projects in emerging nations. As CEO of Coastal Power from 1994 to 1999, he was at the forefront of the global surge of private investment in emerging market power, pioneering the first privately owned and operated power plants in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

April 2008
Energy Tribune
Batteries are the silver bullet.
There’s no question that electricity is the key development factor in countries around the world. Countries that have cheap, abundant electric power have healthier economies than those that don’t. But the next big step in the efficient utilization of electricity is obvious: super-high-capacity batteries.

April 17, 2008
Counterpunch
The outrages of the ethanol mandates are growing by the day. Last week, a study funded by American beef, pork and chicken producers estimated that the total cost to taxpayers of the corn ethanol mandates now exceeds $33 billion per year. That’s equal to about $106 per American citizen.

April 13, 2008
Washington Times
Energy independence?
by John Coyne Jr.
The whole idea of "energy independence," writes Robert Bryce, exuberantly, is "Hogwash." And like so many things, Mr. Bryce tells us, it all began with Richard Nixon.

"Every U.S. President since Richard Nixon has extolled [sic] the need for energy independence. In 1974, Nixon promised it could be achieved within 6 years." Gerald Ford promised it in 10, and Jimmy Carter pledged to wage the "moral equivalent of war" (the acronym MEOW proved appropriate) to achieve it.

March 28, 2008
Business Times Singapore
Facts don't back notion of US energy independence
by Leon Hadar
The leading US presidential candidates have disagreed on many policy issues, ranging from the invasion of Iraq to the handling of the current housing market crisis.

March 10, 2008
The American Conservative
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.

March 27, 2008
Power
Book Review: Gusher of Lies

While politicians, pundits, greens, neocons and farmers spout nonsense about “energy independence,” it’s worthwhile for a truth-teller who has no skin in the game to appear on the scene. That describes Robert Bryce’s new book – Gusher of Lies, The Dangerous Delusions of ‘Energy Independence’ – which correctly describes why the notion of U.S. energy autarky is bogus, a con, a sham, and the property of political and media charlatans on the right and left.

March 26, 2008
The Wall Street Journal
No Time to Declare Independence
By William Tucker

When it comes to "energy independence," American politics has discovered a new spirit of bipartisanship. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain all call for it, in one form or another -- in the name of fighting global terrorism, global warming or merely global price spikes at the pump. And of course the phrase is a cliché outside the world of politics, too, showing up in earnest op-eds and green-shaded pronouncements. Well, Robert Bryce is having none of it.

March 2008
Energy Tribune
Prior to February 7, few energy watchers were familiar with Tim Searchinger. But as the lead author of an article in Science that appeared on that date, concluding that corn-based ethanol and other biofuels likely produce far more greenhouse gases than gasoline, Searchinger was suddenly being quoted in major media outlets all over the world.

March 22, 2008
San Antonio Express-News
Book Review: Energy independence? Hogwash
by Bill Day

This is the time of year when complaints about gasoline prices get even louder. As summer approaches, prices at the pump inevitably start creeping higher, leading motorists to spawn conspiracy theories that they're being held hostage by foreign oil producers.

March 20, 2008
Tucson Citizen
Book Review: Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of "Energy Independence"

With gas prices rising in southern Arizona, the publication of Bryce's new book couldn't be more timely. Bryce, who has written extensively about energy for more than two decades, is convinced that despite the push for energy independence by our leaders, it is an idea that might not be possible. As he points out, the integration and interdependence of the $5-trillion-per-year global energy business can be seen by examining Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer on the planet.

March 9, 2008
New York Post
What Lies Beneath
by Kenneth P. Green

"Energy independence is hogwash," author Robert Bryce tells us. "From nearly any standpoint economic, military, political or environmental energy independence makes no sense." "Worse yet," he observes, "the inane obsession with the idea of energy independence is preventing the U.S. from having an honest and effective discussion about the energy challenges it now faces."

March 7, 2008
New York Times
Heard the One About the Farmer’s Ethanol?
by William Grimes

After motherhood and apple pie, energy independence probably qualifies as the most popular political slogan in the land. It is, as they say, a no-brainer. Robert Bryce agrees: You have to have no brain to think it is possible or even desirable.

March 3, 2008
R-Squared Energy Blog
Book Review: Gusher of Lies
by Robert Rapier

I have been a fan of Robert Bryce’s writing for a long time. His style is witty and entertaining, and he is a debunker-extraordinaire. His newest book, Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence,is a must-read for anyone interested in energy issues. Concerning the topic of energy and the many myths associated with energy issues, this is a debunker’s bible.

February 29, 2008
Counterpunch.com
That increased energy efficiency will save us has become an article of faith. Last year, Congress passed "The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007." The text of the new law covers 310 pages. The word "efficiency" appears 331 times, and "efficient" appears 111 times. It mandates higher mileage standards for cars sold in the U.S., and will eventually outlaw the use of incandescent light bulbs in favor of more efficient compact fluorescent ones.

February 25, 2008
Effective February 25, I am ending my affiliation with the Institute for Energy Research. While I support IER’s efforts to promote a free-market approach to energy policy, my position as a fellow with the think tank which began in October 2007, was diverting attention away from my main goal, which is to have an open and honest discussion of global and domestic energy issues. This change is not due to philosophical differences. Instead it is due to my desire to remain independent.

February 27, 2008
The American
The Myths of ‘Energy Independence’
By Laura Vanderkam

Americans disagree on taxes, the war in Iraq, and a host of other issues. But politicians of all stripes have embraced “energy independence” as a winner. In President Richard Nixon’s 1974 State of the Union address, he said that the United States should “not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need to provide our jobs, to heat our homes, and to keep our transportation moving.” This sentiment has since been echoed by countless Republicans and Democrats.

March 1, 2008
Library Journal Reviews
With oil nearly $100 a barrel, everyone is clamoring for "energy independence" and a reduction in our reliance on foreign oil. Bryce (Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron ) debunks this notion, asserting that none of the alterative or renewable energy sources currently hyped -- corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar power, and coal-to-liquids -- will free America from imported fuels.

February 2008
Energy Tribune
Now that the big climate conference in Bali is over, hard questions are arising about how (or whether) the U.S. and other countries can reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, the U.S. presidential race has gone into full swing. As it garners more attention, so do the energy platforms of the various candidates, who are all being scrutinized over how their energy views square with the greenhouse gas issue.

February 2008
Energy Tribune
Arthur L. Smith has been an energy analyst for more than three decades. In 1984 after spending nine years on Wall Street doing institutional equity research, he acquired control of John S. Herold, Inc., a research-only firm focused on the energy sector.

February 8, 2008
Texas Observer
Since last March, when I wrote a story about the apparent suicide of Col. Ted Westhusing in Iraq, I had believed there was nothing else to write about his tragic death.

February 8, 2008
Counterpunch.com
When it comes to the science of global climate change, I'm an agnostic.
I've seen Al Gore's movie, and I've read reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I've interviewed some of America's top climate scientists. I've also read what the "skeptics" have to say.